JEANNE D´ARC - LA RÉVOLTE ÉTERNELLE

The quality of TD albums has been a roller coaster ride of late with highs like "DM 4" and lows like "Purgatorio", so when "Jeanne D'Arc" arrived I didn't really know what to expect. And the album certainly doesn't have an auspicious beginning with the first track,"La Vision" being rather bland and anonymous and new age-ish and at 12 minutes it also goes on for a while which in this case is not an endearing factor and I thought that this would be another mediocre "Purgatorio" effort and resigned myself to disappointment,but as "La Vision" segues into "La Joie" my eyebrows were raised in surprise (literally!) when an atmospheric synth theme emerged out of the droning electronic haze and Linda Spa's saxophone kicks in,lifting the music to heights of quite stunning beauty. I thought if they could keep this up "Jeanne D'Arc" could be a winner after all and I'm thrilled to say that despite the limp opening,they do manage to maintain the standard of "La Joie" for the remainder of the album which is quite a feat considering it's 79 minutes long. With the third track,"La Force Du Courage" a mild dance beat is introduced and is kept up for large parts of the rest of the tracks giving the album a mild and rather infectious groove,effectively dispelling the dire new age feel of "La Vision". With Linda Spa back on sax and flute I was rather apprehensive about "Jeanne D'Arc" since especially har sax parts had in the first part of the 90's made TD rather an ordeal to listen to with subtelty not exactly to the fore! But the guys have obviously learned a trick or two over the decade since miss Spa last graced a TD album about how to integrate saxophone into the TD sound and the effort this time is seamless and her sax lends TD's music just the right amount of an extra dimensional factor,enhancing it rather than destroying it. The most stupendeous news this time around is of course that for the first time in 15 years TD have a third "proper" member again rather than just the hired hands they have used since Paul Haslinger left in 91. He is Thorsten Quaeschning on keyboards and drums and he's also composed the whole album with Edgar and Jerome and judging from the contribution on this album he is an excellent addition to the TD line up and I'm looking forward to hearing what the future holds for TD now that they are a trio again. As a summation I will say that I haven't been this excited about a TD album since "The Seven Letters From Tibet" and that with time "Jeanne D'Arc" might eclipse even that jewel in my TD collection. "Jeanne D'Arc" is an album full of beauty,atmosphere,moods and that very special otherworldiness that is a TD trademark. The bland and anemic opening holds back the 5th star but that's nitpicking really since the remainder of the album reaches heights I frankly never thought TD would ever reach again. This should teach me to never lose faith in Edgar Froese's musical vision which still burns as brightly as ever.

Since I am not overwhelmed by "Remixes" or "Dante" trilogy, I could only put all my faith in this new studio recording. The concept per se is good: to recreate the life of the symbolic (for French people) Joan Of Arc.

Nice theme which is full of promises. But the remark I have already made about instrumental concept albums do remain valid for this one as well: one can hardly figure any correlation between the facts and the music.

Purely ambient (but very pleasant), the long opening number might render the idea of "The Vision" during which she "saw" a part of her future life in the course of the history from France. "La Joie" conveys the same peaceful mood and is very joyful indeed during the closing part which features some good sax play (although not very genuine to TD).

I also believe that more important events of her life could have been depicted (the siege of Orléans, the crowning of Charles VII in Reims, her trial etc.). Anyway, since it is an all instrumental work, one could have had these titles without understanding a lot more to be honest.

Sax is very present during "La Force Du Courage" and I can understand some TD purists (hi Rico) who feel somewhat left down even though this passage is well played. But again, I have never been a devoted sax fan within TD 's great music.

To try and explain that the piano section of "La Solitude De L' Espoir" represents "loneliness" and the more upbeat one "hope" is pure speculation. But it is the same feeling (or lack of) for each number. One could have expected a more pompous or bombastic approach for "La Marche", but some classical and new age sound is filling your ears. No big deal ("Sagesse Du Destin" is quite of the same as well even if its closing part is quite moving).

Only two short songs on this lengthy album (almost eighty minutes), which is another minor point. Fifty could have condensed the essence of this work and be more accessible as a whole. I will never understand why artists feel necessary to fill the full CD capacity. But TD are not the only ones...

This album is not a bad one: once one has admitted that the great TD years are behind and that it is quite unlikely that the band will sign more masterpieces in the future the disappointment is of a lesser extent even if there are hardly no brilliant passages, beautiful soundscapes and memorable beauty during this "Jeanne D' Arc".

Three stars.

An album that just proves how "on" a band can become when inspired by a topic/theme that comes outside of themselves: the stuff of legends.

1. "La Vision" (12:19) the weird psychedelia sounds that open this are absolutely perfect for this title and topic. In the second minute the synth sounds straighten out and form a dream-like soundscape similar to some of the more sedate ones in At the two-minute mark, however, a rhythm track is added that picks up the pace a bit while also enriching the soundscape. So excellent! I love the next-gen vocal "tron"-like voices and Holger Czukay-like "radio transmissions." The synth drum pattern turns full rock with lots of additional percussive sounds surrounding and propelling the song on an equal level. Great chord progressions announced by deep synth bass throngs. Awesome! And we're not even half-way through! At the seven-minute mark we get a new synth-bell/saw sound to carry the main melody, backed by banked chords of Enigma-like angelic female voices. A top three song to be sure. (23.75/25)

2. "La Joie" (5:16) kind of syrupy shlock with rather simple generic melody and pace. The instrument choices for the rhythm track are nice. Wish the lead synths were richer. Soprano sax enters in the fourth minute but does nothing dynamic or emotional except carry on the same simple melody as the start--until the fifth minute when it starts to flourish a bit. Too bad nothing else shifts/accelerates with her. More like Karl Jenkins' ADIEMUS. (8.5/10)

3. "La Force Du Courage" (8:37) opens with nice layered synths, voices, and "plucked bow"-like bass notes to signify forceful action. After 90-seconds the rhythm track is engaged: it's okay; nothing detracting. More layers of activity on the vocal and strings areas begin making their appearances as we near the end of the fourth minute, continue to embellish and enhance (as if the observer were in the middle of army camp while the hurried, scurried activities of preparation for battle are teeming around him/her). Glen Frey "You Belong to the City"-like sax enters in the fifth minute to nice effect--as if a general esprit de corps were being conveyed. The walls of sounds begin thinning in the eighth minute eventually leaving only sax and "alelu" female choral vocals. Nicely done! (18/20)

4. "La Solitude Dans L'Espoir" (7:32) solo piano enters, borrowing The Buggles' "I Am a Camera" melody theme to Yes' "Into the Lens." At the one-minute mark soft vocal synth wash chords are added in gentle support. At the very end of the second minute the piano's bass clef lowers and then the melody line shifts to a minor key, other keyboard-generated instruments start to join in. In the fourth minute drum/percussion sounds and "ChapmanStick"-like bass sounds are added, eventually congealing into a full rock rhythm track at the 4:00 mark. Multiple melody lines are now being generated, all at the same time, each one attractive and engaging on its own, none conflicting or detracting from the others. What great symbiotic composition! At then end the music devolves to piano for a recapitulation of the (Buggles') opening theme. Not a song with great highs or super-memorable passages or crescendos but such a solid, pleasant song! (13.375/15)

5. "La Marche" (8:36) nice panoramic opening synth weave over which awesome percussive-saw sound is sequenced to get things moving. By the end of the second minute the army has launched: the march is on, with the joinder of the full, complete company--including leadership--announced at 2:30 with full rock rhythm track: "bass and drums." The "pan flute" lead is awesome but it's the impetus of the "bass," "drums" and rhythm guitar work that really keeps us interested. Nice shift in the fifth minute to synth strings for the leadership while the rest of the troops continue their relentless march beneath. Awesome song to perfectly convey the feelings of an army on the go. I even love the instruments used to transmit the stoppage and communication of feelings and orders at the end. Another top three song. (19/20)

6. "La Sagesse Du Destin" (7:58) hypnotic dreamscape within which several instruments ("marimba," flute, and so many more!) each convey aspects of the main melody in a harmonized form. Genius! The "bass" play is super! At the end of the third minute we pause and shift into a passage with a MIDI-ed bells sound is used in the lead. Nice whole-sound shift at 4:23 while the bell-speak continues. Dramatic pause at 5:15 unveils saw-synth-assisted electric piano as soloist with odd 33 1/3 scraping sounds. (13.5/15)

7. "Le Combat Du Sang" (10:17) I do not own or possess this album. The songs I've been able to listen to are available through YouTube--except for this one, "Le combat du sang" is offered nowhere on YouTube. But I was lucky enough to find it with a search of Bandcamp--or at least a version of it: in 2020 Jerome Froese, one of the certifiable members of TD when the original album was created and released, released a "remastered" version of this via his "Home of Guitartronica" page. I have no idea if it's anywhere near the original, but it is a hard-driving, straightforward song of the "The Sky Moves Sideways (Part One)" ilk. It's good, solid, but not amazing or incredible. (17.5/20)

8. "Le Combat Des Épées" (14:02) two tracks of 90s electric piano with echo effect employed opens this one for the first minute. Then synth wash chords with bass-pedal-like bass notes establishes its own version of the opening. Japanese sword-bell synth takes over on the lead at the end of the second minute for a minute before soparano sax enters to take over. Bubbly synth percussive-rhythm track is added as sword-bell synth rejoins, working with the sax. More subtle additions and enrichments (mostly to the rhythm track) at the end of the fourth minute--and aagain at the 4:45 mark--as sax and sword-bell synth continue their beautiful duet/dance. Dramatic drum play shows up in the second half of the sixth minute before soon establishing a steady and forward-driving rock pattern. MIDI'ed flute-blown glass-female operatic voice now take over the lead, carrying the main melody strongly forward. Again, I am astounded by the genius of matching the song, instruments, and rhythms to the theme at hand. Thinning of instrumental tapestry at the end of the ninth minute yields a fast-paced multi-synth minimalist weave over which bells, strings washes, and heavily-treated electric piano add their own lines. Great, hypnotic weave! There's a little of THE WHO's "Eminence Front" here, a little JONN SERRIE, and a lot of originality. (27.25/30)

9. "La Libération" (4:39) too much like the Chariots of Fire sound palette and style. (8.5/10)

Total time 79:16

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of masterful literature-inspired music--one of TD's best of the 21st Century.