ART ZOYD 3 [AKA: SYMPHONIE POUR LE JOUR OÙ BRÛLERONT LES CITÉS]

Art Zoyd´s first studio album is one of those "lost" gems that is too rare to attrack a wide (even in progressive rock) range of listeners but way too good to be left aside... well, isn´t that the case with most Avant Garde anyways?

An impressive first effort, one of those that make you wonder if the band will ever top themself, but apparently they did... and more than once. The music is very challeging, always interesting, incredibly complex and practically no rock can be found here, this is Avant Garde all the way thrue... If I had to let you know what this sounds like I would say that it´s like Stravinsky begun to write for little chamber groups, and yet this isn´t quite the case. As I said before, there is a notorious lack of rock here, emphasized by lack (again) of drums!!! That´s right people, this band has no drums... and yet the music has some of the most crazy rhythm´s you are likly to find... this guys truly are the bastards sons from Stravinsky!!! The violin/viola (for my delight there is more viola than violin) is spectacular, it´s, along with the bass, that powerful, fluent, expresive bass the spine of the music. The main instrument, or at least the one that makes most solos, is the trumpet, I told you this is not rock! The result, adding jazzy piano, some guitars, not very present though, some sax and crazy Magma like vocals, yet this ones aren´t in Kobaia (pitty) is mindblowing if you are ready for it... if not, your mind might actually blow up, so to be taken with caution!!! You have been warned! I can´t pick one song over the other, for they are all great, but I will say that some of the best moments in the album are the fast and furious viola passages from Brigades Spéciales, the groovy and crazy Simulacres´s rhythm section and the bass in Les Fourmis... but this would be an offense to the rest of the album.