🎸🎶🚗🇬🇵🎹 Max and Edouard Labor, assisted by Jacques Bracmort, Guy Datil, Fred Gatibelza and several other high school friends, founded Maxel’s in the heart of the 1960s in Guadeloupe. They soon had their first hits, in the form of 45s, but Bracmort died prematurely in a car accident in 1969, aged just 19. After this setback, the group hit the road again, and their first album, En Action, was finally released by Debs in 1975. The album was an immediate success, featuring a mixture of beguines and cadences with distinctive Cuban arrangements. It also includes some inspired instrumentals – with a special mention for the bluesy Latin rendition of Leah. Jean-Claude Cornélie and Christian Zora share the vocals, the latter closing the album with a bolero by Edouard Benoit. The album’s credits are a little sketchy, though, and we can’t give everyone their due. Unfortunately, this is a recurring problem.
En Action – Les Maxel’s, 1975
