| # | Artist | Song (click to play) | Album | Year | CD label |
| 1 | Step Ahead | Eyes | Step Ahead | 1979 | Musea |
| Step Ahead are a Yes-influenced pop-prog band. It is highly regarded by many people. It sounds to me to be a pre-cursor to the Neo-prog movement to come shortly after this album was released. The musicianship and production are very good. But, it does not do very much for me. It has too much of a pop-music sensibility for my tastes, but, for many people, that pop-sensibility is a major plus. This is a potential favorite album for neo-prog fans. | |||||
| 2 | Neo | Neoplasme | Neo | 1980 | Musea |
| Neo is a fusiony prog band. There is some nice guitar work. For me, a drawback to the album is the rather ordinary saxophone playing, which sometimes gives it a pedestrian jazz sound. The album is decent, but, not terribly original or intriguing to me. | |||||
| 3 | Catharsis | Ouverture | Les Chevrons | 1972 | Spalax |
| Here is a short clip from Catharsis' 2nd release. It's a dreamy tripped-out piece of mellow psychedelic prog. Some wordless vocals. Lots of farfisa organ. It is pretty relaxed. When listening to it, I picture a bunch of hippies sitting around passing around joints, wearing tie-dies and beads, and saying things like "chill-out, man", and "far out". Not that there's anything wrong with that. | |||||
| 4 | Acintya | Adyane | La Cite Des Dieux Qublies | 1978 | Musea (LP only) |
| Acintya remind a bit of Wapassou, though a little more upbeat. The album (released only on LP by Musea) features some nice memorable melodies. Violin is the primary melodic instrument. The band does not always gel together very well, though. Alot of the musical transitions sound as if they had not yet been perfected - as if the album was recorded before the music had been performed enough times to smooth it out a bit. | |||||
| 5 | Vortex | God is Good for You, John | Les Cycles de Thanatos | 1979 | Togo Saga Music (LP only) |
| Vortex is another one of those rare French prog LP's that has yet to see a CD re-issue. There is an obvious Mahavishnu slant to the music, but, it goes far beyond that. The album also has a darker side more akin to Univers Zero in places. | |||||
| 6 | Wapassou | Ludwig | Ludwig | 1979 | Musea |
| Wappasou play a mostly instrumental classically influenced music. It is very delicate and refined with many layers of interesting and intricate instrumental interplay. How's that for alliteration? All Wapassou albums are drum-less except for the first self-titled album, which is very psychedelic with an almost Krautrock vibe. This is a very nice album for relaxing to. | |||||
| 7 | Jean-Paul Prat | Masal | Masal | 1982 | Musea |
| This is a very fine work which is reminiscent of Weidorje's brand of Zeuhl, or of Mike Oldfield. The original album is a single instrumental work of 42 minutes. The CD adds an additional 35 minutes of bonus material, which is just as fine as the original album. I am also reminded of Pekka Pohjola's music. The melodic ideas are very developed and explored from in a manner akin to a classical composition. | |||||