JESTER

Good news. Machiavel hired a full-time lead singer in the person of Mario and the quality of this album is definitely better than their debut one. Composition are stronger, each member fits well into the ensemble which will lead, IMO, to the best album they will ever release.

Nice symphonic music, thanks to the great keyboards playing from Albert but a bit harder than before. I like pretty much the opening number "Wisdom" which is a good synthesis of the music that sits on this album.

"Sparkling Jaw" is a great prog song. It starts like a beautiful ballad with emotional vocals as well as an excellent guitar solo, before getting a bit rockier. Letecheur is again on the foreground during the instrumental part of this second half. This song is precursory of "After The Crop" (on their next album). Complex structure, theme changes (at least four) and solid backing band. One of their best songs and a highlight of this album.

The construction of "In The Rein..." is a bit similar as far as the complexity is concerned but it didn't pass the proof of time so well. Still it is a good composition.

My second fave here is the title track : "Jester". Strong rhythm, the keyboards sound will be very familiar to your ears. Fully Supertramp-oriented. I remember having seen one concert of the "Jester" tour (yes back in '77) at the "Cité Modèle" near the Heysel stadium in Brussels. This number was one the highlights and it still remains one of my Machiavel fave (all-time).

One of Machiavel's longest song, "Rock, Sea and Tree" closed the original album. It's a cresendo-like track. Extremely slow for over two minutes (you can't almost hear anything), the tempo accelarates for a sort of jamming jazz session. A theatrical vocals part from Mario will initiate the closing sections : a very pleasant guitar solo as well as a crazy finale featuring Banks-like keyboards.

This album is not a masterpiece as such but if you are curious in hearing one of their albums, I would highly recommend "Jester" (even more than "Mechanical" probably).

The CD version features two old songs. They could have remained unreleased.

Four stars.