Artist: Cyrille Verdeaux
P: 1976 / 2002
In 1977 this third Clearlight album was released by RCA records in Europe. "The tales of the mad monkey", the title reads, and it is a bit funny that this was both the first Clearlight album which featured a French title, and the first Clearlight album which was completely sung in English!! I don't know the reasoning behind this, but marketing-technically this can't have been a clever move.
The album featured an international all-star cast, consisting of Symphony-veterans Tim Blake on synthesizers and Didier Lockwood on violin, bassist Joel Dugrenot, who also played and sang on Clearlight's second album Forever Blowing Bubbles, Francis Mandin on synthesizers, Yves Chouard on guitars and Serge Aouzi on drums and percussion. The vocals and hardly interpretable lyrics, courtesy of British vocalist Ian Bellemy complete the ingredients for a classic progressive rock album
And progressive rock it is, as the album is once again a step in a whole different direction than Symphony. It is still built around Verdeaux's classical grand piano, but the Tangerine Dream and Gong references have now been replaced by Jethro Tull, Genesis and even a hint of Yes.
As the original mastertapes of the recordings weren't available anymore, the CD has been recorded directly from vinyl. However, the overall sound quality is, apart from the occasional crackle or hiss, remarkably well.
The album starts with the first of two epics on the album. The three-piece The Key-suite. Ian Bellamy's vocals sound a bit like Tull's Ian Anderson and are very pleasant. The second part of the suite, A trip to the Orient is the first of many instrumentals on the album. This is a typical Verdeaux composition, with the classical piano accompanied by a full band playing a very experimental sounding type of fusion rock. It takes a while to get used to the (mainly improvised) violin solos of Lockwood, which sometimes sound completely out of time, place and tune. People who don't like King Crimson will immediately know what I mean and I think that fans of that particular band will adore Lockwood's playing.
The last track of the first side of the original LP is a particular gem: Soliloque is a beautiful, erm, soliloquy of Verdeaux' piano. Then the second side continues where the first side ended: Prelude sees solely Verdeaux quietly tickling the ivories of his piano.
This was the mid-seventies, when the standard was set by a band named Genesis and the track Countdown to Eternity would easily fit on any Genesis album of the early seventies. Bellamy sings as if he's Peter Gabriel himself and the whole sounds almost exact like the opening to Supper's Ready, but then with piano, instead of guitar. However, it doesn't seem to lead anywhere, whereas Lover's Leap is a real introduction to the Genesis-masterpiece, Countdown to Eternity just continues in the same style for a while. So not a copy, but more a derivation.
After this bit of semi-plagiarism it's time for another nine minutes of instrumental music in The Cosmic Crusaders with again leading roles for Verdeaux' piano and Lockwood's violin. And it's especially that violin which is completely differently played than one would expect from a classical instrument. This is more jazz than classic, and it gives a nice contrast with the piano, which is played in a very classical way.
Weight:
0,105
kg per
piece
