EMILE JACOTEY

This was my first intro to Ange, & I must say, it didn't take long to become of of my faves among my collection. The friend who recommended them said they sounded like Genesis, But I'd never heard of Genesis at the time & wouldn't for years after. I found Ange on this album to be a combo of pastoral idylls (sur la trace des fees, jour apres jour & ode a Emile), hard rocking eerie character tales (le nain de Stanislas & Bele bele petite chevre) & then the 2nd side dealing with the return of Ego, who now educated, will intend to replace Deus, as the day to day guide to the inhabitants. But the village life has its' own daily realities; love from afar, the wedding & the attendant family reunion & fanfare. Then they finish with Le Marchand des Planetes, that seems out of place at the end, but once you've grown into the album, it just seems to take you to another place, as if with the day ending, the dreaming begins ... INstrumentally, the organ & mellotron take the main stage, Christian Decamps' theatrical lyrics are firing on all cylinders, & the rest of the band provides the sort of backing & accompaniment that made Genesis's best works more than a sum of the total. I constantly rate this album as among the best in prog, though being bilingual (french acadian, english as a second language) does help as the words are an integral part of the album, but not necessary to its' enjoyment. In short a masterpiece, from a group that to me, belongs among the giants of the prog genre.