MICHEL ZACHA

A French singer/songwriter, who's actual surname was Zaccharopoloulos, propably of Greek or Cypriot origin.After a brief career with small groups he signed with the Pathe label, on which he released a trilogy of albums.The first was issued in 1972, its title was ''Vol 1: La nuit des cigales'', featuring among others English bassist Alan Jones, pianist Georges Rabol, percussionist Marc Chantereau and guitarist Jean-Pierre Alarcen.

The presence of such an important supporting group does not necessarilly secure an ambitious and challenging record, as Zacha's debut contains strong influences from the typical French singer/songwriter style, like plenty of vocals, delivered either in warm or more expressive singing lines, constant acoustic passages, possibly played by Zacha himself, and accesible song structures with limited adventurous textures.There are also a lot of dual acoustic/electric moments with an evident psychedelic vibe and a bit of dramatic color in these particular moments.The light use of flutes next to the more ethereal vocals and the discreet, orchestral keyboard parts (like in the opening ''Accident'' or the long ''Promesses D'Atlantides'') recall the atmosphere created by legendary acts such as ANGE or maybe TROCARN.As a whole though the album is dominated by a heavy ballad/songwriter atmosphere, which receives variations from the smooth instrumental performances of the guest musicians.

Neither very intricate nor trully memorable, ''La nuit des cigales'' contains a few interesting Psych/Prog moments, but it would propably fit better for those looking for some French-speaking music combined with quite a bit of decent musicianship in an overall Folk or Rock text...2.5 stars.

Last Zacha's album is more or less in chanson style, and I wouldn't recommend it to start exploring this artist. This pop sensibility was present in the earlier works but at those times it had great rock in the mix to carry out the melodies. With that said, this is still pretty unconventional pop music because of complicated and strange compositions, but overall it would still fall under the umbrella of pop and folk ballads. Also I don't understand french so people that do will maybe appreciate it more for the lyrics if they are good, but the music itself couldn't hold my attention too long. Skip this one, and get the first two albums which might appeal to fans of MIKE OLDFIELD, GENESIS, PINK FLOYD or VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR.