MAIS ON NE PEUT PAS RÊVER TOUT LE TEMPS

Laurent Thibault produced Magma's "Attahk", but here under his own name shows a much softer more melodic side to derivatives of the Zeuhl genre. Amanda Parsons, who sang with the likes of National Health, offers soothing soprano vocals which are a highlight on this album.

Oree begins with these vocals and an etherial guitar riff, before building slowly with the introduction of bass, keys, cymbals, drums in turn - plus the added vocals of Lisa Bois. The tone changes slightly on 5 minutes, dialling back to a solo flute briefly before the drums hit centre stage, much like Magma's work. All the vocalists get involved in a slightly Indian sounding passage which is just brilliant, and just when it hits a crescendo - complete silence. The flute and guitar pick up the original melody from the opening of the track, and it ends with Thibault's daughter playing a toy piano. Magical stuff.

Aquadingen begins with funky bass and drums alongside the effects of ocean waves. Half way through we are treated to some madcap vocals from Serge Derrien before more sound effects kick in, this time sounding more like a jungle, perhaps referencing the album's cover art. Its a shorter track but pretty interesting.

La Caravane De L'Oubli is very Arabic in style, built around a "snake-charmer" flute as a calm guitar riff and drums tap away in the background. The guitar that takes over following this is the start of a passage containing vocals in the style of Islamic call to prayer, building to a crescendo of several layers of instruments.

The title track unfortunately for me is the reason I don't give this album five stars. It begins nice enough, darker in tone to start with a very Zeuhl-like bass followed by ethereal vocals, and some guitar grinding. Its the second half of the track that puts me off though, full of screaming, manic laughter and gun fire. After the calm and upbeat tracks before this, it seems very out of place and ends the album in an odd mood. Obviously a message here that I'm not getting!

5* for the first three tracks, down to four as a whole album.