FOU !

Ange is one of the best french prog groups I know but their eleventh studio record from 1984, thirty years ago, wasn't good. The record is called "Fou!" and it do contains some great elements and something of its former glory even if it's hard to find it. The cover is quite funny with a hard in the middle which seems to be undergoing an operation with a little Amor shooting with a crossbow. The musicians are Christian and Francis Descamps (vocals, piano; synthesizers), Serge Cuenot(guitar), Laurent Sigrist(bass), Jean-Claude Potin(drums, percussions, drum machine) and Fred Bétin(sequences).

Just the fact that the band had used a drum machine makes me suspicious of the contents but I listened with open mind. As usual I will begin to tell you about the good stuff on this record. Old fans will recognize the dramatical vocals of Christian Descamps which is good even here, although not as dramatic. The title track is actually quite symphonic. The synthesizer in that song, the melody and the vocals work great together and makes "Fou" a (6/10) song. "Les fous demandent un Roi" is also a fine song with a nice melody and good guitar playing(6/10). Beside from these two good songs, one of the other tracks is okey for me: "Piège à Coeur" is an appealing pop(5/10).

Otherwise is it a lot that lacks to make this record "Fou!" interesting. The sound is very ordinar and I don't this this music involved people in its days. The whole spirit of prog is gone. The music isn't bad but just hearable and not far from bad. I lack a lot and the decline of this band really is a fact. Two stars!