Ange - 1981 - Moteur

Ange

1981

Moteur

01. Tant Pis l'Indien (3:46)
02. Saga (5:07)
03. Rien n'est trop beau pour toi (2:04)
04. Mourir, souffrir (3:40)
05. Touchez pas à mon ciné (5:04)
06. Détective privé (3:01)
07. Un autre jazz (3:13)
08. Moi, pas idiot ! (4:08)
09. Assis ! (5:24)
10. Chatte, chatte (4:07)

- Christian Decamps / vocals
- Francis Decamps / keyboards, synthesizers
- Robert Defer / guitar
- Jean-Pierre Guichard / drums, percussion
- Didier Viseux / bass

It is very strange that in less than three years, a band can sound so different. Their main song writer and inspirator is still on the command with his brother. The other three musicians being frequently replaced. This had no effect for the brilliant "Guet-Apens" but on "Vu D'Un Chien" the tendancy for a harder sound was already introduced.

This will even more true with "Moteur!". The opening number is almost hard-rock. Galaxies away from the great "Capitaine Coeur De Miel" for instance. Pityful. "Saga" is another rock song with a very dominent bass playing, somewhat sci-fi lyrics as well for this rather average song.
One of the very few nice song from this album is "Rien N'Est Trop Beau Pour Toi". At least it features some nice keys, which reminds that Ange was a great symph prog band. Unfortunately, it is the shortest track of the whole only clocking just over two minutes.
A full rock FM one with "Mourir, Souffrir". It is really hard to believe. Of course, another great prog band produced also a crappy album in 1981 (you remember "Abacab" I'm sure). This one is on par. Extremely poor.
The mood for "Touchez Pas À Mon Ciné" is blues-jazz. Very strange for an Ange composition as well, but at least we escape the awful atmosphere of most of the other songs. There will even be a good guitar solo. The lyrics, which describe the movie industry (from the soundtrack to the director) are also above average.
"Détective Privé" is a pure hard-rock song. At times, I wonder if this album was not a joke. But a very bad one. The jazz-rock mood for "Un Autre Jazz" is similar to "Touchez Pas À Mon Ciné". A bit harder but OK as well (although it has not doing to do with the Ange will all have loved).
After another useless "Moi, Pas Idiot!", the second good song of the album "Assis!" is another quiet one which breaks with the hard-rock oriented style of this release. It even reminds some of the great Ange songs. Unbelievable ! The only symphonic track here.
The whole album surrounds the universe of the film industry (the concept), lyrics being hard at times against the whole stardom system.