VORTEX

I don't think there is any question that this is a very significant record in the Rio / Avant-Prog genre. As Sean Trane mentions this came out before both ART ZOYD and UNIVERS ZERO's debut albums. That alone makes this a special record. Three of the Five guys in this band were in a band previous to this that played a lot of SOFT MACHINE songs, and you can hear the jazz influence throughout this record. There is no lead guitar, but it is very much flute and sax led with piano, bass and drums filling out the sound.

"Haroun' Thasckouack" has some nice drumming in the intro before it calms down a minute in. Piano, light drums and flute 2 minutes in as the sound is building. Sax joins in and we have a great sound 5 minutes in, especially the drumming. The flute then returns with sax to a full sound. Check out the bass before 7 minutes with flute and drums. A calm after 9 minutes is brief. What a ride that was ! "Ahsquoumboum ' is darker with sax,drums and piano to begin with. Flute joins in. Sax and heavy drums 4 1/2 minutes in. "Delicieuse Creature" is the longest track at almost 15 minutes, it opens with a sax/drum melody before a calm with flute takes over. This contrast continues. The flute and sax melodies are so impressive.

"Abominable Creature" is a short track with some dissonant moments. Very much a group effort on this one. There are two bonus tracks beginning with "C'est Cool,Raoul" a slow moving affair that begins with the flute leading the way with some percussion. The sax starts to take over and the tempo picks up after 5 minutes as the drums come in. The tempo shifts a lot from here on in. The last couple of minutes are the best part of the song as it becomes quite solemn with a SINKADUS flavour(flute). "Prolige 1" opens like a house on fire with sax and drums leading the way. It calms down quickly as piano becomes the focus until the flute arrives. The tempo picks back up as sax returns.

This is an essential record to add to your Rio / Avant-prog collection. Sort of a landmark really when it comes to this style of music.