LES LARMES DU DALAÏ LAMA

As I have been doing since my 200 th review, I always try and select a special album for special numbers. Since I am heading my six hundredth reviews on PA, I might maybe select not an incredible album but I will dedicate it to one of the bands I really appreciate. I have been reviewing their whole catalogue so far (as I have been doing for all the bands I have been reviewing so far, and the story is far from being over).

After having returned to their roots with their previous album "Sève Qui Peut", ordered by the French government for the ceremonies of the 250th anniversary of the Frenh revolution, Ange had to confirm. Like most of the bands I have reviewed so far, I have have been suffering quite a lot during Ange's eighties work. So, it was quite a surprise to discover "Sève". Only could I hope to get another good Ange record with this one.

Of course, we won't get a masterpiece like in their early days ("Caricatures", "Au Delà", Guet-Apens") but we are well above their extremely poor production from "Vu D'Un Chien" through "Tout Feu Tout Flamme". Since I am the only one on this site to have had the courage (and believe me I needed a lot) to have reviewed all of these albums, I can only be thankful to Ange to have continue their work and produced "Les Larmes Du Daï Lama".

Compositions are definitely more on the prog site. Nothing as such as "Moteur!", "La Gare De Troyes" etc. What we get here is of course a more rocking than progging Ange, but still : several songs are really cool. The title track of course, "La Bête", "Couleurs en Colère" for instance.

Lyrics are of course not on par any longer with the past ones. But who could align greater and crazier lyrics as Ange has done ? Nobody, I guess. The typical example being "Nonne Assistante À Personne En Danger". An incredible play on words, absolutely not understandable for a non-French native speaker (sorry guys...). We revert to the anti-clerical atmosphere of the early Ange. They also make a bit fun of the French colonial policy. The mood is rather anti-establishment. Hurray !!!

I wouldn't recommend this album to any newcomer to Ange to start with their work. Nonetheless, it is by far superior to their extremely poor eighties production. My favorite song, along with the title track is probably "Couleurs en Colère". A slow-beat rock song with complex and ambiguous lyrics.

There will be some disco beat songs, unfortunately like " Les Herbes Folles". But, hopefully this song will transport the listener into the prog mood as well as the hard-rock one. All in all, it is not a bad song. The closing number is very much rock-oriented.

Three stars for this album.

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