Fairuz à L'olympia فيروز في الأولمبيا Live 1979

Battlement is a legendary record featuring unfamous German musicians, working and playing with a sense of perfection in the wake of Genesis. The vocals, sung by Frenchman Frédéric Joos turn out to be (Very) close to Peter Gabriel's. Neuschwanstein creates music with the same complexity, intensity and power as their famous elders used to do. The songs are totally original and innovative though, with some King Crimson-esque skid. A pure jewel!

Eden is a French duo: Hubert Vrayance, who composed the music (Hammond organ, bass pedals, synthesizers, vocals) and Allan Lys (drums, congas, percussions). Eden released one album in (1979). Information on them is scarce and so focus will be given here on their music which is more simplistic and more straightforward in their approach (compared to others in this genre). Melodic, yet outdated in sound, they start their tracks with a main theme upon which they add more layers of sound and more ideas. Each track is depicting a different theme, idea or scene. For instance, the first track "La Nuit Des Sorciers" (The Night Of The Wizards) is about "silhouettes dancing to the rhythm of winds in a dense wood under a strange moon". This should appeal to people who like Organ work and a melodic album which can serve as soundtrack for a late afternoon or early Sunday listening.

Great news for people who love morbid, mordant, sci-fi-inflected synth music: Infiné Music label is reissuing Zed's (aka Bernard Szajner) awesome imaginary soundtrack LP Visions of Dune (1979). Created over eight days on a borrowed Oberheim sequencer and an Akaï four-track, the music here represents some of the deepest, most intense evocations of alien atmospheres ever waxed. It's a claustrophobic and expansive collection of dystopian tone poetry and ominous electro rock that will appeal to fans of Heldon, Magma, and first-half-of-the-'70s Tangerine Dream. Szajner, now 70, told The Vinyl Factory that he conceived a series of what he called “mental impressions of a character, a situation or a concept” from Frank Herbert’s novel.

Mémoriance is a unique sounding French symphonic progressive band from the 1970s who released 2 studio albums. Their debut album, "Et Après…", is a fine blend of styles, ranging from fellow French symphonic bands like Ange, Atoll and Carpe Diem, but also with a blend of Steve Hackett style guitar playing, as well as a hint of "Wish You Were Here", era Pink Floyd.
Their second release "L'Écume des jours d'après Boris Vian" is a concept album, based on the 1947 philosophical novel "L'Ecume des jours" (Froth on the Daydream), by Boris Vian.

As the progressive rock is dramatically absent around 1980, Saga still continues to produce excellent modern progressive rock: they still show the way that leads to an avant-garde progressive rock full of modern keyboards. Saga's style here consists in very structured and melodic arrangements made of delightful modern keyboards and rather hard rock electric guitars.
Compared to the Saga's first album, the keyboards on "Images at twilight" sound a bit more modern, futuristic and anthemic. With 2-3 keyboardists in the band, one has to have great expectations, and actually the listener should not be disappointed regarding the keyboards refinement and pertinence. Saga mostly reached his typical modern sound and style here…

Superlatives are inadequate for the box record company Universal Music recently released. Two hundred hits on ten CDs, hundreds of hits and a lot of TV and news clips on five DVDs and then another book as reference book. It can not be on. The disadvantage of the Testament of the Seventies is that for a hundred euros a hefty investment. The advantage that you are now ready to be a hit with your Seventies Collection.

Despite a standard line-up (keyboards, guitar-vocals, bass & drums-percussions), Tantra played elaborated and beautifully built and arranged Progressive songs in Portuguese, which figured at the same creative level as the best English composers (Yes, Gentle Giant, Camel…) but with a distinct character. This is a full symphonic sounding band with very good musicianship. The music combines intricate ensemble parts with energetic soloing. The vocals contain an astonishing lyricism, the musical constructions and combinations are complex and inventive, the sounds are originals and the melodies beautifully made.