GRIME

Pleasent album by this unknown french outfit from 1979 - selftitled. Grime plays progressive rock quite clearly influenced by King Crimson , Van Der Graaf Generator in places and has aswell elements from their country fellows Ange and Mona Lisa or Ripaille. The music is theatrical and eclectic to me with some symphonic touches here and there with nice sax and flute interludes with the rest of the intruments. My CD version is released at Musea Records and comes with a thick booklet (16 pages) with bio of the band, pictures, and has 6 bonus tracks unreleased until this version, but now this item is sold out for some time. 3 stars that means a good one but nothing special either. Anonymous group but with a good album from the golden age of french progressive rock school.

I must admit, the Musea release of this compact disc, that almost doubles the original album's length by adding in live tracks, makes this album worthwhile. The original nine tracks, while not awful, are nothing special either. They are a mixture of many seventies styles, and seems to coalesce best when the band is playing mellow passages.

My main problem are some of the vocals. There seems to be this trend that pops up among avant garde minded bands of shouting at the listener. And Grime seemed to like to add a healthy dose of maniacal shouting and some burst of deranged laughter. None of it fits with the music.

Then there is the second half, the live tracks. Suddenly, this band shows it's value. The shouting is toned way down, and the music is played with an intensity that the studio portion doesn't come close to. And the songs are much more interesting. There is more adventurous compositions, with the pieces coming right to the edge or RIO.

I'd give two stars to the studio tracks, and four to the live tracks.