Synopsis were part of the second wave of French Theatrical prog groups who were heavily indebted to bands such as Ange, Atoll, and Mona Lisa. Synopsis does not disappoint the perceived expectation: Creative compositions, impassioned French vocals, primitive synthesizers / organs, decent guitar work, and a bare bones minimum rhythm section that holds it together. There’s a wonderful naïve quality about these French groups (for reference others include Grime, Orion, Nuance, Trefle, and Oniris) who appeared on the scene in the late 1970s. All were a day late and a Franc short, so the collective groups needed to produce and release their own product, as the major labels had moved on to greener pastures. The long track rock epic had already seen its commercial heyday, and there was no going back by the time these lads were ready to roll the tape. So yes, more time in the studio with an experienced engineer - with access to some better musical equipment (ARP String synths en masse) - would probably have gone a long way to making Minuit Ville an even more pleasurable experience. The material is strong enough to hold its own though, and fans of the genre (like moi) will definitely want to seek this one out.
LP: 1994 Si-Wan (Korea). Mail order purchase (2000). This version has the added bonus of a gatefold cover. As noted above, I love the cover, so I have this version displayed high up on my wall of albums.
For reasons that are not clear, Musea never did reissue this on CD, even though I remember talking to them about it back in 1991. Si-Wan did however, and it's now pretty scarce. I decided to sell mine.
2000; 10/18/06 (Gnosis); 11/10/20 (new entry)
2000; 10/18/06 (Gnosis); 11/10/20 (new entry)
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