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Laura - Laura CD (album) cover

LAURA

Laura

 

Crossover Prog

3.83 | 9 ratings

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apps79
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars Lost but not forgotten symphonic rock outfit.Formed in Roye,Northern France,Laura was an eight-piece band featiring among others two guitarists,two keyboardists with multiple vocal arrangements.The first self-titled album was released in 1980 on the band's own label Laura Records.

As indicated on the back cover in French,the album was recorded in a small studio in just a week under very difficult physical and technical conditions.Hence,the muddy production and uneven mix is a reasonable result.But the musicianship is great old-fashioned symphonic rock in the ANGE-ATOLL-MONA LISA tradition with folk traces here and there.''L'homme cagoule sans'' is absolutely intricate theatrical prog with a symphonic flavor,HACKETT-ish guitars and dominant organ.Even more theatrical and intense,''Le pyromane'' is characterized by the KEITH EMRSON-like organ and synth soloing among the nice symphonic structure.''L'huissier'' opens with lovely pastoral driving flutes in a WURTEMBERG-style and builds into dramatic ANGE- styled prog with expressive vocals.On the flipside ''Baisers d'ortie'' and ''Regards'' will soften things down full of acoustic passages,light organ and flutes,but again the theatrical vocals are there.The epic of the album,the 11-min. ''Jean-Daniel Fabulas'',was left for last to make the biggest impact.Excellent opening with acoustic guitars,deep synths and melodramatic vocals,followed by spacey synths and a more intense atmosphere and an even better continue till the very end with warm singing,fabuluos flutes and nice background keys.

This is not a total masterpiece,the overall style is neither personal nor ground-breaking,but ''Laura'' deserves much more attention and respect than it's actually gained through time,being an excellent example of late-period French theatrical prog.A strongly recommended album and a similar file next to other obscure French bands like OPALE, EMERAUDE, WURTEMBERG, ELOHIM, ADA LE FOL, GRIME and SYNOPSIS.

apps79 | 4/5 |

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