LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

Label: Second Harvest

Alice’s Arrêtez Le Monde is a strong early-1970s French progressive rock album, originally released in 1972. The group had already moved beyond simple psychedelic pop by this point, building a more ambitious sound around keyboards, guitar, layered vocals and carefully arranged song structures. The result is melodic, dramatic and unmistakably French, but with enough organ, Moog and Mellotron colour to appeal directly to collectors of classic European prog.

The album has a loose conceptual feel, with the title piece divided into two parts and shorter tracks flowing around it like scenes from the same story. Songs such as Salina, Le Roseau, Franky L'Oiseau and Le Cercle show the band moving between delicate passages, theatrical vocals and more forceful progressive rock arrangements. This Second Harvest CD edition presents the rare 1972 album in digipack format.

1. Introduction
2. Salina
3. Arrêtez Le Monde, Part 1
4. Byzance
5. Il Est
6. Arrêtez Le Monde, Part 2
7. Ouverture
8. Le Roseau
9. Quelqu'un Qui T'aime
10. Franky L'Oiseau
11. Le Cercle, Part 1
12. Le Cercle, Part 2