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The
major attraction within the line-up no doubt is that of vocalist
Rose Podwojny who constantly balances between the raunchy approach
of a Grace Slick and that of an authentic Jazz diva. Others have
placed her voice in between that of Linda Hoyle and Julian’s
Treatment singer Cathy Pruden. Based around the talented guitarist
Jean-Pierre Alarcen, Sandrose rose out of the ashes of another
French cult band called Eden Rose. Whilst mellotron and hammond are
to be found throughout the lengthy instrumental passages most of the
attention goes towards Rose Podwojny who has often been compared to
Dutch singer Jerney Kaagman whilst from a musical perspective
Sandrose was often compared to Earth & Fire, Kaagman’s band. To my
ears Rose’s voice sounds much more trained, with more vibrato and
able to shine in many other musical styles, something we can’t say
from the rather limited voice of Jerney Kaagman. Also from the point
of view that this concerns a French band, Rose’s prononciation of
the English language is perfect. No doubt the highlight of this
album has to be the unrivaled prowess of ‘Underground session’ which
really contains every single element from the book of symphonic rock
highlights. This track alone is worth the money of the entire album.
It nicely alternates calm passages and more heavy outbursts in order
to create the true identity of authentic prog.
The
dreamy ‘Summer is yonder’ could well be an outtake from Focus or
Pulsar once again not being obtrusive in any way and fully composing
the arrangement in favour of Rose’s high pitched vocals here.
Although the song has a slight medieval feel at times it’s mainly
the Akkerman-like guitar from Alarcen combined with the organ which
deliver the Focus likeness. When Rose isn’t singing the rest of the
band most definitely prove that they are also outstanding musicians
leaning heavilly towards jazz and fusion as demonstrated during the
rhythmic ‘Metakara’ displaying the typical Hammond from the
seventies. All in all this still is a wonderful album to listen to
even though it has been released more than thirty years ago. Some of
the sounds may be dated but the way the compositions are made still
vouch for great creativity. Chauvinistic as they are the French rate
this album as being one of the world’s top ten progressive albums of
all time. I wouldn’t go as far as saying top ten but it most
definitely merits a place in the world’s best 100 prog albums of all
time, and that alone is a fantastic achievement knowing there are
thousands and thousands of albums out there whilst Sandrose only
made this single debut.
Jean-Pierre Alarcen went on to release two solo albums whilst Rose
Podwojny changed her name to Rose Laurens releasing several chart
topping singles in France. She even sang on the French soundtrack of
Les Misérables whilst she had a major hit with the disco track
‘Africa’. Once again the Korean M2U records has done a splendid job
in re-issuing this long forgotten gem in a miniature sleeve whilst
also including a lengthy text … in Korean !
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