Clearlight
Best of Clearlight

Essentially French keyboardist, composer, and song-writer Cyrille Verdeaux alongside other musicians (among them Steve Hillage, Tim Blake, Didier Malherbe, Didier Lockwood, Christian Boulé, Gilbert Artman, Ian Bellamy, etc.), whose lineup was changing from one album to another, CLEARLIGHT were one of the most well-known French sympho-progressive rock bands/projects of the 70’s. They are also known as the first French prog-rock band signed under the fledgling Virgin Records. The band’s earlier recordings are classic keyboard-fueled Sympho-Prog-Rock though not bombastic but of more mellow, romantic, and occasionally psychedelic character (often compared to Genesis and Gong). Later recordings showed the stylistic shift towards World-Fusion and Synth-Age music. Published by British company Gonzo Multimedia, “Best Of Clearlight 1975-2013” CD-compilation feature 11 tracks spanning over 69 minutes. The materials are taken from 8 studio albums – not only by Clearlight but also from solo recordings, and from Delired Cameleon Family’s album. Overall, it is quite a representative introduction to the world of Cyrille Verdeaux’s music. But some of the highlights which were featured on “The Best Of Rainbow Music 1975-2000” CD-compilation, which was self-released by Cyrille Verdeaux in 1999, are not presented here. Probably, it could be a better solution if Gonzo Multimedia published more expanded, 2-disc compilation featuring as much highlights as possible. Though, considering huge discography of Cyrille Verdeaux it still is not enough…