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Tales, The Saskian Wars
Somewhere in Time Records, SIT 2108, 2001
jlhb.free.fr
jlhb@free.fr

Jean- Luc Hervé Berthelot is one of the deepest space music artists in the 
new millennium.  Recording as Tales, he has created some of the coolest 
thematic CD's.  The Saskian Wars is based on a story by Tarkan Shinnerlord.
  
It is Volume Two of The Interstellar Trilogy by Jean-Luc.
Jean-Luc's sci-fi soundscape is full of atmospheres, sequences and 
experimental computer sounds.  This is listening pleasure at its purest.  The 
tale (written in the liner notes) and the titles tell the story.  The music 
is the soundtrack to the adventure.

This late entry is a top 30 candidate for 2001.  It is one of the best pure 
space music albums of the year! - Jim Brenholts





This review featured in:


Tales: Interstellar Memories (CD, 59:34); SIT Records SIT 19803

	Space-synther Jean-Luc Hervé Berthelot takes us on voyage across his universe in an all 
electronic extravaganza. His work is chock full of novel sounds. Each effect is precisely integrated 
into a believable aural excursion that tachyon drive propels, solar-sail glides, and gravity well rifts 
you right into the Ankaleryean system.
	This is ultra-high quality space music with a "created worlds" schemata that undergirds 
each track. We have alien synth vox, Jonn Serrie near infra-sonic bass drones, (!my house's return 
vent nearly vibrated loose in the adajcent room's wall!), Tim Blake embellishings sans New Age 
corn, ye olde T. Dream non-sequenced, dreamtime fugue passages, Constance Demby wordless 
choir, Tomita tweakings, and Mark Dwane's extraterrestrial leanings all present here. Berthelot 
goes a step beyond all the aforementioned and uniquely describes his very own cosmic mindset 
leaving all things Terran far behind. This is a fascinating one-humanoid show I want to hear more 
of.
	If I were a movie producer of sci-fi, fantasy, cross-genre adventure, I wouldn't hesitate to 
have Berthelot score my blockbuster or cult movie. This is the good ride you spaceheads. I 
guarantee it. Great CD liner notes and graphics! "Now calculating wormhole coordinates for 
Berthelotian FTL riptime-drive. I'll be back yesterday."
	And before I go, no tribal drums, no noodling guitars, and no blah-blah singing are found 
here.	~ John W. Patterson



Echoes from the Last Fairyland
by Jean Luc Hervé Berthelot
“Somewhere in Time” Records, 2000
http://jlhb.free.fr/tales

	This French import is quite a surprise. The packaging, with its hokey
fantasy themes (“fairies, elves, and gentle wizards live in vast forests,
where white unicorns and iridescent dragons frolic peacefully”…) leads you
to think that this will be just more pretty-sweet New Age fluff. But ignore
the words and listen to the music and you will find a surprisingly
thoughtful and inventive set of synthesizer pieces. The musical language is
the same basic repertoire as the famous Euro-synth players like Vangelis,
Tangerine Dream, or especially Jean-Michel Jarre: modal harmonies, with a
modal melody carried on smooth synthesizer lines, accompanied by a repeating
synthesizer sequence as well as “special effects” sounds. In fact Berthelot,
in places, sounds quite a lot like a somewhat more leisurely transformation
of Jean-Michel Jarre.

	But it’s worth going through to catch the unusual passages. Though
Berthelot usually stays with a solidly modal harmony, every so often he
swerves off suddenly into avant-garde atonality. From Vangelis to
Stockhausen in two minutes! When Berthelot is in avant-garde mode, he’s very
interesting listening. Like the German experimentalist, Berthelot uses
heavily modified voices, speaking unidentifiable syllables that may or may
not be derived from French or English. Track 3, “The Wizard of all times,”
and track 4, “The perfect wand,” are a good example of this; they range from
glassy, tinkling electronic ambient and perky, cruising synthesizer rhythms,
to weird moments with spooky voices in incomprehensible dialogue.

	Most of the album, though, stays fairly strictly with the familiar
Euro-synthesizer styling we listeners are used to. Berthelot’s music,
despite its modern instrumentation, is almost entirely derived from European
culture – except for a very attenuated Indian raga-harmony in a couple of
pieces, it shows hardly any influence from Oriental, African, Aboriginal, or
American music. This Eurocentrism – which is not necessarily a
disadvantage – holds true whether Berthelot is playing pop or avant-garde.
It’s almost as if this were, in some ironic way, “classical music.”

HMGS rating: 8 out of 10

1/16/01

	



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