EROS

Dun stays for "Dune", "L'Epice" is "The Spoice" and whoever has read Frank Herbert's cycle of novels knows very well what Arrakis and the Fremens are, but there are a couple of things that are outplaced: Eros and Bitonio. So what's the truth?

The official website says that the two Herbert's inspired tracks were composed previously, when the band name was KAN-DAAR and the principal influncers were, other than MAGMA, Frank Zappa and the MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA.

Now the music. This is the kind of "light Zeuhl" that even fitting perfectly in the genre is far from the military marches and heavy brasses of MAGMA. "Arrakis" in particular is very atmospheric and is closer (and probably inspirer) to some recent acts like SETNA and XING SA. The flute on this track deserves a mention.

Despite the mentioned SETNA, there are also paroxysmal moments as the central crescendo on the mentioned Arrakis.In its final part, starting after the intense drum solo I can see even the connection with Mahavishnu.

Herbert's novel ends with side A. The B-side contains "Bitonio" and the title track. The first of the two is a sort of "classic Zeuhl", if anything like this exists. I'm often impressed by the fact that music apparently disconnected is totally orchestrated and what appears improvised is "written" instead. The apparent chaos of the second half of Bitonio shows what I mean.

The title track opens dreamy with the guitar strings played out of the board (or are they grandpiano strings?) then the flute in a Canterbury mood proceeds with this magic journey. We are quickly hypnotized by the repetition, mainly thank to the high notes played by, I think, the bassist. It's a drum roll that transforms everything into rock. Still a repetitive riff as base but under a rock tempo while the keyboard can remind to the ELP of Picture At An Exhibition.

The demos on the CD re-release are a curiosity, even though there are different parts respect to the "official" versions, like there have been "cuts" at the t ime of the original release.

Of those, the most interesting is obviously the one which is not just a "re-release". "Acoustic Fremen" is a challenging track but it's quiet and dreamy as well. I don't see how it can have connection with the story, as the Fremens were a people of warriors and the music is quite relaxed, instead. However is another very good track which evolves in a sort of dark suite with a contemporary classic feeling on which the flute is the foreground instrument.

I see this album as an incomplete work so I don't rate it as a masterpiece, but it's surely an excellent addition to any "Zeuhl" or "RIO" collection. Give it a try.

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