AU-DELÀ DU DÉLIRE

The best place to start for those who have yet to delve into the colourful world of Ange, 'Au-Dela Du Delire'(Beyond The Delirium) is both the French symphonic outfit's most accessible and impressive work. Often rather unfairly compared to Genesis, Ange were formed by the brothers Christian and Francis Decamps during the beginning of the 1970's, eventually issuing their patchy debut 'Caricatures' in 1972. There first big hit would follow a year later in the shape of a brooding cover of Jacques Brel's 'Ces Gens-la', a single culled from that years album 'Le Cimetiere Des Arlequins', the first essential Ange release. However, Decamps and company would truly find their feet here on 1974's 'Au-Dela Du Delire', the first album in which the group managed to find the right balance between Christian Decamps stream-of-conciousness monologues and the musicians instrumental ambitions. One criticism of Ange has always been their overly chatty style, a style which sees Christian Decamps dominate, sometimes to the detriment of the actual music. Here, though, we have some wonderful instrumental passages, as shown on the rousing opener 'Godevin Le Vilain' and the gently acoustic 'Ballade Pour Une Orgie', and the group even find time for a rare and blistering Francis Decamps guitar solo on the slow-burning 'Exode'. The album's highlight, however, has to be the final, nine-minute title-track, a sumptuous symphonic odyssey that closes 'Au-Dela Du Delire' on a rather grand note. Featuring delicately-shimmering keyboard twinkles and another frenzied vocal show from Christian Decamps, the album's final piece caps of a remarkable slice of French progressive rock. As we know, every great band has their great career moments, and for Ange it is this album that proves to be arguably the apex of their lengthy career. Alongside Christian Vander's zeuhl exponents Magma and the softly-cosmic Pulsar, Ange are one of the most important outfits from the French progressive scene of the 1970's, this excellent album showcasing their quirky style at both it's most adventurous and enjoyable. Later albums, particularly after 1978's 'Guet-apens', would fail to hit the same bright notes as found here, yet for a brief while Ange - who were one of the few non-English speaking rock groups to find success in both Britain and North America - really were one of the most vibrant progressive rock acts of the genre's golden age. STEFAN TURNER, STOKE NEWINGTON, 2012