A Quest for Prog 2: Ange - Au-delà du délire

"A Quest for Prog" is a series of 50 Progressive Rock reviews to be written over a year. The band
selection is taken from the book in the first post on this blog. And the albums I am reviewing is
based on the highest user ratings for each band on Progarchives.com.

Ange - Au-delà du Délire (1974)
Produced by Claude Gibonne

Eric Bibonne - vocals
Jean Michel Brezovar - guitar, vocals
Christian Decamps - keyboards, vocals
Francis Decamps - keyboards, vocals
Daniel Haas - bass, guitar
Gerald Jelsch - drums
Michel Lefloch - vocals
Henry Loustau - violin

Track listing:
Side one:
1. Godevin le Vilain (2:57) (Godevin the Ugly)
2. Les longues nuits d'Isaac (4:10) (The Long Nights of Isaac)
3. Si j'étais le Messie (3:00) (If I Were the Messiah)
4. Balade pour une Orgie (3:22) (Ballad of an Orge)
5. Exode (5:00) (Exodus)
Side two:
1. La bataille du Sucre (La colère des Dieux) (6:30) (The Battle of Sugar (the Wrath of the Gods))
2. Fils de Lumiere (3:52) (Son of Light)
3. Au delà du Délire (9:02) (Beyond Madness)

Released in 1974 "Au delà du Délire", translating as "Beyond Madness", was the third album by french band Ange. Formed in 1969 and influenced by King Crimson and Genesis, Ange went down the theatrical and poetic style of Progressive Rock. They performed in French for most of their career only releasing one album with an English version, their fifth album “Par les fils de Mandrin (By the sons of Mandrin)”.

"Au delà du Délire" is an album I changed my view on after every listen. On one listen I would really like it and then on another it would do nothing for me. After a few listens I was in the middle. The album begins side one with "Godevin le vilain" which is a nice fiddle intro and it introduces the strong keyboard presence on the album. It's a strong opener to the album and sets the stage for “Les longues nuits d'Isaac”.
This track reminds me of Van der Graaf Generator with the heavy keyboard lines and soft to heavy vocals. This song moves along at a good place and builds up to a few crescendos throughout the song in which the vocals take on a new character. This is definitely my favourite song on the album, really really good tune.
“Si j'étais le Messie” has spoken work vocals which are presented with slight backing so it sounds like a theatrical reading. There are some instrumental passages when the band ramps the music up.  But neither are all that interesting and the song doesn’t really go anywhere.
Following on is “Balade pour une Orgie” which is a medieval ballad. It is quite pretty but doesn't go anywhere apart from a nice keyboard passage from 2.30 which is sadly too brief.
“Exode” the last song on side one reminded me of Great Expectations by Kiss. Not in that the songs are all that similar more in that that both songs borrow signatures from Beethoven’s “Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor”. The song is upbeat and it makes a nice change from the last few songs. The song has a really strong guitar solo to finish the track and the side.
Side two begins with “La bataille du Sucre (La colère des Dieux)”. The song feels like a dark fairy tale which shows off the keyboard players in this band. The vocal delivery is quite quirky and although I have no idea what is being said you get the impression of different characters. The interplay between the instruments is nice and the song moves through different scenes and colours.
Following on is “Fils de Lumiere” which reminds me a lot of King Crimson and is the other highlight of the album. The music builds and credit needs to go to drummer Gerald Jelsch for some great playing on this one. I think this would have been great in concert.

 The album ends with the 9 minute title track “Au delà du Délire”. I gotta say by the time this track came along I was not really in the mood for this kind of song from the band. Another folky midpace number that is fairly uninteresting. In some ways I feel I am being a little hard on it as it has some good qualities. Halfway through the song becomes a guitar solo similar to the end of “Exode” but much longer. But again though it isn’t enough to keep me interested.
“Au delà du Délire” is an album that has had highs and lows but is a fairly flawed album. I will probably put “Les longues nuits d'Isaac”, “La bataille du Sucre (La colère des Dieux)” and “Fils de Lumiere” in a playlist but as an album I can’t see myself to this album again. I think if you're into the English folk style of Progressive Rock then you might get something out of this album.

4/10