SOUFFLEURS DE VERS

I should have attended their concert at the Olympia in Paris for the real start of their promotional tour for their latest studio album (I even convinced my seventeen years old son to come with me) but poor health prevented me to do so. I'll console myself while attending their gig at the Spirit of 66 within a few weeks from now.

The time of the great "Ange" albums is of course a very old story. IMHHO their true latest great album was released in 1978 ("Guet Apens") but the band still produced very good material with "Sève Qui Peut" in 1989 and a good one with "Culinaire Lingus" (2001).

This album is a rather rocking one (like their eighties work but better). Lyrics of course are above par. Not to be compared with the greatest "Ange" albums from their most brilliant period (the seventies, would you believe?). A song as "Dieu Est Un Escroc" fully brings us some thirty five years backwards to their most anti clerical great texts (and I am so in line with them as far as this philosophic question arises).

The funniest one of this album is definitely "Interlude". But therefore you need to master the French language unfortunately. But this has always been a deep characteristics of this great band and probably therefore they never had a broader audience outside the French speaking territories (to which my country - Belgium - belongs).

This album is rather a deception for me.

Coupée En Deux renowns with the good texts from Christain Descamps. One of the best lyricists in the prog music history IMHHO. No god nor love song in his work. Just fabulous themes and stories. Only pared with Gabriel early work if you see what I mean. This song is full of play on words but again, totally out of reach if you are not fluent in French.

This album lacks in grandeur. It is French rock oriented all the way through and I can't really identify one great song out of it. Even not the long and epic title track. This album is not essential at all to your "Ange" discography. Their first six albums do sell for very cheap on Amazon, so stick to them and discover a great prog band.

Two stars for this one. Désolé les gars!

Two Christmas presents for the Ange fans living in Lyon. A gorgeous concert during which were played many songs from the new album and oldies (but goldies) too, true nuggets found in the rich Ange discography (by the way, the old songs were played with the original arrangements and today's brio). And a new album. I was surprised during the concert (I didn't know the new album yet at that time) by the quality of these new catchy tracks opening the set (and the album): 'Tous les boomerangs du monde' or 'Coupée en Deux' sung by Caroline. In the great Ange tradition, I enjoyed Tristan's splendid vocals once more in this new song 'Nouvelles du Ciel' closed as far emotion and quality are concerned to his version of Polnareff's 'Le Bal des Laze'. What about the rest of the album? Same excellence? Yes, indeed! First of all, some words about the cover and booklet. Gorgeous and clear, coloured and Zen. And the title, a superb pun, is an invitation to poetry, to true literature. As a good Bordeaux wine, Christian Décamps and all his band are still going strong. Ange shows they have a true musical magic, they are a real machine creating emotion. Almost all songs remain in your memory from the very first listening. 'Les Ecluses' with its multiple melodies is splendid, 'Où vont les escargots' with its delicate arrangements, sound and production (Caroline at her best) too. For Caroline is in her full bloom, more at ease in emotion. The track giving the title to the album is the only truly progressive epic, therefore with a more difficult access, one of longest tracks by Ange (16'), where the band shows again his capacity in composing such suites. Yes, Ange is a prog combo! A very good one even if as a whole this album features rather direct and traditionally formatted songs. Ange has always been a subtle blend of reality with fantasy, a bitter glance upon life and stories from dreams and imagination. In this album, it seems that reality is more present ('Dieu est un escroc'), so this is a darker album, a bit sadder than usual. Thus its emotional richness see what happens to the world and life, but finally all that remains enjoyable" seems to say the author. All Ange albums are good or even very good, that one is gorgeous. If Ange had not produced masterpieces in the past, the roots as they say, this album would be their best since there are no weak moments as the previous works featured. Yes, their best! (Olivier Sauce and Thierry - first published in Acid Dragon #46)

1. All the Boomerangs of the World for the lyrics, the fluidity, and the acoustics, for the Middle Eastern fade-in... a coat rack, an engaging tune surfing the wave. 2. Les Écluses, again, the acoustic, highlighting the vocals, that voice that some will never be able to erase or replace; an album to fan the flames, to restart this iconic band for the umpteenth time with this languid classical tune, with a redundant chorus and the finale that finally adds a little spice to the violin fade-in. 3. Dieu Est Un escroc, a substitute for this previous track, with a bit of groove to embrace the turn of the new millennium; 8 minutes with a monolithic narrated text, a dynamite linear crescendo that's heady but annoying, filling? You have to wait until the 6-minute mark to wake up a little, but it's a straw in the pan since the tune is indeed a crook for having filled it at little cost, in short, a disappointment. 4. Nouvelles Du Ciel with Tristan on vocals, and what a sensual pleasure! Well, I repeat, it was the perfect time to at least do a duet at the beginning of the new ANGE; a beautiful romantic piano ballad with nostalgic melancholy, with the synth about to take over; in short, solemn, delicate, and progressive, I vote for it. 5. Interlude for the Christian-style palaver, always his desire to talk more than anything else. Well, we must be near St. Louis Hospital, I think, given the view, listening to his lyrics, a small dose of children's singing, and presto, the interlude is over, a memory sequence. 6. Où Vont Les Escargots? for the consensual piece, a slow rhythmic rise like the tracks of snails, the scent of many old songs found here; a marshmallowy tune that relaxes and surfs on the soul of ANGE.

7. Coupee En Deux with Caroline as a guest narrator. So, a first part that intrudes on the album? Question: what's the point other than the bluesy guitar solo? Oh, the end with Christian, that was definitely ANGE. Otherwise, I'll pass. 8. Les Beaux Restes for the title track symbolizing the band's spirit now; a synth base for the groovy side, the vocals that diffuse, and a touch of narration like in the old days; Tristan adds his touch. Well, this duo is excellent, I repeat, bringing energy and diversity. Oh, the guitar solo that pours out, scatters, nice even if a tad too long and lacking a prog structure! 9. Souffleurs De Vers (Synopsis) with Caroline explaining, as in 'Sève qui Peut', the story of a basic ambient piano. 10. Souffleurs De Vers (Film) for the eponymous track with Hassan's bluesy guitar, remember his connections to this musical genre; the track navigates between memories, reminders of yesteryear, and a mellow keyboard, a suave atmosphere. The break is delicate, arriving with a 70s vibe, a RIO space also reminiscent of the madness of MAGMA for the most imbued. When it starts again, it's to have a mind-boggling compulsive mantra before returning to the primary ambient state; go for a second escapade on ART ZOYD, the zeuhl, surely an impulsive desire that I don't understand with this raw, bombastic chorus that makes my hairs itch. One question: why hasn't this track been played more often live for a finale that's once again explosive? I ask because the progressive intensity reaches its peak on it, whether we like Caroline or not on it? 11. Personal Journal as a final interlude, for its immortal thoughts, a little country stroll in the area. (2.5).