MÉMOIRE VIVE

This album is the first studio album by Garolou since 1982. For the most part, this is a fine return to form. While the songs remain normal-length and pretty safe, most of the songs are really good, very musical, and the sound quality is excellent. Of the 11 songs on this album, there are only 3 I find weak, although not too weak as I can still listen to them (tracks 4, 8, and 9). The album opens with the excellent "Quand l'amour n'y est pas", and continues through two more excellent songs ("La fille du roi d'Espagne" and "Le saoleil s'en va se coucher"), each of which would fit very well on their first three albums, with classic 70s-sounding organs and guitars (and if these had been on the third album they would be among its strongest tracks). Two other highly enjoyable tracks are the more Acadian-tinged pieces, "Le Cheval en peinture" and "Mes souliers sont ronds" - fun tunes with highly memorable melodies that stick in your head. This album is admittedly on the tame side, with only hints of progressivity on a couple of tracks, but most of this music is of very high quality and the sound is classic Garolou. So if you like their first two albums and do not require complex progressive arrangements, you will like this one. I give this album 7.7 out of 10 on my 10-point scale, so, at the top end of 3 PA stars.