ENNEADE

This is a sampler for the French label Musea. It contains music from various Zeuhl and Avant- Prog from the French-speaking parts of Europe. There are some well known names here as well as songs that can only be found here, as far as I know.

Magma "You"-This is a shorter studio version. Longer, live versions appear on some Magma live releases. The sound of this song is early '80s R&B. It's similar to the sound of Merci, but better than any song on it. There are English lyrics. Some horns. I love the overdubbed synth sounds.

Troll "Break Up Dance"-This is an instrumental rockin' song. Some violin. Nice synths.

Xalph "Gya-Tei Parts 1 & 2"-A very fusion sounding song. There are some Zeuhlish vocals in the second part.

Bernard Paganotti "Urantia"-Very similar to Weidorje or the Paga album. There is a cool vocal melody in this song. Also some saxophone.

Yochk'o Seffer "Freya"-Zao saxophonist in jazz-rock mode. Nice violin solo.

Eskaton "La Lutte"-This is a more electronic sounding song. Awesome distorted bass sound. Great female harmony vocals near the end.

Francois Cahen "Dans le Villes Detruites"-Zao keyboardist with a very 80s sounding fusion with drum machines.

Shub-Niggurath "J'ai vu Naguere en Peinture les Harpyes Ravassant les Repas de Phynee"- Last song on the band's first album. Dark music with a monster bass and operatic singing.

Eider Stellaire "Millenaires"-Good song from this mostly instrumental band. Nice middle section with trumpet.

Musique Noise "Villiers"-French vocals which remind me of Ange. There is some Neil Peart style drum fills. A great Zeuhl bass sound halfway through.

Farben "Mutations"-Univers Zero-like piano at the beginning. The whole song is mostly piano and drums.

Altais "Altais"-The best song here. Begins with wind noises and female vocals. Then drums, Zeuhl bass, vocals and keys come in. Very Kobaian sounding vocals. In the middle you can hear people whispering. Later on you hear what sounds like "eavee sippy, son of a bitch". I'm not even sure what language the song is sung in. The tempo picks up at the end.

Univers Zero "Toujours Plus a l'est"-From the Crawling Wind EP. Sounds similar to Ceux Du Dehors. The first few minutes sounds as close to Mike Oldfield as UZ ever got. Later there is a solo on either an electric guitar or electric violin. About halfway through it goes into more chamber-prog territory.

A great album and sampler of primarily Zeuhl music. 3 stars.

It is a great shame that this is the only Zeuhl compilation album around (?). To my knowledge, that is. A good Zeuhl sampler would had drawn in a lot more people to this genre. I wish myself a good Zeuhl sampler to Christmas.

This sampler was released by Musea to get some more interest in this genre. It also contains some bands with no full albums (to my knowledge). It also has some famous names from the French scene. Magma, Shub Niggurath, Eskaton and Eidar Stellare. What Univers Zero does on this sampler is a bit of a mystery though.

Magma kicks off the ball with a short track which give a lot of hints about their greatness. A mysterious band called Troll follows next and I would love to hear more from them after the great track here. The same goes for all obscure acts here, really. Please dig out their recordings and release them, Musea for someone else.

Shub Niggurath is included with one of their best tracks and the highlight of this compilation album. The rest of the tracks is also really good. In short, someone should make this compilation album a lot more easy available because it is a good insight into this genre.

This is a very good compilation album. Unfortunate; also a very obscure compilation album. That is a great shame.

3.5 stars

This is a sampler from the Musea Records label featuring mainly Zeuhl styled music. It was originally released back in 1987. At the time of the release these were all new tracks. A fairly up and down listen I must say with some excellent tracks mixed in with some poor to average songs.

Up first and appropriately so is MAGMA but why they chose the song "You" is beyond me. This is a commercial sounding track all the way and at least the live version i've heard is an improvement on this one. Next is a band called TROLL and a song called "Break Up Dance". Kind of bombastic really with some prominant synths part way through. Violin takes over for the synths then the synths return. It's an okay instrumental. XALPH follows with "Gya-Tei" and I was drawn to this right from the first listen. A laid back instrumental with melancholic synths. This just sounds so good. Bernard Paganotti follows with "Urantia" a song that features plenty of tempo changes and moods which surprised me. An interesting track. The great Yochk'o Seffer follows with "Freya" and the horns certainly stand out throughout. Violin 2 minutes in on this one. ESKATON follows with "La Lutte" and it's a dark and deep sounding piece as female vocal expressions will come and go. An electronic vibe to this as well.

Francois Cahen is next and he worked with Yochk'o Seffer for so many years in ZAO and before that MAGMA. I really enjoy this tasteful piece with Cahen's beautiful electric piano work standing out. SHUB NIGGURATH sounds exactly like they should(haha) with that dark and eerie mood being front and center. EIDER STELLAIRE treats us with "Millenaires" and they do not disappoint. As usual I enjoy the guitar in their music as we get that typical Zeuhl rhythm that drives the song. Sax before 2 minutes. Great track! MUSIQUE NOISE is new to me. Not a fan of the male vocals or the overall sound of this one. FARBEN is also new to me and it opens with piano before a full sound arrives. It's an okay instrumental. ALTAIS is next and the sound of wind blowing greets us before haunting female vocal melodies join the wind. Things get a little too intense vocally when the male vocals arrive. Not a fan of this really. UNIVERS ZERO ends this with "Toujours Plus A L'est" a fantastic sounding tune. By the way this song would lead off their "Crawling WInd" EP.

So not a bad way to be introduced to Zeuhl I suppose, a mixed bag for sure.