U RIGIRU

We've all heard about these so called "lost classics" being unearthed and all the hype that goes along with them, only to find out after we get the recording that there was a good reason for it being lost in the first place.Thankfully there are exceptions to this rule. And this is certainly one of them. RIALZU are from the French island of Corsica located between France and Italy. At the time of this recording there was a movement in Corsica to protect their language and culture. This album which uses the Corsican language became an important part of this movement. There is no doubt the band was a fan of MAGMA although other than the start of the first track these guys really have their own sound. The original album was just over 30 minutes long and 1,000 copies were distributed in Corsica only. So if you own one of these in good shape you can get up to a thousand dollars for it. So that is why this recording was so unknown until the re-issue on cd recently. By the way Greg Walker raved about this and I now know why.

"U Rigiru" which means "The Circle" opens with outbursts of sound that come and go reminding me so much of MAGMA. Violin before a minute then the tempo picks up with guitar. Again this has a strong MAGMA flavour to it. Organ and piano become prominant, bass too until the music stops after 3 1/2 minutes. This is calm and atmospheric until the violin comes in before 5 minutes.Vocals after 6 minutes. It's still pastoral. The vocal melodies really sound like a female so i'll pretend they are. A fuller sound before 11 minutes and we get some male vocal melodies too. Another calm as the music stops after 12 minutes. A drum solo then follows. It picks back up with deep male vocals after 14 1/2 minutes. His vocals actually sound like a mellotron. Female vocals too. Great finish !

"I Lagramanti" opens with spacey winds and eerie vocal melodies. Drums after a minute. A calm before 2 1/2 minutes but it's still windy. It kicks in with violin,organ and drums after 3 1/2 minutes. The guitar joins in. Nice bass too. The vocals are powerful before 4 1/2 minutes but they stop a minute later as angelic female vocal melodies arrive.The organ continues. Violin after 6 1/2 minutes as it picks back up with drums and bass. Male vocals return then those female vocal melodies also kick back in around 9 minutes. Winds and those mellotron-like vocals end it. Nice. "A Mubba" is a great Fusiony tune with piano and drums standing out. Guitar 1 1/2 minutes in. Male vocal melodies take over then the guitar returns.

So that's the original album and for me a definite 5 stars for it. Two live bonus tracks are included which I would give 4.5 stars to. Yes they're excellent. A must for Zeuhl fans out there.