LE SON TOMBÉ DU CIEL

Fairly different from Markusfeld's debut album, Le Son Tombé Du Ciel (the sound that fell from the sky) is a great improvement on it also. Indeed, it was recorded at Herouville Studios, by a certain Laurent Thibault (see his entry and also playing piano), very short and sporting a nice stork artwork that fits the music fairly well. With a completely new line- up,

Starting on the lengthy title track, oscillating between a slight jazz-rock mixed with a psych groove that would not disown the Saucerful-era Floyd. A bit repetitive and instrumental, this is the centrepiece of the album and Thibalt's Rhodes contribution is remarkable. The follow-up is reminiscent of Melmoth's Devanture Des Ivresses while Jubal is a hard rock fuzzed-out guitar bravado piece with weird effect filters on Markusfeld's voice.

Flipping the album, after a rocky opening Durée N'Est Pas Le Temps, Theleme is an ethnic jazz-rock improv where the mix is questionable. The closing Eve is the other highlight of the album, with Dugreneau's interesting double bass dominating the first part, while for the second part, he uses his bow and drones over Markusfeld's tense and dense guitar

Markusfeld will then stop releasing albums until the late 70's, where he'll be exploring a full- blown jazz-rock, Desert Noir being a guitar only (and acoustic mainly) album. But in the meantime Markusfeld's first two albums are now quite rare, most likely fetching considerable price, but for this writer, you might as well not bother, as both are unfocused, patchy and not essential. Arguably Le Son is much better than Le Monde, but none will reward you enough for the cash you'd have spent for the vinyls.