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Neo — Neo
(Musea FGBG 4186.AR, 1980/1997, CD)

by Mike McLatchey, Published 1998-02-01

Neo Cover art

From the blistering intro to "Osibirsk" you know this is one to reckon with. Neo's sole album is a rock fusion of high intensity, feauturing lots of guitar and sax solos over a high-paced rhythm section. It isn't really jazz rock, although the intensity and great chops are somewhere in that realm, yet Neo is a progressive rock band eschewing nearly all resemblance to jazz. Most of their music consists of trade offs between wailing guitar and sax, a loose song structure designed to give a rollicking base for the instrumentalists to solo over. And with that in mind, it's a pretty damn good album, nice and exciting. For an era that for most countries had little in the way of good progressive rock, there sure are a lot of great French albums from this period, and Musea should be commended for bringing this one out of the past. One mistake though — the two bonus tracks are from a later more synthesized version of the band, featuring an almost entirely programmed sound and of very little interest to those who like this album. Vinyl collectors aren't missing much on this CD reissue except for a more cleaned up sound. Recommended.

Filed under: Reissues, Issue 14, 1997 releases, 1980 recordings

Related artist(s): Neo

 

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