MEXICO

This is one of the early Progressive bands to come out of France. They were the first band to be signed to Laurent Thibault's label, and the album itself was released in 1971. Singer Lionel Ledissez grew up in Mexico so that's no doubt where the album's title came from.The biggest surprise was seeing a young Jean-My Truong on drums here. He would later go on to play with ZAO where he impresses me to no end. I must say he doesn't really get a chance to showcase his talents on this album like he does with ZAO. The biggest complaint for me are the vocals. He reminds me of David Clayton-Thomas just not as good. He's dificult to digest unfortunately, taking a lot of enjoyment out of it for me.

"Mexico" opens with bass followed by cymbals and guitar. It kicks in with the vocals. Sax before a minute as it settles.Themes are repeated. "I Know Your Mother" opens with violin followed by flute and vocals. Piano and bass stand out after 3 minutes. Violin is prominant on this track. A laid back guitar solo late. "Albion Impressions" is fairly mellow with reserved vocals, flute, gentle guitar and piano. Some violin later. "Lydie" features flute and acoustic guitar throughout this short instrumental. "Night Road" starts off like the previous track then vocals, drums, sax and bass join in.

"Unparalleled Embrace" is led by vocals, violin and bass early as flute comes and goes. "John's Nightmare" is catchy with strummed guitar, violin, drums then vocals. Flute before 1 1/2 minutes and electric guitar a minute later. "Faces" has some nice guitar late but other than that we get the usual vocals, piano, violin, drums and bass. "Second Rebirth" starts off with violin and drums then the tempo picks up as vocals, bass and piano join in. "All's So Comic" is different with sounds coming and going with no melody until after 2 1/2 minutes. "Tijuana" has these vocal melodies as acoustic guitar, drums, flute and violin play on. "It's Me" contrasts drums and violin with vocals and guitar. "Mexico" is the closing 1 minute instrumental that has a great rhythm.

So a good Jazz flavoured album with not so good vocals.