PATCHWORK

This album is heavily influenced by Marillion with female French vocals. This isn't surprising since Arrakeen performed as the first part to Marillion's French Tour back in 1990. Nothing annoying but nothing very new under the sun. If you like neo-prog rock than this is pretty good. Has one track ("Folle Marie") recorded in concert with Steve Rothery (from Marillion) performing a solo. So I guess this would also be of interest to Marillion completionists.

This mini-CD is simply the best piece of music a french prog band ever released.

An outstanding EP in every way !!!

Eric Bonnardel's keyboard-playing is bringing heart & soul to ARRAKEENs neo-prog-stylish sound, you can simply compare him to Martin Orford or Mark Kelly. Yves Darteyron on bass is very good too, his baselines are very solid and clear. Attention: Maïkos vocals are extremely high and sometimes strange, either you like or you will hate it totally...a question of taste! I like it, because it's totally different to all other female vocals I ever heard before.Sylvain Gouvernaire's guitar-work sounds so fresh, powerful and melodic, much better then Marillion's Steve Rothery (...sorry for that, Steve). It's a pity, that Sylvain left the band after this EP. (You can listen to him on the "IRIS - Crossing The Desert" CD too) JESUS, what a great guitar-player Sylvain is ! Listen to his wonderful guitar on "Le monde du quoi" (timecode 3:27+), "Differences" (timecode 9:14+) *breeeeezing* , "L'Entaluve" (timecode 3:25+). Nothing more to say.

***** stars ... without a shadow of a doubt, for "magical moments" on this NEO-PROG-MASTERPIECE.

From the early Eighties I was hooked on Marillion (until "Misplaced childhood") and I bought everything that was at least a bit similar to that wonderful sound. One of those bands was the French Arrakeen. Jou can enjoy a very moving guitarsound and some great work on the keyboards but in general it is very derivative. If you don't have a problem with that, this album is worth a try for the early Marillion aficionados and the neo-prog lovers.

Unlike some reviewers say about this debut CD from french band Arrakeen, I think their work is very original. After all, who else blend together brit neo prog with traditional french music? Not folk, but the traditional "chanson française". The results are awesome, very fine music with great guitar and keyboards interplay and a distinctive female singer. The vocals are in french which seems to fit better to their style than english. It is more a EP than a CD, it lasts only 30 minutes, but what 30 minutes! All songs are good, but the second one, the 11 minute Differences, with its several different moods and tempos is surely a highlight. Marillion´s Steve Rothery adds a fine guitar solo on the last track, a fantastic live version of Marie (a song from their first demo tape).

Too bad the band only produced two CDs before they break up. They could have been huge! Anyway, if you're a neo prog fan you can't miss this one and their second CD Mosaique. After all those years, Arrakeen is my favourite neo prog from France and Patchwork one of the my top ten prog CDs of the decade. Highly recommended!

Stunning! One of the best neo-prog debut CD I ever heard. It is just a shame this band did not meet the fame it deserved in the eraly 90's (thus leading to a dismantlement eventually). Okay, it does sound "marillion-like" in many respects, but with such a stunning female singer and a so skilled guitarist, arrakeen is a definitive must-have. "Differences" and "Folle Marie" are nothing but the progressive rock at its best: emotive, surprising, enchanting and magical.

ARRAKEEN were presented to me as a female-voiced French early MARILLION. I heard another band of that kind, LA TULIPE NOIRE, and still had an interest to further researches in this area :) .

“Patchwork” is a EP released in 1990, and sometimes it truly captures MARILLION spirit and manner. But I believe, the direction and ideas the band followed were quite different. ARRAKEEN sound more like a proto-NIGHTWISH stuff, i.e. “Metal with female vocals”. Guitar solos are great and somewhat close to Rothery’s ones, but they’re more metal-edged and less emotional. Nice record as a whole (I wonder what happened to the band), but if you really want to get something from ARRAKEEN, begin with “Mosaique”. Recommended both for Prog-Metal and MARILLION devotees.

This is actually an EP by one of the most underrated neo prog bands in the history of progressive rock...This EP contains 3 studio tracks and a live one,in which Steve Rothery contributes with a guitar solo...It was released in 1990 and the musicianship is just excellent!

So,to create decent neo prog you need mostly a good melodic guitarist and a sufficient keyboard player...Well,this band has it all...Behind the keyboards we find Eric Bonnardel who plays amazingly his role without having to be extremely bombastic...Sylvain Gouvernaire is a fabulous guitarist filling the tracks with its melodic guitar play and the great,emotional solos ala Steve Rothery...Maiko's vocals are just a paradise...Strong performance that fits greatly with the thrilling atmosphere of the album...MARILLION,CLEPSYDRA,ARENA or even RENAISSANCE fans will a have a great time listening to this...Other progressive rock fans should also check this album out definitely in my opinion...A great music creation by a short-live legendary band which deserves at least 4 stars!Highly recommended!

When I found the music of Arrakeen I managed to get my hands on both issues and because of that I checked them out simultaneously. And that was a funny experience actually because to this very day I can't decide which of their two great studio releases is really the better. After the first five spins I thought this Patchwork would be the winner but after five more I'm not too sure anymore.

Patchwork is definitely the shorter album with only four songs clocking just over half an hour. These four songs are all winners though so that makes it hard to be negative about it. In fact it's a bit of a strange release because the fourth and last song is played live and that's not very usual on a debut to say the least. It's a great song but it has to be said - and that's my only criticism on both Arrakeen albums that this live song is not really the best of them all. Female vocalist Maïko must have had a tough evening because she sounded exhausted at the end. Well, it's just a minor complaint, the rest of what this band has done in the early nineties deserves every praise and are performances they can be proud of.

I'm proud to own them and recommend both Patchwork and Mosaïque to all neo progressive music fans. But I feel any music lover can enjoy this. It's near perfect stuff. Hats off for Arrakeen.

Interesting, but yet little bit sinister cover. These two words means probably weird, so this is weird cover. But nice one. Can be cover art better than music itself (just asking) ? Fortunately, this is not the case. One can't know everything and I have to say that I lack knowledge about Marillion of this era. So as far as my ears work, I can say that I like it. That could be enough for me, but not for you, readers. And because I write also from reason to think about music I'm listening and to understand it more, I'll be glad to continue.

Nightwish reminiscent ? I don't think so, using of higher woman vocals doesn't mean NW automatically. And metal part is maybe 1/10-2/10 of these songs. It's quite short and because of this, my rating wouldn't get over 4 stars. Maybe unfair, but little bit over 20 minutes is not so interesting, as 40, or even 80 minutes. It's almost over before you notice anything. No, this is good neo-prog, which has one big mistake, so

4(-) for short length. Believe me or not, but I see it as a mistake.

This is a wonderful piece of neo-prog minstrelsy, from 1990, worthy of the attention of any prog fan.

The music is drenched in the very essence of La France. In the same way that there was something very English about the early GENESIS sound, something very Italian about the early PFM sound, there is something very French about the sound of the music of Arrakeen.

Fronted by female vocalist Maiko, fans of bands such as STREAM OF PASSION (but imagine a French essence replacing the gothic flavours) will enjoy this as much as the MARILLION fans it is so often aimed toward in reviews. The accessibility and style of the music is probably comparable with early PFM (think PHOTOS OF GHOSTS) and in fact doesn't have so much in common with MARILLION .

The album is only about thirty minutes long, but the quality is exceptional. Compositional skill is high and everything is played with real passion and enjoyment.

The first track 'Le Monde Du Quoi' is probably the closest we actually get to an early MARILLION sound, particularly noticeable in the keyboard lines. The track ends with a memorable guitar solo. The next track 'Differences' is an eleven minute long prog classic and it is here that the French flavour really kicks in. It's a work of many contrasting styles from acoustic piano to heavy guitar power chords. The third track 'L'Entaluve' somehow manages to convert what sounds like a Eurovision song entry from the 80's into an anthemic prog song !!

Musicianship, throughout is second to none and this release evoked some essential and seminal guitar playing from the excellent guitarist Sylvain Gouvernaire, whilst keyboardist Eric Bonnardel displays a talent that is second to none. The whole band provide an epochal performance on the final track, 'Folle Marie' which is recorded live. On this track Maiko's vocals ebb passion and ache with melancholy over a beautiful acoustic guitar riff that is complimented by some emotional keyboard lines before building into a powerful finale where the band are joined by Steve Rothery from MARILLION. This is one gig I sincerely wish I had been at....

It's a shame this album is often remembered only due to the band touring with MARILLION and is often ignored because of this. If you have heard this before and dismissed it, I urge you to listen again with 'fresh' ears !! If you have never heard this, please take the time to find a copy, you will not regret it.

This French album combines a classic neo-prog sound - which to my ears sounds a little more like early Pendragon than Fish-era Marillion, with a bit more emphasis on the keyboards than either band - with the excellent vocals of frontwoman Maiko, whose singing, influenced by the "chanteuse" style, is reminiscent of a French Annie Haslam. Marillion fans will be interested to hear Steve Rothery's guest solo on the closing track, a live recording of Folle Marie from when the band were supporting Marillion on the Seasons' End tour, though I think few others will consider it a particularly high priority release - it's a pleasant enough album but it doesn't really add much new to the format.

In 1990 this mini-album was self-distributed as a product of support for the French tour of a British neo- progressive gods Marillion. Although Arrakeen's music was the most reminiscent of Marillion, they had their uniqueness. What immediately attracts the most attention at the first listen is the beautiful angelic voice of Maiko, especially the fact that her singing in French combined with beautiful melodies gives the band's sound a special charm. To this day, I get goosebumps when her voice reaches unimaginable heights in Differences. The appearance of none other than the master himself, Steve Rothery, and his magnificent solo in the live version of Folle Marie represents a great finale of this extraordinary work. The band had everything, a nice melodic guitar sound, beautiful atmospheric keyboards, and a good rhythm section, but it failed to attract much attention from music lovers. I think that their music was very accessible and that it was not limited by the prog form .