MICHEL VAILLANT

Although it is only a soundtrack, I consider this album as the best Archive release ever. It contains many nice, traditional songs, that base on melody, not on sound effects. On the other hand, instrumental pieces really arouse imagination, even without watching the film. what is most important - all the compositions are too intriguing to skip them, which wasn,t a rule on previous Archive works. This album shows, why the band is called modern Pink Floyd.

I was born with this Belgian comics but I never was a fan of it (only have a couple of books). Therefore, I was not really interested to go and watch the movie. Now, let's see what comes out the soundtrack...

The feel is definitely not the one I would have expected. This is supposed to be a movie about car racing, and I can't feel any thrill, any speed, and any action in here. Just a couple of soft songs; well performed but not very convincing.

"Helicoptere" is quite Floydian (except the heavy finale) and is probably one of the best song available from this soundtrack. But there aren't that many out here. "Vaillant Theme" is still another one. An instrumental and delicate piece of music. But again, not really in line with all the fuzz of a car racing. Just a good musical moment.

After a chaotic and avoidable "Nothing", a more classic "Friend" is welcome. Some sort of a melancholic PT or even a "Beatles" tune. Melodic, sad and somewhat mellowish. The final result is not bad at all.

The more I listen to this album, the less interested I feel. I guess that a soundtrack is OK when you listen to it while watching the movie (with some noticeable exceptions like TD or KS). Even the genuine Floyd could not really captivate me with "More" nor "Obscured By Clouds".

At the end of the day (which is how I feel since it is quite late at night by now), two stars sounds the maximum rating available.

Not a pure prog album, but the songs and instrumentals are extremely well written, and there are definitely many prog elements. Some of it comes across as experimental-prog, while there are also short ballads, sometimes interspersed with heavy instrumentals. The whole album is very atmospheric, and as it is the soundtrack for the French film of the same name, it has all the feel of a concept album, and viewing some of the film trailers on iMDB or Youtube will add a great deal to the listening experience. I'd like to give it 5 stars, but I can't really call it "a masterpiece of progressive rock music", so 4 stars it is. This band are huge in continental Europe, but not so much in the UK for some reason.