EVOLUTIVE SONGS

As we all know, Gepetto is Pinocchio's "father". A puppet maker. But did you know it's also the name of a French prog band? Sorry, I didn't. I didn't know they already released a first album either. Their debut creation "From Heaven to the Stars...", was released in 2016 by the famous French label Musea Records. I should know that though since Geppeto's creator is no less than George Pinilla (aka Ugum on the air), a legend in France: he created "Shop 33" in the eighties (more precisely 1986) in Bordeaux, a shop dedicated to prog at a time when that music was underground and unfashionable and he organised a lot of concerts. His store is still working today (called George's shop since 2008 and located in Périgord) and now online. I remembered visiting his fabulous lair with my friend Jean-Claude Granjeon (Harmonie's editor, the very first prog 'zine in France) at that time: it was very late but both took time to recommend me Sebastian Hardie's "Four Moments". I had never heard of that prestigious Australian band before. What a shock! By the way, speaking of the Granjeon family, I am glad that Jean-Claude's own son (Stéphan) contributed to that album (on drums). Among the other prestigious musicians, we have Laurent Simmonet on keyboards: he played on Chance's album "Escape to Horizon". There are a lot of guests in fact (10) including George's own brother (Julien) on vocals. Let's talk of this album now. Under a superb cover, a pregnant woman and a meaningful title, hides a fabulous record. All the features developed by Genesis and Yes but also Pink Floyd, Camel, Pendragon are here. Yes, this is symphonic prog at its best! George plays guitars and keyboards (even a mellotron!), sings including some welcome Spanish lyrics (in 'Al Final Del Camino' where there is a nice echo of a famous poem by Antonio Machado and in 'Lagrimas Vacias' enlightened by a splendid Genesis-like ending). The final epic, the 15 minutes 'Mille Cordes', is a gem too. In a nutshell, this album and its 6 tracks filled to the brim of fluid guitars and vintage keyboards is just a must! Highly recommended.

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Four years after From Heaven to the Stars, Gepetto return with yet more symphonic splendour. In truth, I am not the least precious about my musical preferences and am perfectly happy to enjoy endless slices of neo-prog by numbers...as long as the numbers add up. And here, for the most part, they do. This said, starting Evolutive Songs off with its two least impressive tracks seems an odd choice (to me), with the chronically off-key vocals in "In Your Mind" being particularly distracting. However, the closing four tracks are totally majestic - all in all, very reminiscent of Red Sand (which can't be bad). In particular, the 15 minute closer, "Mille Cordes", is quite magnificent - transports you to another sphere altogether.

If you could ditch "Tu" and "Always" from the first CD and amalgamate what's left with the final four tracks off this one, you would end up, collectively, with nearly 80 minutes of great listening. Sweeping guitars, key-drenched melodies, pulsating rhythms, recurring changes in time structure - as I said, neo-prog by numbers....and I for one would love each and every minute.

Thanks, as ever, to PA for giving me exposure to yet another unheralded band. Great stuff.