JESTER

Until recently my only knowledge of this interesting belgium quintet was through their live album, recorded much, much later on their career. I thought their music was nice, but a little too popish maybe. And I lost interest in them. But then a friend borrow me a bunch of CDs and among them was Jester. Not surprisingly it was the very last fo that bunch that I happened to hear. And I was quite impressed. It is very different from all the stuff on the live album. And surely much more progressive.

Ok, they do have a kind of pop struture, but their music here is far from being easy listening music or too radio friendly. In fact, it has some intricated parts and lots of effects that makes the CD a little difficult to digest at first. But the record grows on you with each spin, until you are utterly hooked. The music here is hard to define, but sometimes it reminded me of Supertramp, a band that also knew how to write great tunes using various pop formats, but Machiavel is much more complex and subtle. Another references could be The Beatles, ELO at the beginning and the Moody Blues, but again the music is more elaborated and less obvious.

Most of the songs are built around the terrific keyboards lines of Albert Letecheur . The guy really knows how to use his vast array of synths, pianos and organ to make a esquisite variety of sound landscapes. Vocalist Mario Guccio (making his debut in the band on this CD) is a fine and versatile singer that deals very well with the many musical styles the band goes through every track. In fact, all the band members handles their jobs with confidence and skill. The production is only average, but the performances are so good that it becomes only a minor detail, which can´t steal away the record´s brilliance.

Conclusion: another little known prog gem! I´m really glad I got this CD and I´m surprised Jester is not so acclaimed on prog circles as it should. If you get this CD please listen to it at least three times before judging its music. Don´t let the apparently easy melodies and weird sounds fool you. This is great music done by great musicians. Final rating: 4,5 stars.