Songs (click on the -icons for audio)
Disc I "To Fill in the Blank"
1. To obey
2. Leverage
3. Positively Imperative
4. Yes, I never did
5. Neither do I too
6. Collateral damage
7. Sidemen
8. To obey (reprise)

Disc II "Written Conversation"
1. Tout est visible
2. Au-delà de la fleuve
3. Tout est illuminé
4. Tout çà, c'est fini
5. La fin de la visite
6. Comme en dormant
7. Au fond, la mer
8. Si loin du centre
9. Hors-nature

Disc III "Full of Cobbles"
1. The way down
2. A feet maniac
3. And bring you back
4. In 3 or 4 days
5. Song 6
6. For quietness
7. The way up

All music composed, arranged & produced by Wim Mertens
c : Crépuscule

Musicians :
- Wim Mertens : Piano
- Xavier Claeys, Maurits Goossens, Stefaan Claeys, Claire Delplanque : violin
- Kris Van Severen, Paul Bervoets : viola
- Lieven vandewalle, Koen Lievens : cello
- Michel Vangheluwe, Etienne Siebens : bass
- Eric Mertens : flute
- Dirk Descheemaeker : clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano saxophone
- Wim Verdonck : alto saxophone
- Ward Hoornaert : trumpet
- Rick Vercruysse, Herman Lemahieu : horn
- Eddy Verdonck + : bass trombone
- Hugo Matthijssen : bass tuba
- Els Van Laethem : voice
- Brigitte Hertogs : harp
- Peter Verbraken : guitar
- Bart Quartier : percussion

Recorded at
Artwork : Benoît Hennebert

My opinion

It's very unlikely you'll ever catch me on my way coming from a Mertens-concert wearing a bootleg t-shirt and playing "air-piano", or that you'll find me almost peeing in my pants waiting in line for a signature at the exit, yet I do have to admit : I'm a bit of a fan. Or at least : I have a large amount of respect set aside for this man. Perhaps this blocks my view from seeing - like a bunch of screeming Boyzone-teenagers - that the idol is just recycling preheated air and selling it as a brand new cd to honour and respect his wallet. But that's a chance I'll have to take - in the case of Mertens, not that of Boyzone, that is.
CD sets off majestically with "To obey", a sad march on which it's only fitting to bury a hero of some kind. "Colleteral Damage" (sponsored by NATO) has a beautiful melody, but gets out of hand at the end. Also "Sidemen" has a surprising end, with something that seems like a visit to a Japanese-buddhist percussion class or something. The reprise of "To Obey" contains the same melody as the first track, but is given a New-Age-Richard-Clayderman approach.
CD 2 (Written Conversation", with all tracks bearing a french title) sets of on a much more romantic and quiet foot with piano and violins, buth the vivid "Tout ça, c'est fini" rescues us from fallling asleep just in time. The best track of the album is also on this cd "La fin de la visite" - triumphant, catchy, repetitive yet not repeating itself, after six minutes you're sorry it's over already.
CD3 (Full of cobbles) opens with the track "The way down" that has borrowed the rhythm pattern of Ravel's Bolero. "A feet Maniac" takes you back to the days when Mertens was still writing Greenaway-soundtracks. On "And bring you back" he uses a more original combination of instruments (toy guitars, triangles, horns), "In 3 or 4 days"gets it's dark sound from a synth-clavinet and is the sort of composition that also Jean-Michel Jarre could've written. "For Quieteness" is a minimal piece of music with only the bare essentials, bald as a light bulb. And closing track "The Way Up" is "vintage Mertens " again, moving without being too emotional.

And your opinion?
Did I get it all wrong, or was I spot-on ? Do you want to share your opinion about this cd ? Send it in, and I'll put it up here !

This Album in the Press

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More about this group :

- Mertens-page in the Belgian Pop&Rock Archives.
- Contact : Les Disques du Crépuscule, Koningsgalerij 15, 1000 Brussel. Tel 32-2-511.86.54

Where to buy this CD ?

You can order this CD from a number of locations (prices researched on April 29th, 1999, but nothing guarantees they still are the same when you read this).

Shop	Price of the CD	Shipping + other expenses	Total	Direct Link
Frontstage	702	50	752 fr.	Frontstage
Azur	753	0	813 fr.
HVH-Megastore	???	54	???
Proxis	698	95	793 fr.	Proxis

The lowest price is in yellow, the highest in red. This price comparison doesn't take things into account like deduction of shipping expenses when ordering more than 1 cd, bonus points, differences in guarantees ... Shipping prices are those for customers in Belgium.

Have you seen this record elsewhere on the net, do you own an online-CD-shop with Belgian products in it, or if there's something wrong with my calculations : let me know.

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