CULINAIRE LINGUS

"Jusqu'Où Iront-Ils" is a very weird song. A very strange atmosphere, fully Crimsonesque I must say. There has been ages since Ange has not been as close from KC. Actually, on their debut album "Caricatures". Very powerful, scary and effective. It must probably be one of the very best and faithful KC influenced song ever. Really impressive during these eight minutes. Next song renew with the great symphonic tradition. Very scarcely did Ange provide a greatest guitar solo in all of their repertoire. It is really grandiose and bombastic. These first two songs really bring us back in the early seventies. What a nice journey it is !

The mood unfortunately changes with "Adrenaline". Lyrics are rather adventurous (sexually I mean). This song is folk-rock oriented. Some violin brings a gigue sound which I do not really appreciate. The quality of the next track is very poor. Like its title might suggest, "Farces et attrapes " is a very burlesque song which should be better featured in a circus rather than on an Ange album.

The title track is again very much remininscent of KC. But this is the only similarity witht the extraordinary opening number. This one cannot compete with. Far much simple in its structure musically, the lyrics are far from being insignificant. With such a play- on-words in the title, it was almost normal that Ange would deliver a rather controversial song. But they have used us to this since the very begining of their career. I would even say that the lyrics from "Caricatures" are more explosive than the ones we can find on "Culinaire Lingus". Remember that almost thirty years have passed between both albums. "Les Odeurs De Cousine" might sound appealing by its title but I would have hoped that Ange would have written more trivial lyrics with such a title...A very pleasant and spacey instrumental part will close this song on a higher note. The next song "Intérieur Nuit" is a soft ballad, featuring some piano and mellotron to back up Christian on the lead. A bit mellowish to my taste.

With "Univers Et Nirvana", we'll get back to the noisy and complex Crimson world. Dynamic and very powerful : this song should please any KC fan. "Gargantua" is of course a theme that fits perfectly in the Ange repertoire. Irreverent, funny and theatrical are the ingredient of this good song. A solid rhythm, a good guitar break and some nice background keys are bringing this song to the level of the best ones so far.

It is of course almost normal that "On Sexe" contains some interesting words about ... sex of course. But nothing to vulgar (I would have expected more, actually). Music is again extremely mighty. But this is a global tendancy for this album.

The epic song of this album "Cadavres Exquis" has a bit of difficulties to start, but after four minutes we'll really get an beautiful and symphonic song. Great guitar break again (I think it is the most guitar-oriented of all the Ange albums). Very good song indeed. The bonus and instrumental track "Autour D'Un Cadavre Exquis" also confirms the important role of the guitar on this work.

Along with very good music and some sulfurous lyrics, Ange will also create several interesting characters who will appear throughout this album. The Ange fantasy is definitively back and even though I do not know for how long it will remain, let's enjoy this present good album. For the very first time as well, a female vocalist will take part in the rocrding, maybe to add more dimension to the lyrics...Caroline Crozat is doind a good job in this exercise.

Three stars.