If you like mid-70s Gong, you have to hear Clearlight. Excellent piano/synth led music with influences of jazz, space, raga, and art rock. On tonight's show we explore the music of Clearlight, some later solo work of Cyrille Verdeaux, and some nice complementary music from Michel Madore.
| Second Movement Clearlight - Symphony - Virgin Japan |
| Two more releases in 1975, one a soundtrack resulting from studio jamming, under a different name likely to get around the contract with Virgin. Then "Forever Blowing Bubbles", which dispenses with the sidelong tracks of Symphony and adds some vocals. |
| Novavanna Delired Cameleon Family - Delired Cameleon Family - Clearlight Music |
| Without Words Clearlight - Forever Blowing Bubbles - Virgin Japan |
| Off the Virgin label, Clearlight releases two more albums in the 70s. Les Contes du Singe Fou is a conceptual art rock album "about humanity's spiritual quest for higher perfection". On Visions they are back to a mostly instrumental approach and are aided by Didier Lockwood on violin, as well as the returning Didier Malherbe and Christian Boule. |
| Soliloque Clearlight - Les Contes du Singe Fou - Clearlight Music |
| Spirale d'Amour Clearlight - Visions - LTM/Celluloid |
| In the 80s Cyrille increasingly explored New Age spiritual themes and music. Messenger of the Son gets a bit of due from Clearlight fans, but Ethnicolor's is really under the radar and I've always had a soft spot for it. |
| Vibrato Cyrille Verdeaux - Messenger of the Son - Musea |
| Terre Australe Cyrille Verdeaux / Pascal Menestreyl - Ethnicolor's - Clearlight Music |
| Michel Madore's first album gives me a similar vibe to mid-70s French scene (at least the Clearlight/Gong/Carpe Diem axis), so here's Side A. |
| Calligraphie Michel Madore - Le Komuso à Cordes - Barclay 
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| Ballade Michel Madore - Le Komuso à Cordes - Barclay
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| L'avant dernière Michel Madore - Le Komuso à Cordes - Barclay
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| We'll close with part of the Inner Peace Concerto, which fittingly enough is Cyrille and his trusty Kurzweil K2600 recreating themes from the first movement of Symphony. |
| 1st Movement Cyrille Verdeaux - Inner Peace Concerto - Clearlight Music |
| 2nd Movement Cyrille Verdeaux - Inner Peace Concerto - Clearlight Music |
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