TAÏ PHONG

3.5 stars. This is actually a pretty good record that maybe drifts into AOR a little too far at times but a quality album. Founded by two Vietnamese brothers in France we get a five piece here with two guitarists, drums, keyboards and bass but there's a couple of multi-instrumentalists on here. Lots of vocals and man the one guy can sing as in the example we have on that opening track.

I was surprised at the love/ hate that is directed at this album here, it certainly has brought out some emotions. I guess I'm in the middle feeling that this was a talented outfit who maybe went into the commercial direction more than I'd like but a solid album. Now that ballad that made them some money "Sister Jane" causes a divide for sure and while I almost to a fault complain about ballads this is one I liked instantly but I can also say I would get sick of it fairly quickly like the poppy hits of yesterday.

The vocals on the opener "Going Away" are so impressive, I mean he just lets go with no reserve. This is fast paced including the vocals with the line "Anywhere's better than here" standing out. Then It's "Sister Jane" followed by "Crest" with the fast paced drumming and floating organ. So three short songs to start and they end it with three long one from over 7 1/2minutes to 11 1/2 minutes. The standout of the three is the closer "Out Of The Night" opening with wind and thunder. Reminds me that TAI PHONG means Strong Wind in Vietnamese. Anyways some guitar solos, vocals, piano and floating organ over the 11 1/2 minutes. I just like the sound of this one.

I enjoyed parts of this a lot but in the end 3 stars seems right but if your into the more melodic side of Prog you should check this out.

I discovered TAÏ PHONG in 2020 with their self-titled album. As a french I was really pleased to see a band from our country able to compete with the international prog scene. This is the last album with Jean-Jacques Goldman before he began his successful career in the 80s. I love most of the songs on the album. 'End Of An End' has a beautiful acoustic introduction with tight vocal harmonies and also great instrumental parts. 'Farewell Gig In Amsterdam' contains a killer and jazzy sax solo in the end as well as a nice acoustic part in the middle of the song. 'Last Flight' and 'How Do You Do' are also favorites of mine. The keyboard sounds used remind of CAMEL, which might be a huge influence for them. However some tracks fall flat. The bonus tracks have a more commercial approach, as if they tried to renew with the success gained with their hit 'Sister Jane' on the first album. 'Shanghai Casino' sounds annoying and repetitive to me, 'Follow Me' is kind of catchy but lacks of something. This is a very solid record overall, even though the bonus tracks add nothing special. Most of the songs are really worth it.

A long 21 years after "Last Flight" failed lift-off, TAI PHONG reformed, admittedly with only 2 long time members. While "Sun" is not really a prog album, it retains enough of their trademark sound - high pitched male vocals, appealing harmonies, occasionally soaring lead guitars and varied keyboards - to be worth a listen or two.

The 2 lengthier tracks would be of most interest; even if not exactly epic, they each have two parts in deference to a time when suites were de rigeur, and they appear to have been well thought out. Vocals are predominant and the instrumental breaks don't flex as they did during the band's heyday, instead expounding upon the vocal themes effectively. "Rainy Night in Saigon" is well arranged and incorporates a children's choir without sounding sappy. "Now I know" is more upbeat and dramatic but in a similar vein.

A couple of ballads are also noteworthy, these being "Everything's Wrong" and the lovely and languid "Fly Away" that closes the disk. These manage to encapsulate some of the qualities that made TAI PHONG darlings of the slow dance in their day. Unfortunately, they criminally re-recorded the one legit hit, "Sister Jane", in a ghastly apparition which sullies its legacy a bit. I mean, have another go at it by all means. But don't call it a "definitive edition", no matter how good you think it is. And it isn't. Apart from the so-so "Last Friend", the rest is perhaps slightly below the level of "Last Flight", which is to say entirely dispensable.

While "Sun" doesn't come close to eclipsing the mid 1970s offerings by TAI PHONG, it does thoroughly avoid casting a shadow on the band's history in the eyes of those who care. 2.5 stars it is, rounded up.

The Vietnamese-French combination known as TAI PHONG was cursed by their early success due largely to the single "Sister Jane" from their first album. While it was an effective pop ballad with progressive arrangements and sold very well, it insisted upon itself for the next few years, with several mediocre clones appearing on 45 and the "Windows" album, resulting in a musical schism between these and their symphonic progressive epics. By the time of the aptly titled "Last Flight", the band had lost their ability to write and perform effectively in both realms. Instead we are subject to undistinguished late 1970s rock reminiscent of SUPERTRAMP, CITY BOY or KAYAK. Through the course of this thankfully brief exercise, a few passages stand out here and there, particularly on the two longest tracks, courtesy of Michel Gaucher's tenor saxophone and Pascal Wuthrich's jazzy piano, but the overall effort is rather unrewarding. As for the shorter tracks, well, they aren't "Sister Jane" wannabes but are otherwise just as banal, with the best probably being the Asian sounding "Thirteen Space" or the sappy closer describing the birth of the singer's daughter in somewhat cloying and egotistical terms that are thankfully eclipsed by the overall novelty of the perspective. Like many swan songs from the time period. "Last Flight" was ultimately not the last word by the band, but it signaled their crash landing as a commercially viable band, while prog fans won't salvage much from the wreckage.

Review nº 229

Taï Phong - Windows

Look at all those rainbows in the cover art, trespassing even the shameless samurai. That's a reflection of the multiple keys work on this dreamy little album. The guitar helps to create a rainbow of soundscapes. This second album from the french symphonic katana managers stabilished a lot of melodic lines that would became the definitive 80s symphonic rock style. Funny, they are from the 70s, so there are trippy psychedelic dreamclouds surrounding Windows (the fantasy electronic work is the highlight of the album), lenghty suite format tracks and stuff, but even so, the painful pre-80s melodic lyrical type made them underrated. In fact, I can disarm a few of the 80s bands that clearly stolen Taï Phong's Windows melodies in a way or another. So, give them a try. It's just like Supertramp keyboardists lovesick crying after a mushroom tea party eating seagull's meat as vegetarians who don't want to follow rules anymore. Specially for Pink Floyd/Yes fans suffering from a psychological trauma because can't stand living with the parent's at 42.

Review nº 228

Taï Phong - self titled

What would you expect of a heavy/symphonic french prog band from the 70s starring Jean- Jacques Goldmnan, nothing less than the songwriter for Céline Dion's greatest hits, a visionary dreamy keyboardist called Jean too, and a cool Samurai concept for band promotional imagery? Isn't obvious? Täi Phong is an underrated prog rock piece of the golden age, mixing furious passages, space floating atmosphere, chocolate hot dog, melancholic vocals, romance and shurikens! Why I consider their first couple of full lenght albums masterpieces? Because the passional sadness beauty captured from pop and some proto- prog and relateds, dissected and threw up on prog suites, would later return as the center stomp of the crossover/neo-prog and 80s symphonic hard rock. But nobody talks about Taï Phong. The samurai age was forgotten. It just isn't fair. By the way, this album is a little heavier than it's sequel Windows, focused on surreal dreamscape tunes.

I've been aware of Tai Phong for a number of years, since 1996, in fact. I remembered a mail order catalog describing them as something like CSNY gone totally progressive. Most others never made that comparison, but I can understand where that catalog was coming from. For one thing, the vocalist (I presume Jean Jacques Goldman) often sounded a bit like Graham Nash. Yes, there are vocal harmonies from time to time, but prog opinion tends to compare it to Yes, even that, it don't remind me that much of Yes. Just recently I ran across an original LP on their second LP, Windows at a Eugene, Oregon record store and decided to get a copy. I was really shocked with the amazing sound quality, given so many LPs I own on the Warner Bros. label have such crummy sound quality, even non-US pressings, like Greenslade's Bedside Manners are Extra and Curved Air's Airconditioning (although the latter can be easily forgiven since my copy is a picture disc). This album gives me that same reaction I get with Barclay James Harvest, perfectly pleasant listen, but nothing that really blew me away, but still worth having in my collection. There are times I almost get reminded of Pavlov's Dog, particularly when the vocals go into almost David Surkamp territory (but not as so ridiculous, as the vocals don't have that same absurd vibrato). Not every day you come across a prog rock band that has two Vietnamese (believe it or not, Khanh Mai and Tai Sinh weren't the only Vietnamese involved in prog, Jean My Truong, drummer for Heldon, was also Vietnamese). Jean Jacques Goldman was Jewish, so what you got is a multi-cultural band (the other two I'm sure were your typical Frenchmen of Catholic upbringing, apparently some early incarnation included Americans). Tai Phong might not have the highest opinion of the prog community, probably because they're not the most intense or mindblowing out there, and with Windows, it sounds more like they were emphasizing ballads, but I found a lot of them rather nice, particularly "Games". I like some of the synth work from Jean-Alain Gardet, especially when he gives it a nice spacy feel (Hammond organ, Moog, and Elka Rhapsody are what he uses here, as well as piano). I like how "The Gulf of Knowledge" gives a more Asian feel. For the most part, this isn't the usual French prog where vocals are sung in French (like Ange or Atoll) or made-up language like Magma, this was sung in English, in hopes of international recognition ("Sister Jane" from their debut album appeared to be a hit in France). This isn't something heavy or intense but I didn't need to have all my prog to be like that. Sure there are a few cheesy moments, like the acoustic ""Last Chance", not to mention some of the vocals, but for the most part, it's a pleasant listen. Deserves a three and a half, but I'm not given that option, so four stars it is. One of those album you shouldn't overspend on.

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 wind " 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.