LA SOURCE

France's MINIMUM VITAL has certainly its own individuality on the desk of progressive rock. Full of grandeur and beauty, "La Source" combines all the right elements for me with excellent guitar and keyboard interplay with some nice complex drumming and deep bass playing. To be honest they are highly original and play their own style which I really like a lot. Songs are well written and offer nice mood and tempo swings with great instrumentation. Lyrics are sung in a language all their own (not unlike MAGMA in approach) which has some real nice sounding phrasing. Overall "La Source" is a deep and professional album which I find upbeat and a positive feeling album.

This album was quite a deception for me. The French ''Minimum Vital'' developed a very much jazz-rock influenced music in this album. This was already the case during their re-released debut effort ''Envol Triangles - Les Saisons Marines''.

''La Source'' is mostly instrumental and offers little real great and inspired moments. Melody and symphony are definitely not a strong asset from this band. Fine rocking moments are still available, like during the upbeat ''Mystical West'' which is my favourite song from this work. Complexly structured (as most of their music), it offers a more accessible side, more melodic (flute) angle. But it is almost the last track from this work.

This band could never really reach fame (unless an esteemed one). While you would listen to this sort of record, you can easily understand why. These musicians are of course very skilled, but the type of music being played here can't really be enthusiastic to my ears.

Skilled music for a very small audience to which I do not belong. Two stars.

The opening minutes of this album makes me believe I am in for a drive in Zeuhl Road. But the road soon expires and the new road is called.......... well, it is a street without a name.

This is the second proper studio album from Minimum Vital and the follow up to their debut album Sarabandes. It is pretty obvious the band is still looking for their identity on La Source. The music is based on both keyboards and soaring electric guitar solos. There are also some medieval music based vocals here too. Everything here sounds competent and good enough.

This album starts out as a zeuhl album and it is trundles nicely along in a fusion-light tempo with some influences from medieval music, rock, zeuhl and symphonic prog (aka Camel). The music is good throughout. It is also inoffensive and is lacking both teeth and identity. Play this music to me blindfolded and I would never ever guess the origin of this music. I cannot even pick up a great song here. It has some very good melody lines inbetween the more anonymous stuff. And that is all I can say about it. Good, but not great.

3 star

MINIMUM VITAL OMNI! A slap in the face album for this avant-garde concept from a time when we could still listen and take the time to listen to music, in short! 1. Dance of wishes with keyboards sampling trumpets, 1st interrogation, me refractory to brass; ah a voice but what is this voice, la la; it swings, it jerks, it moves, Antoine uses his voice like an instrument and I love that; Thierry goes there with his 10 fingers by bringing the heady and bewitching air, by letting the sound immerse itself in our heads; Jean Luc comes to help him with this nervous, sharp guitar reminding me of a certain Ian from SAGA; the heavy riff denotes even more before a cottony jazzy break of the most progressive, MINIMUM VITAL that's it; finally enthusiastic end with this riff that makes me love 2. La villa emo soft progressive title on Thierry's synths, avant-garde and too recognizable introducing the incomparable air of the blood... of the sound of the Minimum; an orchestral journey from Occitan, rock, on YES yes Louis, a moment to savor, hold a flute, we are suddenly on the edge of the bucolic, of sensory sharing, of trance; emotion in bar until the arrival of a musical vocal, still in this language-newspeak-glossolalic, happiness again 3. The bucolic and burlesque worlds of Miranda or how to hear an innovative sound just with a few touches from the great Rick; it becomes France in the good sense of the term with the contribution of the accordion then the guitar becoming discreet and furious at the same time; once again it is the choirs that captivate; good.... I don't know but Miranda has this more to mix the music and the voices for a perfect osmosis; track that has aged and keeps its freshness, between folk troubadour and inventive jazz rock 4. Ann dey flon symphonic intro on rough piano for a while and the Occitan synth as if it had a particularity!! In short the title with a song... Andalusian, religious, Occitan... tick the right box; fresh, evolving, we would see ourselves moving like a kid; majestic air with rolling drums, angelic sounds ah... at 4 minutes it starts on a frenzied fantasy world of great beauty, honor to the synth, to the guitar, honor to the Payssan who send effortlessly towards limbo and reinforce their unique sound 5. Tabou pushes the nail even more...musically with this progressive, progressive, bottled art-rock track; thundering, seeming out of tune but so effective with this angry guitar; always this bombastic and well done mix between YES and jazzy, incredible; the sound is catchy, it reminds me of medieval games from the Middle Ages, from the time when sound could replace words; Antoine arrives gently, surreptitiously, nonchalantly with his instrumental voice to help us navigate beyond the frenetic sound; the symbiosis of synths, bass, drums and guitar brighten up the musical space; the final pleasurable climb sets off again on unknown lands before falling back on 6. What supports for the crazy hymn, yes the source can lead to Paradise if you are not careful; an interlude title for a religious tune that scares the hell out of you, keep your eyes open otherwise you risk leaving irretrievably and forever on their lands in Gironde 7. Mystical west goes even further in this intoxicating musical osmosis driving the point home between danceable groove and mediae-heavy-vale rhythmic, surprising and stirring; we can believe that it's a very stirring monolithic title, nah it suddenly explodes halfway through before falling like a ... good soufflé and drifting on a flamboyant jazzy-folklo-bizarroid track; who sings I don't know there, a woman surely the mystery will remain; the finale with the piano solo à la Jerry LEE LEWIS and Jean-Luc who strikes a final guitar blow 8. Source - Final to depart with death and life here, here, wish I proceed to understand their language; a majestic synth eyeing the medieval trumpet, a title that I had to put on replay for an hour, to the point where someone came knocking on my door thinking I was definitely asleep; in short the final coming to wake up my mind gone very far during the listening. (A few 5 for more titles!)

A half-hearted album.

Like the previous one, 'The Source' suffers from a synthetic sound quality typical of the 80s which does not correspond to the purpose of Minimum Vital. We can blame the Payssan brothers for being late. After all, Jethro Tull (for example) has been fixing things for some time.

As much as 'Sarabandes' was homogeneous, 'La source' is not. The first three pieces are dispensable. Twenty minutes uninspired and rather uninteresting ... A bad blow for this record, which inevitably causes the listener to drop out. But you should know that from "Ann Dey Flon" everything changes! Despite the bad digital piano sound and the use of midi drums, we finally find the Minimum Vital that we like. Groove, melody, folk, strangeness. This song is a killer! Follows 'Tabou', one of the best pieces produced by this group. A must ! Ten minutes of alternation between Occitan medieval folk and jazz, successful breaks and very varied guitar tones. "What supports" is a short medieval interlude from the 14th century, typical of this group. "Mystical Ouest" offers a beautiful melodic suite with a song in total adequacy. This piece brings the end of the record on a platter, a short final prayer.

In total, 20 minutes without interest followed by 25 very captivating. What a pity !