LAURENCE VANAY

Laurence Vanay is the name that Jacqueline Thibault used for her solo work instead of her own. She was married to Laurent Thibault who was MAGMA's first bass player back in 1969 but he left before the first album was recorded. He would start his own record label and he also created an absolutely beautiful album back in 1979 that his wife played keyboards on.

"Galaxies" is a very pleasant recording, quite mellow with Jacqueline's French vocals that I enjoy. Kind of folky really but I really enjoy her organ playing on here and how melancholic this album is. We get ten songs over the 32 plus minutes, so a lot of short tracks here.

"Catalepsic" is the opening instrumental and we get this repetitive melody with vocal melodies over top. Nice bass after a minute. I like when the organ arrives before 2 minutes. The guitar will replace the organ at 3 minutes. "Demain" is piano, bass and vocals along with some organ. Flute arrives before 1 1/2 minutes. "Le Loup Qui Pleure" is led by the acoustic guitar at first as flute and percussion join in. Piano comes to the fore after 2 minutes.

"La Grand Voile" opens with organ, bass and drums as vocals also join in. A pleasant sound here, quite warm. "Soleil Rouge" is a top three song for me. It's an instrumental and we get a little more life and energy here as the guitar, drums and organ standout. Some vocal melodies late. "Le Coeur Lourd" is my favourite. It's laid back but I do like that prominent bass a lot. The organ helps out along with a beat and piano. Some vocal melodies before 1 1/2 minutes remind me of Robert Wyatt because of their style. Flute follows then some guitar expressions.

"Juste Te Revoir" is mostly acoustic guitar melodies and vocals. "Le Bateau" is my final top three. Organ and a beat lead the way but man I like this one. "Deux Phares" is another good one with organ, a beat, bass and vocals. I like how melancholic this one is. "Galaxies" ends it and it's an organ dominated song. Almost silence arrives before 2 1/2 minutes with faint sounds before it kicks back in.

Man this is a tough one to rate as I'm being pulled towards 3 stars but at the same time I'm being pulled towards 4 stars. Right in between I guess, so 3.5 stars but I'm rounding up because I really dig the mood, organ, bass and her vocals.

This 1975 album by the wife of a former drummer of MAGMA bears little or no resemblance to that band, instead straddling the border of space rock and folk-jazz. Split between subdued vocal cuts and organ dominated soundtrack styled pieces, it never quite gains traction in either of its musical galaxies; even if it's all listenable, it winds up being less than the sum of its parts, with the best track being the hypnotic and eerie "Soleil Rouge". By the time the closing title cut gets going it's just too little too late, the focus lost for good. 2.5 stars, rounded down.

Galaxies is Laurence Vanay's (Jacqueline Carbon/Thibault) debut album, unlike her second album this time it features Laurent Thibault (husband) on bass. In addition to Jacqueline handling organ duties this time she also sings, and very good if I might add. The album and overall Jacqueline's style is quite varied coming with different sounds, different textures and different kind of songs, but it's always very melodic and easy, even in the more sinister moments. There's 32 minutes of music divided into 10 songs which ranges from acoustic soft ballads to calm tranquil songs with a fuller instrumentation to edgy sinister disturbing prog tunes. The soft ballads are done with acoustic guitars and an occasionally flute, organ or vocals. Although this is mainly a calm and pastoral album there's also an intense side to Vanay's song writing, and it shows on a few edgy songs with almost Zehulic kind of intensity, while still maintaining the melodic guideline. That mix of styles works very well and is why she is regarded as eclectic prog, although I can say this is just slightly progressive, due to its variation. It's hard to resist a beautiful melodic song and the songs are beautiful indeed but there's nothing more to it. Some of the songs are good but the rest although never bad just doesn't excite me too much. The occasional instrumental moments doesn't soar and are staying fairly on the surface, they seem to hit all the right buttons but not a lot is happening. The melodies and themes are beautiful, some of them are good but nothing is realy amazing. Although I can easily enjoy calm and soft songs this time the rockier songs work best, Galaxies, the closing track, is a good example of an interesting organ work on an upbeat and disturbing rhythm. There are no clear solos here, although the flute and keys are filling the songs. Vany's organs sounds great and vintagy, there's is nothing to be impressed technically and nor am I looking for it, but she is trying to keep it simple and nice with beautiful ethereal chords and all kinds of melodic noodling. I can't say the album doesn't have its charm and some of it is also quite romantic with an almost trippy atmosphere, I think it could have turned out to be a real stunner having the right musicians on board.

I definitley prefer her next album Evening Colours where the songs are much more interesting a little more progressive and overall are just better. 2.5 stars really, a two star rating seems a little too harsh and not quite fitting so it just barely acquires the third star. Nice work.

Laurence Vanay is the pseudonym for Jacqueline Thibault, wife of bass player and producer Laurent Thibault (ex-Magma). She released two albums in the 70's that would fit nicely in any french prog collector's catalogue. Evening Colours is her second album and the one I prefer of the two. It's not enough that Laurence Vanay is not the artist's real name but this album was originally released under the fictitious band name Gateway, I guess the record company thought they would sell more copies that way instead of using a woman's name.

Following her 1974 debut album Galaxies, this album marks a step forward in Vanay's vision and ambitious creative song writing. This time the album is completely instrumental and gracefully goes through several genres without stretching too much to unknown territories. Symphonic, folk, rock and even some mild zehul touches (especially in the bass playing) including keys, flutes, piano, acoustic and electric guitars, all contributes to the eclectic feel of the album. The key word here is beauty! The album effectively radiates melodic beauty in the most natural and easiest way, the compositions are relaxed and calm even in the more harder edged songs. Although the album is quite relaxed, there are some rockier moments to be found featuring good fuzzy guitars and a few disturbing melodies which contributes and complements the somewhat trippy atmosphere of the whole album. The album's strength lies on the melodies which ranges from good to gorgeous and on the varied sounds produced by a nice array of analog keys such as the fender rhodes, hammond organ and synths. Vanay certainly has an ear for mixing different sounds, I love the fact that she doesn't stick to one keyboard sound but comes up with a clever combination of a few, plus of course combining them with the rest of the instruments. As I said the album is instrumental so there's a lot of room for playing, some of it is really good and some of it is just ok, there aren't brilliant solos or moments that really manages to transcend beyond the surface, personally I'm missing a few really killer songs. But the album is definitely good and worth to locate if you enjoy the melodic side of prog.

3 stars.

The pseudonym Laurence Vanay belongs to female musician Jacqueline Thibault, husband of Magma's early bassist Laurent Thibault.She made extended studies as a young teenager on music theory, harmony and improvisation, before starting singing in churches.In 1972 she was part of the band Nanajo along with Laurent Thibault, who had already left Magma.In 1974 Thibault arranged her first personal LP for SFP, entitled ''Galaxies''.She was helped by Laurent Thibault on bass, Jean Chevalier on drums, Serge Derrien (later with Keris) on guitars, flutes and voices, while Jacqueline Thibault plays the Hammond organ, the acoustic guitars and sings.

The album has a mystic and beautiful atmosphere, pointing out the talent of Thibault in creating great moods and arranging.It is close to the majestic moments of CATHARSIS and the folkier themes of ANGE, while sounding quite personal allthe way.A mix of Folk Music and light Symphonic Rock, ''Galaxies'' has a smooth sound from start to end with brilliant and ethereal soundscapes created by the soft acoustic passages, the careful use of Hammond organ and the elegant style the flutes are used.There are plenty of instrumental pieces in here with extended use of organs and a very mellow rhythm section, sometimes delivering repetitive yet very interesting themes with a dicreet psychedelic approach but also a hidden symphonic nature.Often these textures resemble to the original sound of GOBLIN.The vocal tracks sound so very French with Vanay having a romantic, impressive voice, and these are closer to French Folk, being more acoustic-oriented.The organ though remains again present, even staying in the background, adding a very somber atmosphere as a whole.

Very relaxed musicianship, which somehow creates very deep emotions.Recommended to all fans of the lighter side of Progressive Rock.