ASTRO - LOGICAL

"Astro-logical" was my first Edhels experience back in the early 90s, and it certainly was something like a shock to me: sure it impressed me as an accomplished musical work and a catalogue of very original ideas, yet I wasn't really prepared for what was comprised in it. Weird layers and counterpoints played on plenty of digital keyboards, a large amount of dissonances and atonalities, atypical interplays between guitar and synth, abrupt tempo shifts or an apparent lack of them, even a couple of Frippian guitar soundscapes. each individual idea sounded so brilliant, yet the amalgam appeared to be so unarticulated, that all I could do for my initial listens was to wonder where the music was heading to and why was I so left behind. Until one day, during my fifth or sixth trial listen, it hit me: this is a masterpiece, with its bizarre sequence of surprises being a crucial part of its particular greatness. After two albums built within the neo- prog frame, this Monegasque-French ensemble decided to go for it big time and create something challenging in a most frontal manner: the Zodiaque subject that serves as the unitary concept for the album's repertoire was more than appropriate as a cohesive reference for this musical adventure. Just like any travel across the mysterious yet appalling astral infinite space, the succession of motifs performed on synths, guitar, midi-guitar and drums (mostly electronic) is designed to grab the listener's attention and take it across plateaus and valleys still undiscovered, a wide room for unforeseen turns and potential accident. There is still an orchestral feel working in the subsurface as a foundation for the sonic landscape that takes place all throughout the album: all in all, Edhels' symphonic essence is still there, only refurbished with a refurbished, bolder artistic ideology. 'Belier', 'Cancer' and 'Lion' are amongst the most dense and challenging pieces in the album (the latter two being my two "Astro-logical" faves), while 'Vierge' incorporates a slightly softer ambience built upon a jazz-pop oriented rhythm pattern. 'Scorpion' sounds to me like 80s KC-meets-Jarre-meets-Latimer, a bizarre mixture that works beautifully. The longest number is 'Verseau': it combines the new line of work with the clear melodic neo-prog stuff that Edhels used to do earlier. The neo stuff meets its most prominent expression in 'Sagittaire', which makes it an oasis of nice simplicity amidst this forest of complexity. The eerie closure 'Poissons' brings a final air of ethereal calm, in the vein of 80s Vangelis - an introspective end for an exciting album whose artistic qualities make take some time (if ever) to be revealed to the ears of demanding listeners. At least, that's what I get from my own experience. So this is not a recommended introduction to the musical world of Edhels, but most certainly this is one of their most brilliant efforts.

Astro-Logical was my first encounter with this Monaco-based group which produces albums thanks to the great label Musea. But what a deception. Let me explain. The guys play perfectly, that's not a problem. It's just that the music is 'metallic' in the sense that it doesn't have any feeling... are you following me ? You could easily imagine robots playing the instruments... Anyway, it's pretty good if you like fusion and if you like technical virtuosity on the guitar. One more thing I didn't like about the sound : the use of synth- guitar.

Marc Ceccotti's Monaco-Prog quartet release its fourth studio album in 1991, with a cheesy title, a tired concept, and some laughably tacky cover art (the pseudoscientific hokum of astrology really isn't all that sexy). After the disillusions that followed the supposed dawning of the Age of Aquarius, did an album of instrumental zodiac portraits make any sense? And if not, could it at least be salvaged by the music itself? The answer to both questions is: almost, but not entirely.

The album was released a mere three years after the band's popular 'Still Dream'. But even with the same line-up a lot had changed since 1988. Gone were the melodic Neo-Prog nods to classic '70s role models, replaced by a cold electronic soundstage more in step with the antiseptic early 1990's. However it all might have begun, the music in its finished form was digitized to a not-very flattering degree: cybernetic might be a better description.

A flesh-and-blood percussionist is credited, but he likely had to be plugged into his drum kit and re-programmed before every session. Even the guitarists (two of them, including Ceccotti) sound computerized. On the other hand, any musician who models his technique (and his tuning) after Robert Fripp or Alan Holdsworth deserves our applause, and the performances are often brilliant, even at their most mechanical.

The music too, beyond its impersonal cosmetic design, is never less than challenging. But the episodic framework, often within each song, keeps the listener at arm's length, never allowing even a casual brush of human contact. The album would have been far more involving with a little more organic warmth, but clearly that wasn't in the stars.

Appreciate it as a noble experiment: Progressive Rock by way of Isaac Asimov, or William Gibson. But don't expect too many repeat plays.