| Reviews Biography Clearlight has sort of taken me by surprise over the course of my exploring their catalog, and have established themselves as sort of a personal favorite of mine. The band is essentially keyboardist and pianist Cyrille Verdeaux, with a troupe of guest musicians on every album. Clearlight, as a band entity, was established in 1974 to facilitate the recording of the seminal Symphony album. This original incarnation featured Tim Blake, Steve Hillage and Didier Mahlerbe of Gong, along with numerous other French musicians. The Gong tie-in led to them being signed by Virgin Records, as well as to a worldwide tour supporting that band. 1975 saw the follow-up release of Forever Blowing Bubbles, another beauty, though this time sans Gong membership, but with the addition of King Crimson's David Cross. After the release of that album, Verdeaux set to work on a soundtrack for the film Visa de Censure #X, which came out later in 1975 under the band name Delired Chameleon Family. Essentially, this is another Clearlight release, featuring an overlap of musicians and falling nicely in the band's chronology. A label switch to RCA in 1976 brought about the release of Les Contes du Singe Fou, perhaps their most traditionally symphonic album, although still imbued with the distinctive Clearlight feel. Their final release was for Polydor in 1978, Visions featured violin extraordinaire Didier Lockwood, and was undoubtedly their most varied album, incorporating a huge array of influences, from sequencer-laden electronica to eastern motifs, and reflecting Verdeaux's growing fascination with Far Eastern religious principles. Visions would be the final release under the Clearlight banner for the time being, as the traumatic death of Verdeaux's four year old son set him on a two year journey of self discovery eastward, where he would further his study of yoga and mediation. Upon his return in 1980, he embarked on a solo career that essentially extends to the present day, having remained very active and quite prolific. Verdeaux has released a number of solo albums as well as collaborating on a variety of projects, though for the most part these tend to drift more towards to the 'new age' genre, and might be outside the typical progressive fan's scope of interest. In 1990, Verdeaux finally brought back the Clearlight name, and put together Symphony II, an extension of major themes from the original album, albeit with a heavy electronic influence. Times are good for Clearlight and Verdeaux, as the rights to the back catalog have been won back from various labels, and all the albums and solo releases have been remastered and re-released by his own label, Clearlight 888 Music. . - Greg Northrup [October 2001]    Source: Clearlight 888 Music Website Symphony (1974) The first album under the Clearlight moniker is an immense work that only gets better with increased listening. For all intensive purposes, Clearlight is the French pianist/keyboardist Cyrille Verdeaux, with a revolving door of guest musicians on each of the albums. Symphony in particular sports an all-star lineup, featuring Gong members Steve Hillage on guitar, Didier Mahlerbe on sax and Tim Blake on keys. Essentially, the band's style is an extraordinary amalgamation of classically influenced themes melded with electronic, space and jazz influences, making for a stunning palette of savory sounds and gorgeous innovation. Symphony is divided into two movements, and depending on which copy you have, they will be in different order (the original CD version had it wrong apparently, and this has been corrected on the Clearlight 888 reissue). Both display a similar approach, despite one track having the Gong membership, and one without. Verdeaux seems to generally approach the compositional process from a delicate classical piano base, over which keyboards, synthesizers, saxophones and any number of instruments work in powerful, melodic interplay, or veer off into interesting improvisational tangents. Often, the music shifts into jazz rock and near-fusion territories, an impression which is strengthened by the versatile, emotive playing of Hillage, who turns in a top notch performance here. Many times, the pieces bring to mind images of some distant, Jupiterian orchestra, working off some brilliant cosmic themes, and other times churning, dense and subtly chaotic. Reference points could possibly be artists like Tangerine Dream, Mike Oldfield and, of course, Gong, though Symphony certainly stands alongside the best work by any of them. Not only one of my favorite albums out of France, but one of the most distinctive and consistently rewarding albums in the progressive rock genre. - Greg Northrup [October 2001] Click Here for Tracklist and Lineup Info Forever Blowing Bubbles (1975) The second Clearlight release, Forever Blowing Bubbles, is a more than worthy follow up to the classic Symphony album, perhaps surpassing it on many fronts. This album is made up of seven shorter tracks, rather than the two extended movements of the prior album, giving it a somewhat different overall feel. Immediately noticeable is the absence of any of the Gong membership, which does manifest itself in the compositional approach somewhat. The album has less of the "jammy" feel that Symphony had at times, relying on Cyrille Verdeaux's classical piano motifs as its bare-bones structure. Vocals are also sparsely featured, but are largely forgettable, as on the tame opener "Chanson". However, female vocals are used to pleasing effect in the short, but pretty "Narcisse et Goldmund". In sum, the album plays on the more orchestral and grand moments of Symphony, condensing them into shorter, focused tunes with a heavily melodic, but no less unique, emphasis. The individual pieces generally begin with some pleasant piano motif, and then, as on Symphony, electronic effects and synthesizers are piled on, often climaxing beneath tremendous, fuzzed out guitar solos. Sonic ear candy is everywhere to be found throughout the album. "Without Words" builds to a very energetic peak, with some thundering drums and cascading guitar sprinklings. One of my favorite moments comes at the end of "Way", where a barrage of pianos and synthesizers are double and triple tracked atop one another. Then the tape is slowly sped up, and everything moves higher in pitch, building in intensity as the sparkling individual themes weave in and around each other. A gorgeous moment. "Ergotrip" is another highlight, with a stunning guitar solo that complements Verdeaux's intoxicating piano themes. The Clearlight 888 CD reissue features a number of bonus tracks. Of note is the previously unreleased "Sweet Absinthe", which didn't make it onto the original album, but fits in nicely here. This is another excellent album from Clearlight, and while perhaps not quite on par with the tremendous Symphony, Forever Blowing Bubbles is no slouch in its own right. In my opinion, both are essential, although Clearlight's output would turn from excellent to merely good after this release. - Greg Northrup [October 2001] Click Here for Tracklist and Lineup Info Delired Chameleon Family (1976) While not a Clearlight release per se, Delired Chameleon Family, sits nicely in the Clearlight continuum, featuring many of the same musicians, and of course centered around Verdeaux's keyboard/piano based compositions. Still, Delired Chameleon Family is a significantly different beast than the prior two Clearlight albums in that the entire thing is basically an improvisation. The album was put together as a soundtrack for a French film, but during the recording numerous musicians guested and added spontaneous parts over the basic structures laid down by Verdeaux and collaborator Joel Dugrenot. Most of the core elements of the Clearlight sound are here, the delicate piano basis, and the churning, chaotic overlay of saxophones, drums and frenzied guitar solos. Rarely however does this album enter the same classically inspired splendor as did the previous two, inevitably spending a significant amount of time muddling about trying to hit on a decent groove. The first three tracks are pretty much build up; some interesting sound textures that make for pleasant, relaxing zone-out music, including some odd ethereal female vocals on "La Fine du Debut". The album really hits its stride on the up-tempo beginning of "Le Boeuf", and continues to the end, highlighted by the frenzied jam of "Novavanna". The latter is a fairly spectacular piece highlighted by explosive playing from all parties and an exciting rhythmic basis. At one point, something resembling singing comes to the fore, as someone apparently felt it necessary to verbally express their admiration for various illegal (and presumably inspirational) substances. However, this is only a fleeting passage in an otherwise remarkable piece. "Anata" closes out the album nicely with an angular, impressive drum rhythm that vaults the rest of the ensemble onto greater heights, with a cacophonous jam that ends album on a high note. Overall, established Clearlight fans will likely delight in this album, but newcomers would do better to start with one of the first two albums instead. A solid work overall, though certainly not as stellar as what had come before. - Greg Northrup [October 2001] Click Here for Tracklist and Lineup Info Visions (1978) After what was reportedly a commercial failure in the more straight-ahead, symphonically oriented Les Contes du Singe Fou, Cyrille decided to take over the production duties on the next album, Visions, and imbibed it with a slightly new musical direction based on Eastern philosophical and religious precepts.  The result is a generally varied work that retains the more structured vibe of the previous album.  Cyrille Verdeaux's piano and keyboard melodies are again the dominant force on Visions, and are supplemented by the usual eclectic blend of instrumentation.  Compositionally speaking, the thing in general seems to have less of the spaced-out, psychedelic vibe of the first two albums, opting for a more composed, restrained atmosphere infected with exotic, apparently Eastern, tones and melodic ideas.  The addition of Didier Lockwood on violin is a welcome one, providing a unique instrumental emphasis in the Clearlight catalog, as his violin is very prominent. The album proper is generally solid, although half of the CD is taken up by bonus tracks which are less so.  For that reason, I was a little put off by Visions on initial listens, but in focusing on the first seven tracks for this review, I have found it to be quite rewarding at points, with some minor inconsistencies.  In general, there is a sort of sappy New Age vibe to the whole thing, especially on tracks like "Songe de Cristale" with its pretty piano melodies and the outro, "Paix Profonde", with the sitar emphasis.  Indeed, the second half of the album is slightly less interesting that the first, though much shorter, and these tracks seem to simply function as a let down to the lengthier pieces prior.  In any case, the real gems are to be found early on, most especially leadoff track "Spiral d'Amour" with a great, classically inspired piano melody that recalls earlier Clearlight.  Also, "Full Moon Raga" builds up behind a chugging drum beat and climaxes with a pyrotechnic violin solo from Didier Lockwood.  The bonus tracks are a mixed bag.  "Guitar Elevation" ends up being one of the best track on the album, with a gorgeous piano melody beneath a searing guitar solo.  However, some of the tracks get bogged down in overly New-Agey crumminess, while "Crystal City" actually incorporates  the all-to-prominent generic techno beat.  On the whole, Visions is a pretty solid album, though it can be a little much if one is not in the mood the kind of pretty, lightweight, and ultimately cheesy Eastern mysticism vibe of the whole thing.  Although it certainly doesn't match the first two classics, Symphony and Forever Blowing Bubbles, fans of those albums will likely want to follow Verdeaux to Visions. - Greg Northrup [October 2001] Click Here for Tracklist and Lineup Info