Icare - Aquarelle FLAC download

One of the very few but really precious discoveries of the obscure SRC label, Icare was an unknown French band, one of the rare occasions of a group having three guitarists on the line-up: Edwin Ladowski, Jean Francois Back and Michel Fauconier.Drummer Salvatore Ministeri appears to be of Italian original, while the bass player was Rene Tocchini.Their album ''Aquarelle'' (1980) is trully unclassifiable, the unique, poetic French vocals and the good sense of melody draw ties with the standard French Prog movement and all those melodramatic albums appearing in the 70's/early-80's.But not having a keyboardist aside rather distinguishes the band from the typical French sound, the careful, dual guitar leads and the slight Fusion edges at moments make them sound like a melodic Fusion group (often recalling some old Spanish Prog Fusion acts).I can hear influences from both Camel and Wishbone Ash, solos are definitely of the Andy Latimer school of guitarists, but the lead parts remind more of a young Andy Powell. Smooth bass and drum lines reveal the band's best, melodic aspect and the music is overall pretty dreamy with some notable instrumental parts.Not really comparable to anything I've heard recently and that's a good note.