MAURICE BOGUET: BALLADE POUR NOUS

Unofficially this album can be seen as Troisième Rive's second album, if it wasn't for Boguet being now the frontman of the group, but the line-up is almost the same and the music is certainly in the same ballpark musically speaking. Although issued well into the 80's, this album is a downright 70's artefact, a hippy- type of pastoral folk with vocals still reminiscent of Julien Clerc.

Starting on the very Genesisian Cerisier, the album grabs you by your cherries and if you're into folk, it will lead you in a fantastic folky trip, as Boguet & Co are almost on Carpet Crawler territory. The following jazzy Glutzenbaum Life (and later on in the album, Quoi Faire Avec Ca?) bring a very charming dimension with the glockenspiel never far from your speakers and a folky Genesis never far away either. Le Gout Des Fruits is another superb track, which links acoustic folk rock with a more electric ending.

There are a few lesser tracks like the slightly country Naufrage, the Celtic "Folklore" (with a delicate Hackettian electric guitar) and the Dire Strait country-esque Charette, but on the other hand the delightful Genesis-esque arpeggios of Un Bas De Plus is simply marvellous and more than makes up for lesser flipside.

While I would be crazy to consider this second TR album as the equivalent as the original Banlieues album, it is clearly an excellent follow-up, but it won't reach its perfection. Still definitely worth the acquisition at Mégot's site www.megot.com