HISTOIRE DE FOU

Francis Decamps was one of the founding members of Ange, the best prog band France has ever produced. And to you howling wolves out there; yes I know Magma too is from France.

The Ange connection is an automatic plus in my books and I was glad when I got this album. An album some regards as a classic album from France. Well, I have heard better and more distinct albums from France than this one. And by the way, this is Francis Decamps debut album.

This being a debut album, but probably the fifth or so album Francis recorded (the others with Ange), it has some typical debut album ills. In short, Francis seems unsure which road to take. Pop ? Rock ? .... or continue the course staked out as a part of Ange ? The result sounds like a compromise. A bit of a muddle. At least; at the three opening songs Droit Vers Le Soleil, Malédiction and Canicule. All of them pretty light hearted. Not that anything from France is light hearted. The music is slightly theatrical pop/rock with a lot of folk music connotations. Fine enough, but hardly good songs. Even though they are pretty long. Canicule clocks in at over nine minutes.

Then the album takes a bit of a turn to the left and goes into more, much more theatrical symphonic prog. Amédée Le Mal Maudit is a ten minutes melodic, theatrical symphonic epic which winds itself into my heart. Well, close to my heart at least. Great song which will make any Ange fan happy. The same goes for the slightly shorter and more compact final track Apocalypse which has a great crescendo aka Keith Emerson. Another great song.

In other words, this is not a classic album by any means. But fans of Ange and/or French prog rock should most definate check out this album.

3.5 stars

Ange is one of the 1970's prog bands that I missed back then, most likely because I never found any of their albums in the used record stores that I inhabited, nor did I ever hear them on the college radio stations that I was addicted to at the time. But this album, the first solo venture by Francis DeCamps, one of the founding members, does pique my interest in the band.

The first three of the five tracks are good, but not great. Droit Vers Le Soleil and Canicule are both light symphonic prog pieces, while Malédiction is more of a psychedelic song. On all three of these tracks the music is good, but the entire experience of the songs are lowered by DeCamp's overly emotive, and sometimes off-key vocals.

The final two tracks are where the real value comes in. Amédée Le Mal Maudit is a renaissance period symphonic piece, and reminds me a bit of classic Gryphon. And Amédée Le Mal Maudit is a more modern sounding symphonic piece, with a bit of experimental mixed in.

Three three star and two four star songs averages the album to three stars.

French composer, songwriter and musician, mostly known for his work with Ange.He had been the band's main keyboardist already at the very early stage of their appearance and for several years to come, supported by his brother singer Christian Decamps.Among his obligations with Ange Francis found sometime to write and record a personal album in 1979, originally released on Philips (the same label as Ange's), under the title ''Histoire de fou''.He was helped by guitarists Michel Moulinie and Jack Pichaud along with Ange fellow members Gerald Renard (on bass) and Jean-Pierre Guichard (on drums).

While Ange's familiar Theatrical Prog style was slowly fading away towards the 80's, Decamps' album is some sort of reedition of the typical French dramatic school of prog akin to ANGE, MONA LISA or SYNOPSIS.''Droit vers le soleil'' is a fantastic opener with superb melodies, plenty of moog solos and nice melodramatic vocals by Francis, very inspiring and retro-sounding.The following ''Malediction'' is more-guitar oriented with a few nice leads and solos, always within the typical ANGE atmosphere, and a good synth performance by Francis at the end.The long ''Canicule'' is an attempt by Decamps on Orchestral Prog with beautiful, cinematic string arrangements and a couple of pure Classical parts thrown in supported by a great rhythm section.One of the nicest examples of this man's composing skills.The 10-min. ''Amedee le mal maudit'' is as closest as it gets to ANGE.Symphonic Rock of pure delight, filled with opening harpsichord, organ waves and great moog solos, with a light Folk vibe here and there, theatrical vocals by Francis Decamps and dramatic sections centered around great guitar and keyboard work.Simply great.The closing ''Apocalypse'' opens in a very calm mood.Acoustic guitars, whispering instead of vocals and light dreamy keyboards.But soon they will leave their place to a grandiose keyboard-based orchestral theme to lead the track along the very end.

Thanks to Musea Records the album has seen a CD reissue and everyone into theatrical Orchestral/Symphonic Rock with plenty of interesting guitar and keyboard moves should simply purchase this one.Nice stuff, highly recommended.