As if following in the footsteps of Henriette Kat, French solo pilot (to ambient paradise:-) Jean-Francois MOULIN also exceeds the bounds of traditional synth-based electronic music on his first outing, "40". In addition, Jean-Francois plays not only synthesizers, but also piano and - which is especially pleasing - a real electric guitar, additionally utilizing some sample sounds and vocoder. As a result the album has a quite saturated sonic palette, though of course, it would have not been enough for me to appreciate it if it were uninteresting compositionally. While the creation's fundamental style is definitely Ambient, the music flowing unhurriedly in most cases, each of the 11 tunes has its nice moments, now touching light Classical music, now getting an Art-Rock-like sound, and more. Quite frankly, I find this stuff to be better than anything in contemporary AOR - be it even Prog-tinged as is in the case of Ten Midnight.
The first recording from the English quintet Jebo (vocals, guitars/vocals, drums, bass, and keyboards) consists of three songs ranging from 3 to 5 minutes. Like hundreds before them, the vocalist sings in the style invented by Peter Gabriel, but all his parts are caged within the unchangeable couplet-refrain framework. The music as such is not without originality and is performed professionally, but is also too straightforward, especially on the first track, which is an ordinary vocal-based Pop-Rock, and on the last one, which is a very simple Neo. On these, none of the musicians play interesting or very memorably either. The second song is a modern Alternative Progressive and is better. There are very few tempo changes too, but the rather long instrumental interlude with interplay between passages of piano and those of acoustic guitar at the forefront of the arrangements is impressive and is in many ways outstanding. The band is currently working on their first full-length album with legendary producer John Burns who has such gems to his credit as Genesis's "Selling England by the Pound" and "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway". So I believe it will be at least more consistent than this strange 13-minute outing.
Jeremy is an American multi-instrumentalist and composer, whose first two prog-related outings, "Pilgrim's Journey" (1995) and "Celestial City" (1997), were among Kinesis Records' best-selling CDs for quite a long time. His regular recording with lyrics based on Christian values, "Faithful & True" is a collection of 20 songs, all being done in a unified style, which is certainly still the same romantic pop/rock. Most of the songs, ballads included, have a full-blooded sound, the music being warm and light, as if illuminated from the inside, though overall, it is surely not for prog lovers. Look for Jeremy's new progressive album (first since 2002's "Kingdom Come"), which should be out before December 2006.
