... D'UN AUTRE MONDE

I am a huge fan of the 70's Canadian progressive rock band MORSE CODE and I must tell you that I had reservations and a certain discomfort putting "D'un Autre Monde" into my CD player. Fearing the worst I was completely shocked.this album is very very good. I had read so many poor review of MORSE CODE's 80's material... Encouraged by the popularity of Quebec's underground progressive rock scene, MORSE CODE reformed with original members Christian Simard (vocals, keyboards), Michel Vallée (bass), and Daniel Lemay (guitars) re-formed the group, replacing drummer Raymond Roy with Simard's son and adding a second keyboardist, Marc Laperle. The new MORSE CODE capture the beauty of their 70's work with a certain overlay of modern sounds. The songs on this album are very well constructed and I find it remarkable that Simard can still write killer prog/pop tunes. His voice has not deteriorated one iota and on this album they hit some lovely harmonies and melodies. "D'un Autre Monde" reminds me of Frances later sounding ANGE with hints of mid period GENESIS tossed in. A delicate yet highly gripping album with a mixture of old and new sounds and musical themes. I have a distinct impression this is a concept album as well with opening and closing sounding cyclical. Highly entertaining album and the way all re-united prog bands should sound.

Sitting here writing this review, I must start with one off hand comment - if it wasn't for the fact that I had already picked up Procreation & La Marche des Hommes at Spin-It (second hand record shop), this Morse Code album would have been the last I bought from them. It is a decent record. But it brings to mind a mix of Francis Cabrel fronting a rock band (On N'ait d'un Autre Monde), of Eric Lapointe detouring from his descent into Quebec's Mr Power Ballad back to, at the very least, the radio rocker he used to be (la Terre cesse pas de tourner), and overall, a heavier version of pop group the Box( Memoire du Sang), and basically a mish mash of AOR Hard Rock that is still present in the mainstream Quebec music playlists. The only reminder of their prog years is limited to L'ombre de ton Miroir, with its' light jazzy melody and playing. Casino does bring to mind the sound of latter day Ange, but Christian Decamps vocals & lyrics provide the little extra that makes their music magic to my ears, whereas this doesn't.

As it is, I am looking forward to playing the LPs I bought to see what the excitement was for this one time Quebec prog leader.

P.S. Neo-prog detractors would have a field day with this album, using it for examples of aspects of the genre that they deride for being too AOR rather than prog. And I like Neo !