De l'Ombre à la Lumière is, in effect, the 5th Versailles album. Due to the presence of charismatic vocalist Dominique Le Guennec, the band opted to name themselves Mona Lisa out of respect. Not to mention that Le Guennec co-writes 8 of the 9 tunes here. My guess is he's the lyricist, but there's no definitive proof of my assumption. In addition to Le Guennec the band recruited Philippe Maury, formerly of Quidam (Reflets Rocks), to perform bass duty. No matter, as Versailles' fingerprints are all over this. Not quite the instrumental powerhouse of the last 3 Versailles albums, which in addition to the Ange/Mona Lisa sound, also were profoundly rooted into the Pulsar space rock motif. The music of De l'Ombre à la Lumière is a bit more straightforward, similar to classic era Mona Lisa albums like Le Petit Violon de Mr. Gregoire and Avant Qu'il ne Soit Trop Tard, perfect for highlighting the histrionics of Le Guennec's front-man routine. Plenty of great flute and mellotron points to Mona Lisa's 70's heritage - and Versailles' intentional retro instrumentation. Interesting to note that Le Guennec sat out for the last Mona Lisa album (Vers Demain), only to return some 10 years later with Versailles in tow and the other members of Mona Lisa nowhere to be found.
Ownership: CD: 1998 Musea
11/5/12 (new entry)
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