CLOCHARD

Clochard is the third album by Emmanuel Booz and it marks another change in style, although not shockingly different, but still it is refreshing to see how this musician is trying to explore different sounds and styles, and succeeds doing so because well first of all he is very talented and second he managed to gather some great musicians to execute his ideas. While in his previous album the music was lying on great classical orchestrated arrangements, this time the orchestra is all gone and we are left with a more eclectic approach, the songs have more room to breath and includes instrumental breaks which is cool since Booz is not playing any instrument, so i have to admire his desire for making a solo album and still letting his musicians to express them selves, making this album a real group effort, something that will grow even more in his next and final album. His previous participating musicians were all replaced by new ones (except for Michel Ripoche on violin) and again he managed to collect a wonderful group.

The album is divided into acoustic songs and more intense busy sounding songs, the acoustic songs sees Booz returning to his roots or debut album, playing simple sounding songs which reminds me of French chansons or you can just call them folk, but only have a dark captivating atmosphere, they are carried out with only acoustic guitar and Booz's exquisite vocals and are used to separate between the more rocky songs,good songs overall. Other tracks include Booz's excellent vocals but still holds a very good jam between the musicians. Each song include in one part or another an instrumental interlude or a solo, and that's what really makes this album a success. Guitars are rocky featuring no riffs but always doing something and kind of flowing with the music including some great fiery solos as well. Synths are much more evident than on his previous album incorporating great sounds and have more room to participate in, same goes for the beautiful violin, sax and flute which are doing an amazing work, giving this album a varied and beautiful sound. Booz's vocals are just great, even though i cant understand a word they still manage to be very haunting and interesting, he has a wonderful tone and he is very passionate reminding me of Christian Descamps from Ange or other Italian vocalists. I like the fact that the music is going along with him, the music is calm and slow if he is, and gets very intense as he gets more passionate, and this way the song really gathers power and speed.

This is a great album overall, slightly inferior by my taste to the previous 'Le Jour o' les Vaches...' but still have enough to please progheads, i'm sure french language speakers would enjoy this even more. An excellent addition to your Booz collection or any eclectic prog collection. 4 solid stars!