Paul Roland
Sarabande

LA RECENSIONE

Paul Roland gave me two big gifts. In reality, there are many more, starting with the autograph on “Bates Motel”, but I can't talk about them all!

In 1989, I fell in love with The Gang, the legendary punk band of the Severini brothers. And so what does our beloved Paul do? He produces their third album, that's what he does! And that's not enough for him: he enhances some songs with his relentless guitar rhythm, in this case galloping. That's one.

In those years, there were two independent English musicians I adored (and I still adore more than ever!): our Paul, of course, and Nick Saloman.

This time he keeps me on edge for a bit longer, but finally, in 1994, comes “Sarabande”, an album with the extraordinary participation of the acrobatic, super-acid leader of the “Bevis Frond”!!!

The album immediately takes off with a whirlwind gallop “The King will come”, slows down and darkens with “Morgan Le Fay”, immersing us in Breton cycles, and here appear Nick's fluid embroideries in the lysergic “Beyond the Realm of Sleep”, suddenly you lose yourself in sparkling fjords of northern lights. You are suddenly brought back with the unexpected “Sister Jazz”, very, very fast. With “Ophelia” it changes again, but the expansions continue relentlessly, and the melodies are heartbreaking. “Serpent's Skin” continues the magnificence of guitars that enjoy chasing each other. And we reach the seventh track, a perfect number, like the perfect number 1001 of “Thousand and One Nights”, in which Paul and Nick lead us into the distant East, letting us savor the most exciting essences and opium.

At point 8, our bard lets us listen to a mystical version of “I'm not like everybody else” by the fabulous Kinks. With “Waltzing the Square Ring again” we remain suspended between a baroque world and Kurt Weill. At this point, you need to take refuge in a garage to listen loud to the devastating version of “Meadows of the Sea” by Marc Bolan's T-Rex, offered by our magnificent duo!

In theory, it would be over, but… hooray for extra tracks! And so we really finish with the purest blues of Robert Johnson, "Me and the Devil Blues". The sarabande is over, go in peace.