LE PETIT VIOLON DE MR. GRÉGOIRE

I recently posted a reply on a tread about 70's music and mood of the period. It was mentioned more than once how at the time many did pick up a record onlz because the cover art was apealing...Well, I did it again. Since I was one of those guys, and I discovered bands like Gentle Giant and Eloy, to name a few, doing that. This time I bought Mona Lisa "Le petit violon..." , ang guess what? I love it. It's not that strange, if you think...the cover of an album is like the face of a person: if the eyes are the mirror of the soul, then the cover is the mirror of the style in your music. If you choose the right cover you will attract the people interested in the kind of music you are doing...Fair enough! Back to this album, I have to say this is really typical of the seventies. To begin with, the bass sound is great, like only heard in Yes and Renaissance records: Rickenbacker 4001 all the way ( played in a majestic way too ). I miss only the mellotron, but I guess in France this was not available or too expensive, since even Ange didn't use it. Oh, yes, Ange...I don't find the music similar to Ange in any way. Common ground of course, same influences from the great bands of the past, but not a copy at all. I always felt that Ange was too soft, mellow and the full symphonic passages too short. Mona Lisa delivers a well balanced mix between symphonics and ambiance music. There is a lot of spocken words, and I know it's not everyone's taste. But having felt in love with Banco's first album which beginns with a spocken track, it's quite normal for me to have those kind of passages in prog music. There's a reason why at the time the difinition "art rock" was created. A really nice jump back to the past with a record I didn't even know the existence of back then. A sound and a structure that many bands in the actual prog scene should discover, at least learn and take advantage of. Four solid stars.