MADELEINE

GHOST RHYTHMS are a young band out of France and with this over 2 hour double album they have created something unique. Their idea was to make an alternate soundtrack to the movie "Vertigo" an Alfred Hitchcock classic. In doing so they created the music first then they made the tunes fit the scenes of the movie. They got the idea to do this from the common notion that PINK FLOYD's "Dark Side Of The Moon" works as an alternate soundtrack to "The Wizard Of Oz". GHOST RHYTHMS is a large band consisting of 16 people with lots of horns and strings and the only vocals are female vocal melodies on a couple of tracks. The drummer and keyboardist created and arranged all the music here and both the drums and especially the piano are very prominent in this recording. The music really comes across as being in the Chamber style to my ears more so than Jazz although we certainly get both. Oh, the album's title is taken from a character in the movie "Vertigo".

Disc one opens with "Another Bridge" which got me off on the wrong foot as I'm not really into this although I like the way it builds. "I Did Not" opens with piano only but it turns full before 1 1/2 minutes. This is somewhat dark and experimental and I like it a lot. "Tree Ashes" is led by drums and piano early on including accordion then the tempo picks up before 2 1/2 minutes and a horn starts playing over top. "Carlotta Valders" sounds great to start but I'm not into the sound when it picks up before 2 minutes but that only lasts about a minute. I like how pleasant it is after 5 1/2 minutes although I wouldn't call the horn playing over top in that way. A calm after 9 minutes but it's urgent and building. "Apparition #2" is melancholic and dark and oh so good. "Falaise" features beautiful piano melodies as the accordion joins in.

"Free Fall" has this fast paced piano as other sounds come and go. Love this stuff. "Apparition #1" is dark and eerie with piano. This is sparse with plenty of atmosphere. Cello after 2 1/2 minutes then it brightens 4 1/2 minutes in. "Phalenes" is a short piece with piano and horns leading the way. "L'alphee" has some excellent drums and bass in it as the piano and accordion help out. "Apparition #3" ends the first disc and it's dark with percussion and atmosphere before the piano and accordion join in. It does brighten but then back to the piano and drums 6 minutes in. It's brighter a minute later as themes are repeated.

"Aleph" opens with sparse piano and atmosphere until it kicks in at 1 1/2 minutes. So good! Check out the drumming after 6 minutes and the rare guitar a minute later. More guitar 10 minutes in including some clapping. "Relief" is led by piano but we get accordion and more helping out. I like the atmosphere 3 1/2 minutes in. "Ravin" has a fairly urgent rhythm section on it while "I Did" ends up having this relaxed jazzy sound before 2 minutes which is really enjoyable. Lots of horns in "Mary Rose" while "Apparition #2" has these pulsating sounds and more and then it kicks into gear before 1 1/2 minutes. Love this!

"A Bridge" has piano to start then it turns fuller before 1 1/2 minutes. Nice flute before 6 minutes and we get some female vocal melodies to follow. "Vie D'emilie Sagee" opens with bass as piano and horns eventually join in. Great sound 4 minutes in and we get female vocal melodies as well. Amazing track. "Pour Toi" is relaxed but there's so much going on. "La Circulaire" opens with what sounds like Kettle drums as piano joins in. A horn after 2 minutes. Insanity 5 1/2 minutes in. A great way to end it all.

I haven't listened to this with the movie but on it's own it a solid 4 star recording. Yeah it's too long for my tastes but blame the length of this on the movie(haha).