ODYSSÉES

In this great album from french band XII Alfonso you can find lots of different musical "atmospheres", starting with the superb song "eclipse", going trough some more quiet passages and ending with a more "celtic" style. Very touchy and beuatiful. Higly recommended!

My opinion is that french band XII Alfonso is half-decently covered and rated...

Under the Claerhout brothers (displaying guitar and keyboards main input), they have achieved all along their five recordings a high level of musicianship and integrity, if not total originality. Unlike most of the french progsters, there's no Zeuhl or Ange's clone to be found, rather a stylistically inclined link to celtic and other western part of France traditions. So it's accurate to feel some ressemblances with Mike Oldfield and Camel for instance. Folk ingredients, few delicate songs in and overall instrumental work, musicianship devoted to the melody more than performance, attention to the general climate of the whole recording are qualities XII Alfonso share with their most famous british counterparts. While the two brothers form the core of the group, there is a lot of instruments and a long list of guests to be found on any of their records, so, if i choose Odyssées over any of the other ones i enjoy equally, it's because of his immediate appeal, his perfect production, and within his 70 + minutes (which is the norm for them) a perfect summarizing of the seduction of XII Alfonso.

Symphonic for sure, the music clearly comes from classically trained musicians, and yet one can feel the energy inherent to rock idioms, in rythms and development. Clever they are for sure as well: any of the records benefits of the cohesion of a unique thematic path, based on artistic or historic topic. For "Odyssées" it is to be found on the great achievements of human mankind. The opening, with over 7 minutes in time, takes us on a space journey, portraying the american lunar missions of the 70's, mixing an array of synths with the recorded sounds of the the astronauts, alternating spacious sounds with rythms pulsations creating a captivating sense of motion. "Lythophonia", at the other end, takes us back to the beginnings, offering what could be the music of the cavemen. "La Révolution des oeillets" finds us aboard the first vapor machine trains; if not revolutionary in treatment, the idea of the railroad horsepower pulsing gives this other long piece a very efficient sound over which a nice guitar soloing trade licks with an effervescent acoustic piano.

"Larrey"is a tribute to one of the first surgeons to bring medecine up to the front, during Napoleonian wars, and so on.Otherwise while the music is cleverly arranged and produced , there are a lot of small musical interludes, solo acoustic guitars ala Steve Hackett, peaceful piano, sparse songs with mostly female guests on vocals. A captivating while dreamy result that truly reach deeply into my musical soul...

Overtly recommended for those who enjoy the aforementioned artists, Anthony Phillips' work and most simply stated intelligence and subtility in art over raw energy or performance. Give me five!

A cut above what you might expect from the "instrumental Celtic new age" categorization that somewhat accurately describes them, XII Alfonso nonetheless presents a style that might have limited appeal on this list. The music tends to the dreamy and hypnotic, with plenty of acoustic and electronic instrumentation, and a plethora of well known guests such as Dan Ar Braz and Mickey Simmonds. The variation is not as wide as it might be, and the CD is overly long, but there are a few surprises, such as the vocal piece "Invisible Dream", that sounds like something the Canadian group Cano might have done way back in the past, but freshly so in the overall context. Another fine piece is the elegant "Tout Passe", with a lovely melody played on acoustic guiitar, solidly accompanied by a variety of other instrumentation along its linear path. "Messge 95", "Eclipse", and "Ou Vont les Amants" are other highlights. Mildly recommended for those who like mellow soundscapes.

"XII Alfonso" is quite a discreet band from France.

I was not exaggeratedly enthusiastic about their debut album, and this follow-up effort is of no other texture. Quite conventional symph prog during the good opening number ("Eclipse") but the soufflé falls dramatically during the soft jazzy "Odysée". To tell you that the "lyrics" are rescuing this track is beyond my feeling.

Things get even worse when the next "tribal" tracks are under the laser of your CD player: if "Lithophonia" should have remained unreleased; I wouldn't have complained. "Message 95" starts almost the same, but fortunately it features some fine guitar break during the second half.

There are some improvements for "Où Vont les Amants » which is a fine and melodic track but vocals are almost not understandable (and I'm a French native speaker). Pleasant sax (very much Floydean-like) and moving piano are completing the picture. The closing guitar section is also very good and the whole is the best song available on this second album.

The new age oriented and long "Révolutions Des Oeillets" is a rather uniform and flat song. The acoustic "Nil" almost starts as "Jeux Interdits" and develops a fine mood even if not very personal. On the contrary, I am quite skeptic about "Invisible Links": the song evokes more Springsteen than prog (especially if you consider the vocal part).

The bonus tracks are not of great quality and can easily be skipped. As a conclusion, I can hardly rate this work with more than two stars.

I was not that enthusiastic about their debut album and the follow up is not particular impressive either.

XII Alfonso is a French symphonic prog/neo classic music ensemble with some albums on their conscience. They are known as a acoustic symphonic prog band. Which is a pretty accurate description on this album too. Long semi-acoustic based pieces based on their local folk music tradition with a wide variety of instruments. The list of contributing musicians is very long. I am at a loss to explain what the instrument "musical glasses" is and how it sounds like.

I am all for long symphonic pieces of music. But I also want a bit of variations too. There is not much variations on this album. There is not much happening here too and not much variations. That besides of some electric guitars and some electronic voice samples + the sporadic female vocals. The whole album seems very over ambitious and disjointed. It feels like the band has bitten over more than they can swallow. The album is in short far too ambient and too little symphonic for my liking. The quality I expect from an album like this is simply not present. It is a pity, because I think the band is onto something. But they ambitions is far bigger than the abilities on this album. A stricter quality control is sadly lacking on this album. Hence my lack of enthusiasm. Two points for the effort and some pieces of music here.

2 stars

Over the next years and through some significant line-up changes, XII Alfonso played live several times and were glad to welcome onstage many important figures like the Payssan brothers from Minimum vital.Their program even included their appearance in the famous Baja Prog Festival in 1998.Back in France the Claerhout brothers worked hard for almost a year to present the second album ''Odyssees'', finally released in 2000 on Musea.Again the list contains some well-known guest musicians, such as Mickey Simmonds, the aforementioned Payssan brothers, Dan Ar Braz and Julio Presas.

Over an hour of dreamy and etheral Prog Rock music with strong symphonic, Folk and New Age references is XII Alfonso's proposal in an album split in electric- and keyboard-led compositions.Influences are definitely acts and artists such as MIKE OLDFIELD, CAMEL, DAN AR BRAZ, while some tracks feature excellent vocal performances by Sandrine Rouge, Judith Robert and Laure Oltra in a very poetic way.''Odyssees'' is basically characterized by its laid-back, very sensitive and imaginery soundscapes created by the Claerhout brothers with the music being based on soft piano lines, synth explorations and delicate acoustic themes with a folky vibe.There are also lot of ethnic percussions among these New Age moments.On the contrary the group gives also rise to some excellent and ultra-melodic electric parts in specific moments, these have a nice refined sound with a bit of a CAMEL approach.Organs and synths are supporting instruments in these lovely instrumental pieces, which are definitely influenced by the Classic Prog era.Again the major problem seems to be the lack of some more energetic parts, as ''Odyssees'' sounds often like relaxed Soundtrack Music than an album created by a Rock group.

The Claerhout family affair seems like one of the best in creating minimalistic but trully outlandish music landscapes and this album is another major proof.Recommended, especially if acoustic textures and really atmospheric moods are among your preferences.