TAI PHONG

This is the first album realeased by the french band Tai Phong and it is their best one.

The song "Sister Jane" was issued as a single and sold 200 000 copies. This "slow" was a favourite in the french teenage parties and was considered as good as "Angie" by the Rolling Stones or "I'm not in love" by Ten CC. Dim the lights, put the sound loud, this "slow" is a killer !

The band was founded by two brothers (Khanh and Tai) who were born in Saigon (South Vietnam). They were less than 10 years old when they arrived in France. Tai Phong means "strong wing" in vietnamese. They recruited Jean-Jacques Goldman for vocals and guitar playing. Some years later, Goldman will choose to have a solo career and will have a phenomenal success in France. But it is an other story... The sleeve design is very good and original and pictures an electronic samouraï. This cover art was made by Lang, the third brother of Khanh and Tai.

The other gem of this album is the last song "Out of the night " , very melodic and atmospheric. The songs "For years and years" and "Fields of gold" are very good and very melodic too.

I think this album brings the same type of pleasure like the prog albums of Pink Floyd or Barclay James Harvest. And i think it would deserve to rank among the 50 best prog albums. So I give 4 stars and half.

This is not the best album of the band and the transition towards the pop-rock world is perceptible at several levels; the line-up is different than on the two previous albums, the first sign of the fracture being guitarist, singer and keyboardist Tai Sihn leaving the band (and with him a part of the group's name, Taï, maybe even a part of the musical vision?); the egos are exacerbed, both Khanh Mai and Jean-Jacques Goldman seeming to fight for becoming the lead(er) singer of the band; then, each in turn was not present at the recording sessions, therefore absent on some tracks; all this contributing to a real lack of musical unity! Goldman finally made it later as a pop star! Last sign of the commercial thoughts: an ugly and uninspiring cover! But what about the music? Well, it finds itself trapped between the dreams of the past and the seek for fame of the future; there are still at times longer instrumental passages where the musicians stretch it out but the song structures and clichés weigh more and actually wear out the prog aspects, bringing the album closer to some kind of americanized pop music with nice vocal harmonies; in fact if you have the Japanese papersleeve release of this album, you'll find three bonus tracks taken from singles, two of them from 78 leaving no more doubt about the musical direction wished by the band! Last Flight is an unequal album showing a band on the way to desagregation; unfortunately for them, the audience didn't react to their change of style and they called it a day in 1980! Followed a long crossing of the desert that lasted until 2000, where a new album (Sun) was released, with only Khanh Mai and drummer Stéphan Caussarieu remaining from the original line-up.

So they're back. I quite liked their "Last Flight" album, but this time ? Well, it's no disaster, after all, we're not talking about life of 70s Symphonic Prog band in desperation of 80s, are we ? But it's not a big win either. But this was to be expected. Album released after so much time would either be killer, or big nothing. There is nothing Prog, it actually remind me more calm (without "power" element") version of Asia. Backed with Symphonic sound (strings), but songs are extremely simple. So even it can be nice, easy listening music, it's not strong stuff (on the contrary), so

2(+), for pleasant music, but not much more.

TAI PHONG's sophomore release shares surface commonality with their stunning debut but fails to connect as much on an emotional level. Perhaps the band members themselves were not quite as enthusiastic as they had been, or perhaps the album was just rushed out too quickly in an attempt to capitalize on their surprise success.

The opening cut "When it's the Season" is marked by nimbly inventive lead guitar work as well as some colourful acoustic splashes, and, while recognizable as Tai Phong, does cover new ground in a quasi-improvisational fashion. "St John's Avenue" is far closer to their standard "formula", with mellotron washes and high pitched vocal exercises, and, while it's quite lovely, it doesn't soar like, say, "Fields of Gold". The other long tracks are similarly impressive sounding, but ultimately, like bonus tracks from the earlier album, missing the compositional intellect to match their loveliness. However, those who prefer a little less structure might be more drawn to "Windows", as long as they are not expecting MAGMA! As far as the two short pieces that appear one per side, let's just say there was a long line of "Sister Jane" wannabes from Tai Phong.

Thru "Windows" we catch glimpses of earlier achievements, but, as with real windows, it's about the treatments and the clarity of the view. Still good for 3 stars, with variability depending on your own perspective.

There are a few moments of brilliance on Tai Phong's debut, but they are greatly overshadowed by saccharine songs and so many unexceptional passages that listening to this album in full isn't exactly a wonderful experience. Honestly, I think the vocals are generally pretty terrible- they are imitative of early Geddy Lee, but in an inferior and annoying David Surkamp manner. The singing hurts my ears. The lead guitar playing is not the best I've ever heard, but it's definitely the best aspect of this album. The keyboard work and drumming have some highlights as well. Other than that, I am just not into this French debut.

"Going Away" The first track is an upbeat rocker with a bit of a Supertramp or Pavlov's Dog flair, with screeching vocals over gritty guitar and electric piano. The lead guitar soloing isn't too shabby, and I think the rhythm section works well underneath it, but it's certainly nothing spectacular.

"Sister Jane" The second song is a sappy, piano-based tune with whiny vocals. While it isn't terrible, it's not particularly good either, and definitely not remarkable in any fashion.

"Crest" Light organ and low, thudding bass opens this shortest track. It picks up some really good drumming and a pleasing electric guitar melody before an excellent synthesizer cuts through. This demonstrates what this album could have been, but sadly is not.

"For years and Years" Pleasant, jazzy guitar lightens up the mood over a nice bed of keyboard. The vocals are mercifully subdued and more harmonic; in fact, this piece almost sounds like oldies. The distant organ runs are a sweet touch. The second half is light piano with a syrupy sweet slide guitar. The final minute is a discordant jumble of instruments and notes- totally out of place and pretty poor on its own.

"Field of Gold" Falsetto vocals and piano give way to decent electric guitar and equally good singing. The music builds into a terrific wah guitar solo. Other than the first half of "Crest," this is the best the album has to offer.

"Out of the Night" The sound of thunder begins the final and longest song. An uninspired vocal melody over organ joins light percussion and guitar. The guitar solo is very good, and I like the way it fades quickly into beautiful piano. "Out of the Night" is overall a decent song, although like the rest of the album, doesn't amaze in the least, and is really more like wasted potential.

Tai Phong's last album before a long haitus (which they then did the excellent Sun album). This album is not as strong as it's predecessors (both masterpieces to my ears) but it still contains some excellent moments. The title track "Last Flight" is just as good/solid as anything they did on their previous albums and it makes this whole album worth having and is the reason for the 3 star rating. The song has Eela Craig "One Niter" like moments with melodies/harmonies that made 70's prog the classic era to my ears. That song alone is a "classic" to my ears and fortunately, it comprises 25% of the album which is a good thing :- ) The rest of the album is more in lines of what was on the AOR radio airwaves in 1979. What I mean to say is that the rest of the album is not horrible and the pop is "just mediocre and ok but nothing incredible". I get the feeling they had to do this album as a contractual obligation so they came into this album with one GREAT idea/song (The title track) just like the best of their previous 2 classics and had to somehow fill the rest of the album and may have written the remaining songs quickly with a shift towards radio airplay (think Giant for a Day maybe?).

As far as the one great title track, I wished it would not have ended as quickly as it did (with the quick fadeout just as things were really getting interesting). But it's still a great 10 minutes worth of listening.

Breaking the album apart:

The title track = ***** and great prog and takes up 25% of the album. The rest of the songs = **1/2

total = ***

I read the guidelines about the "******' ratings and I have examined my favorite types of albums over the years and I still believe this deserves the top rating. Warning: This is my personal preference though and I understand the lower ratings from others about this group/album. From 70's/80's prog France, one tends to think the likes Magma, Pulsar, Catharsis, Dun, Eskaton, etc... And those are all definitely great bands. And then you have band like Tai Phong which came upon me real late. As if to say, "Where has this band been during all my prog-searching years?". I'm a big fan of Eela Craig, Grobschnitt, Sahara, Barclay James Harvest, Nuevo Idea (aka, the "Mr E Jones" album) as well as the non-prog band CSNY. To me, Tai Phong is a blend of all 5 of the above mentioned bands in their style. Extremely melodic (without being sickeningly sweet), floating / airey / breezy keyboards (I hear similarities to Eela Craig's "One Nighter" album) / complex melodic interplay (aka, Sahara's "For all the clowns") and BJH/CSNY like vocal harmonies along with pastoral passages (aka, the last song on Mr. E Jones by Nuovo Idea). Yes, the singer has high pitched vocals at times but they're not a distraction.

All of the songs on this particular album sound quite good and way above average to my ears and together along with the 3 bonus tracks (great pop songs in the italian-prog-like tradition of New Trolls, etc..) make this quite album to have in the collection.

There is really nothing French-sounding about the album as it sounds more in the italian prog genre of the 70's and the british prog of the 70's.

There's not much more to say for me. If you like the above fore-mentioned bands, I can't see you not enjoying this album the way I have been.

The last song "The gulf of knowledge" is fantastic and one of the things I absolutely love about progressive rock. Time changes/melody changes and some melancholically mooving pieces towards the end (similar to my ears as the last 5 minutes in Grobschnitt's Rockpommels Land).

Nothing groundbreaking or original about this group/album. Just very damn enjoying/relaxing to listen to!!!

This album seems heavily underrated. I find it better than the second Taï Phong album because it is richer in melodies. The only low points are the side closers ("Sad Passion", "How do you do"), which are a little overlong pop songs, but I find that the melodies are still entertaining. "Thirteen space" is a fine piece of art rock, with a very memorable vocal melody in the intro, over a simple but pretty guitar riff; then it extends into a pleasant jazzy jam and a dreamsy conclusion. It seems to play the same role as "Circle" on the previous album. The rest of the album consists of the opener "End of an end" which I find melodically very good, again the intro is the hight point. I can say the same about "Last flight" whose intro is excellent, and then the "starship" part sung by JJ Goldman is great, but I could do without the falsetto part sung by Khanh Mai on the rest of the song. This "good intro/okay song" pattern disappears in the second long song of the album, "Farewell gig in amsterdam", which is my high point of the album despite its sometimes forced transitions. While the intro is excellent, its other parts, including the sax jamming in the end, are great and different from what Taï Phong offered us in the first two albums (as are the other jazzy moments on the album).

So my opinion is that it is the second Taï Phong album to hear after their self-titled debut. The overall production is weaker, but the compositions compensate this.

I like especially (only :( ) energetic first track, very melodic Games and more compex St. John's avenue. Other songs (at the moment) I don't like as first three, but I've heard it only 15 times, so may be changes will come... :) Highlights for me (as usual) are melodies and vocal. The last one (as many people have written) is very high and, unlike Jon Anderson (with whom TP' singer is often compared), is non-falsetto and often strained in dramatic parts. So. Good album, but recommended for collection - thus - 4 stars :) PS Sorry for bad English. :(

The cool cover art is the best part.

Tai Phong is sort of France's version of cheese-prog like we have Styx here, rather the lightweight pop side of progressive symphonic. Feels good but not much meat. They are no where near the league of other French symphonic bands like Ange, Eclat, Atoll, Cafeine, Shylock, Carpe Diem, Arachnoid, Pentacle, or Pollen from Canada. Of their two albums that matter, most will direct you to this debut but the second album "Windows" is better in my opinion and I was much more sympathetic in that review. It seems to have better dynamics, energy, and songs. But Sean Trane has this band pegged right: as he says in his review this is the bottom of the barrel of French progressive and should be the last thing you check out after the above groups plus others not mentioned. There are a few good moments here but overall this is 2 stars tops.

"Goin' Away" is an upbeat rocker delivered with the distinctive super-high vocals. There is some nice guitar work here which is always the highlight of Tai Phong for me. "Sister Jane" is really some dreadful tripe, the kind of song that they used to play at the roller rink when they wanted the boys and girls to skate/dance together. These first two songs are more like mediocre late 70s Jefferson Starship songs, the kind where you can't get to the tuner presets fast enough to change the station. "Crest" is the best here with some spirited keys and good bass, and thankfully few vocals. "For Years and Years" begins with nice piano and after some tentative vocals there are some decent workouts on keys and guitar. But eventually it slips back into laid back schlock, syrupy beyond any hope. Side 2 begins with "Fields of Gold" and this reminds a bit of Sebastian Hardie with the precious vocals in front of some nice melodic electric guitar. The middle section features rising dramatic keyboard atmospheres and eventually more wailing guitar. Not too bad but nothing spectacular either. "Out of the Night" clocks in at well over 11 minutes and begins with wind and storm noises, then mellotron (I think) creeps in with the vocal. The track proceeds mostly with a uniform slow pace and the laid back vocal against the keys, with little else happening save some occasional piano tinkles or guitar flourishes. The vocals are well done on this song (not so annoying) but honestly there is just dreadfully little to recommend this. Finally at 7 ½ minutes in we get a serious electric solo and breaks the monotony, it is well played and again sounds like a Sebastian Hardie lead (nice but repetitive.) A nice bit of piano closes the song, which has barely altered the same tone and beat started 12 minutes ago.

Really only "Crest" and some occasional instrumental moments save this album from total disaster for me. This is for Tai fans only. For other wishing to sample this band, definitely go for Windows over this debut. But seriously, unless you like sappy romantic pop music disguised by prog icing because it was hip at the time, look elsewhere. I just can't shake the contrived feeling I get from this album and perhaps that's why it doesn't work for me. But I did re-listen to Windows for this review and stand by that album as the better one. More energy, more happening, better sound, and no Sister Jane thank God.