LES ESPACES INQUIETS / PHASE IV / ARCHIVES II

Regrouping the double disc Phases IV and the fifth album Les Espaces Inquiets, plus some archives material ranging from 84 to 87 (so well after the two records here included), this double Cd set is a logical follow-up to the first dealing with the first three album and some earlier archives material. So again as I did with the previous compilation, I will not spend time discussing the separate albums, as I have written a separate review for each of them.

Only two small remarks, one regarding the artworks missing for some album (LEI), but an extended artwork depicting the different part of an industrial cooling tower. The other has to do with the way the cut was made for the albums. They are not presented chronologically, since the 83's LEI is preceding the first disc of 84's Phase IV. Normally, this would called for the double album on one single disc, but since those compilation were produced in the early 90's (when the total capacity of a Cd was 75 instead of 80 mins), the whole Phase IV album could've not fitted on a single disc. Hence this bizarre set-up that will maybe one day get corrected.

On with the bonus track (or the archives material if you wish), which may again appear out of context with the albums presented here, since they date from minimum 18 months after LEI, from late 84 until 87. Those 12 tracks are actually made from five different compositions, most of them for theatre and one for a film. The least we can say is that the Zaboitzeff-penned Ex-Tractu is very different to what AZ had gotten us used to and is highly energetic, while Combat is very atmospheric. The Hourbette- penned Malbodium is divided in three parts and they are more synthesised music than ever before but included to messed-up Gregorian chants. Don Juan is also divided in three parts (actually four, but go figure out why the fourth is separated) but are linked to the Combat theatre session and are definitely abstract oeuvres

The bothersome thing is that for these archives material, neither the proper dates are given, nor the line-ups given also. Coupled with the fact that those tracks probably lack the visual contest of which they were created for, this adds to the confusion and create frustrations. So it really depends if you want to get this compilation (probably cheaper than the separate albums), but the archives material does not provide much an added value. Your decision!