LÉGENDES

Have to put my fourpennyworth in here. One of my alltime favourite albums, in any genre. A lot of classical cliches - lots of triplet runs etc a la Wakeman and Emerson, but a splendid sense of harmony and chord changes, relentless, almost corny builld-ups and releases of tension. The 80s keys grate a bit, as does the drum programming (although I understand Musea released a rerecorded version with real drums on FCGD7001, one of their very rare cassette releases, in 1991. Have never seen it but would love to hear it). But the tunes are so brilliant, and the breakneck dynamism, as well as the unabashed Rachmaninovian Romanticism (yes, the Enid get a look-in here, too, as do numerous Japanese bands). The final track, La vieille femme et la chandelle, is a suitably towering conclusion. Absolute magic. This guy (Brandet) is a yoga teacher now. Someone snap him out of it. We need more records like this.