EN CONCERT - PAR LES FILS DE MANDRIN MILLÉSIMÉ 77

Mandrin was obviously a special album for Ange, since they did a tour featuring the entirety of the album, then they recorded the album for an English version and then they re-did a tour in 03 when that very English version finally received a Cd reissue. But this review will concentrate on the 77 tour that promoted the album upon its release. Coming with an alternate cover artwork, the live concert has spoken interludes between the songs that make the story definitely easier to grasp (if you master French, of course) and the booklet gives you an additional written dream to the concept as well as a prologue and the members play out the characters of the story . After the two fast-rocking numbers, the title track and Colibri, the group goes in the mellotron- dominated Ainsi, which gets an extension (up to 10 mins) mostly due to the acting scenario. A little while later, Atlantis will get the same treatment and so will understandably the finale the three part suite Hymne A La Vie. After having done the whole concept album, obviously the group completed the concert with a few more tracks, including Exode (from Délire) and the unavailable-elsewhere Le Vieux De La Montagne, an 11-mins mini-epic like Ange never officially release a few in the 70's.

Knowing the options for the group's 70's live appearances both audio and video, this present releases should be low priority, for other options like the historic Tome VI or the DVD might be more urgent, but this release has its charms, especially for the closing track.