L'OCÉAN

L'Océan was recorded and published in 1989. It came out before the live album Tokyo, c'est Fini - Live in Japan. L'Océan was so successful in Japan that the band (or rather Chris Beya who is in command) decided to make a live album from a concert in Tokyo, obviously to cash in their oriental success. However, in Europe it didn't become a hit, fortunately or unfortunately accordingly. As you can see from the track listing, what you have are popish songs but not popish enough to be commercial if you see what I mean. The long weird tracks in the earlier albums are long gone. The songs are very melodic, a mix of prog and pop, a bit like Mike Oldfield and his less progressive albums. The singer sounds like Balavoine, a successful French singer. There is one pretty good track that stands out in the progressive vein and that is Métamorphose which is unfortunately and incredibly cut on the album ! You can find the complete version of this track on a compilation by Musea called Enchantement. This track alone makes the compilation a must have. So, overall, for fans only. I did hesitate with 1 star but I like the songs !