GEPETTO

'Awaiting' guitar arpeggio bringing Chris' soft voice to a melodic, bucolic, cutesy air of yesteryear; sudden break jazzy guitar solo and its crystalline piano variation; a little Moog follows for the consensual air, without waves, melody when you hold us; ah a bold synth solo, the piano swirls again; Genesisian vintage atmosphere, the Beatles for a lively vintage passage while becoming; halfway through the piano takes over with Pascal's 6-string guitar for the intimate moment; jarrian electronic break before a new quiet verse, break around 17 minutes for the long-awaited rise with the angry guitar solo, the Gabrielesque flute and the bass; moment of plenitude which could end there, with a Hackettian touch of great beauty; the return of a final, slightly soporific verse; the final clock reminding us of this.

'Mother' continues the ticking yes the piece can be listened to in 50 minutes at a time; guitar arpeggio bringing a rural setting then evolving into a warm flamenco atmosphere; 5 minutes of pure happiness, a bit of 'forbidden games' before George's singing in Spanish: you have to prepare yourself for it, a change of scenery, it makes or breaks; the break then the return of the voice in stereo soothes this dilemma and fits into the neo-folk-progressive orchestration; phrasing halfway through to settle down and it starts again on a Camelian decline with typical guitar and symphonic synth, zest of Yes. The spoken voice on the flamenco tune slows me down, well the diversity saves with this new wave synth and this magical 6 strings; the Genesisian keyboard, we are of course on Genesis; the vocal breaks the atmosphere and pulls towards the arid North African plateaus. Final flute-piano and grandiloquent guitar solo then Vangelis-style keyboard which buzzes in the head even after the end. It's time.

A beautiful vintage album from the 70s and 80s with a distinctive sound. (3.5)

A little historical reminder, GEPETTO is the project of George PINILLA, composer, Franco-Spanish singer, self-taught multi-instrumentalist musician and seller of progressive rock by mail order since 1986. He has been playing for twenty-five years in a seventies cover band from BORDEAUX & began composing demos in 2005 for what would become GEPETTO. Its influences start from the BEATLES to encompass all "bisecular" progressive music from 1966 to 2023, to which a hint of Latin music must be attached.

GEPETTO's first two records, "From Heaven to the Stars" in 2016 and "Evolutive Songs" in 2020 were reviewed on profilprog.com (the second with an interview with the principal concerned), all listeners can therefore reread them to satiation. The new album "Awaiting Madre" tells of the very good relationship that George had with his mother who died during recording at the ripe old age of 97 and to which the album is logically dedicated.

For this "Awaiting Madre" let's first talk about the format chosen, two long suites of twenty-five and twenty-six minutes, nothing more "stunning" in musical terms because even more attention is required from the modest chronicler that I am (and others obviously) to listen and dissect what George and his traveling companions wanted to produce. The chronicle of the previous album was much easier without a doubt.

"Awaiting" and the language of SHAKESPEARE to begin with, a mid tempo sung by Chris PALMER of which we will remember the slightly jazzy passage of the third minute which opens the way to the first guitar solo of newcomer Pascal AGARD, before a clear WEST inspiration COAST (POCO comes to my ears from 4:23 to 5:55) even if it is not voluntary, then a pianistic and keyboard digression (moog solo) organized by Luis PUENTE (director of the IRUN conservatory) who was him already present on "Evolutive Songs". At 7:04 and until 9:32 GEPETTO is clearly eyeing CSNY, before a more energetic takeoff (six strings and piano) which takes us until 12:45, the the most becoming, the most musically beautiful, the most successful part of this first suite with Mister AGARD in pole position. Calm from 2:47 p.m., voice/piano/acoustic guitars and twelve strings, it's calm and beautiful, almost religious! and we leave for a more nervous finale at 16:53, sassy piano and incisive six strings, flute sampled at 18:38 with the support of Tiphaine RIVIERE's bass guitar before Pascal AGARD arrives again to perform a great solo class until 8:20 p.m.; the final part of the piece is much calmer, vocals/acoustic guitar/backing vocals/piano/mellotron/bells and the ticking of a watch as a conclusion.

What's happening ? The ticking of the watch continues from the start of "Madre" (the first thirty seconds) then continues with bucolic guitars and keyboards (the mellotron is just ad hoc) until 3:25 then the rhythm picks up. speeds up, it's a party in the village with a superb flamenco passage (the origins of the boss stand out and the great TRIANA with it), George's singing in Spanish is calm and relaxing, at 7:00 the sarabande starts and unfolds between neo, sympho and Andalusian (at least the originality is there), GEPETTO stands out as a different formation. It is in my opinion the most important, far from the usual standards that we can encounter, the instrumental passage which begins at 13 :50 is worthy of the heyday of symphonic progressive, no less, with an ultra-lyrical guitar sitting on a very elaborate carpet of synthesizers. George takes the floor again at 5:30 p.m. for a finale with an acoustic- symphonic connotation of infinite beauty which once again highlights a galloping and melodic electric six-string at the same time, listen, it's simply magnificent. The concluding theme on the piano and the mellotron allows a gentle end accompanied by the swift guitar which follows us since the start of the album.

A great success to be credited to GEPETTO, as was the case for the two previous records.

Original review published at : profilprog.com

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.

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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