SAINO

SAINO released this one Jazz/Rock album back in 1982. They were from France and hey congrats to the French for beating Argentina today at the World Cup. Anyway this is very much a guitar led album but they were a five piece with the usual instruments plus a rhythm guitarist and a keys/synths player. Man this is such a good album, very consistent and I just love their sound.

"Saino" is a top two track for me opening with a nice guitar led sound along with excellent drum work. The bass comes to the fore around a minute. How good does the guitar sound before 1 1/2 minutes. That tone will return two more times as they change the shade of this track throughout. Suddenly some strummed guitar 3 minutes in as the lead guitar comes in over top. Keys replace the guitar before 4 1/2 minutes before the guitar returns a minute later. An excellent start.

"Alost" is led by bass, keys and drums to start and this is uptempo. Love that bass. Guitar just before a minute then we get this sudden calm 2 1/2 minutes in. I like those spacey synths. We will continue to get calms the rest of the way not lasting long each times which create a nice contrast. "Styx" opens with the wind blowing as dramatic French spoken words arrive. They will be replaced by just as dramatic music before settling in around a minute to a pleasant guitar led sound. We get sudden calms in this one too that don't last long which a again create some good contrasts.

"Horizons Imaginaires" is the most laid back tune on here but quite good. The tempo does pick up 2 minutes in with some nice bass then the keys lead. The guitar is back a minute later as it settles back again. "Opuss 444" is my favourite. Not into that start but when the tension arrives ala MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA I'm wishing there was more of that on this album. Just one of those tracks that suits my tastes so well. That tension returns later on as well on this song.

"Amalgame Synthetique" is an uptempo guitar led tune once again with background synths this time. Some jazzy guitar and bass 2 minutes in that lasts about a minute which I really like. "Atlantide" opens with synths bringing RUSH's "Xanadu" to mind. The guitar starts to lead around a minute then it settles in before 1 1/2 minutes. The guitar sounds so good 2 minutes in.

If your into guitar led Jazz/Rock this one is really good. An all instrumental affair and one of the better releases from 1982 and included in my top 60 Jazz and related albums of all time.