LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

1 - Premier Mouvement (13'12)2 - Deuxième Mouvement (5'59)3 - Troisième Mouvement (12'41)4 - Quatrième Mouvement (12'31)5 - Cinquième Mouvement (30'46) Well-known French session guitarist and former SANDROSE member, Jean-Pierre ALARCEN released two albums under his own name. One of them (1978), with jazz-rock themes in the style of John McLAUGHLIN and SANTANA, includes nostalgic and climatic tracks. The second one is a neo-classical symphony with superb orchestral movements, a touch of majesty, and whose beauty is obscure as well as clear, calm and at the same time full of tension. "Tableau N°1" (1979) can be defined as halfway between MAHLER, FAURE and THE ENID. Reworked by the artist himself, the Musea reissue allows the listener to rediscover the initial track-listing divided in three parts, and includes the eponymous album with a complete biography. "Tableau N°2" (1998) is the follow-up of "Tableau N°1" and consists in a celebration of pronounced classical symphonicism, close to neo-classicism or to THE ENID's classical and Progressive rock fusion. MAHLER, DEBUSSY or FAURE's influences can be heard in this lyrically impacted music. A pure symphonic work in a neo-classical tradition, and with no rock instruments such as guitars (!)... Great !