ANNE DE BRETAGNE: LE ROCK OPERA D'ALAN SIMON

Alan Simon's Anne de Bretagne is a concept album in the same style as the Simon's ambitious Excalibur trilogy. Like on the Excalibur albums, Simon enlists a large number of artists from the Folk and Rock worlds. This time around the vast majority of these were previously unknown to me. But those that I did know well from before, Les Holroyd from Barclay James Harvest and several members from Fairport Convention, were also involved in the Excalibur project. A couple of the songs from this album also appear on Fairport Convention's own Fame & Glory album that is based entirely on material that they contributed to Alan Simon's Folk Rock Operas.

The vast majority of the songs on this double album are in French, with a few sung in English. This mixing of languages might be distracting for some listeners. The material is not bad, but the album is perhaps too long for its own good. After a while I tend to feel that I'm hearing only more of the same.

Overall, this is a less interesting album than the the Excalibur trilogy (especially Excalibur II & III), at least from a Prog perspective. Still, it is an at least partly enjoyable listen that could appeal to some fans of Celtic Folk Rock and Prog-related Pop Rock.