by François Couture
Released almost three years after Art Zoyd's first LP, Symphonie Pour le Jour où Brûleront les Cités, Musique Pour l'Odyssée (Music for the Odyssey) presented a slightly different version of the band. The nucleus of Gérard Hourbette (violin), Thierry Zaboïtzeff (bass guitar, cello, vocals), and Jean-Pierre Soarez (trumpet) is joined by percussionist Daniel Denis (who would remain a core member of the band for two decades), oboist/bassoonist Michel Berckmans (of Univers Zero and Von Zamla), saxophonist Michel Thomas, and a second violinist, Franck Cardon. This lineup recorded an album much more cinematic than the first. The 17-minute epic "Musique Pour l'Odyssée" is very moody, going from climactic passages to near silence (something pushed even further on "Bruit, Silence -- Bruit, Repos"). Its slow development and ritualistic percussion accompanying prehistoric grunts gives a first example of the surrealistic soundtrack side of the band's music, which will become the center of its production in the 1990s (Faust, Haxan). "Trio 'Lettre d'Automne'" is a quiet string trio bringing the album to an end on a weaker note. Less impressive than its predecessor, Musique Pour l'Odyssée remains a very honest item in Art Zoyd's discography and the title track alone is worth listening to the album. This LP was reissued in 1999 on a two-CD set together with Symphonie Pour le Jour où Brûleront les Cités and Génération Sans Futur.