I had never before heard of Franck (sic) Carducci until a couple of visting friends from England persuaded me to accompany them to one of his concerts at nearby Poppodium Boerderij in Zoetermeer. They promised me a great show, and he certainly delivered: he's quite a character, in his fancy velvet jacket, top hat, and double necked guitar. He's ably complemented by his partner Mary, who contributes vocals, guitar, dancing, and the impressive ability to play the theremin using her whole body; the rest of the band are also quite profficient both as musicians and entertainers. Originally French, Carducci apparently now lives in the Netherlands, although I'm not aware of him performing here very often. After the show we hung around for a while with the band and support act Joe Payne (formerly of The Enid), and bought some CDs and DVDs, one of which was The Answer.
I can't remember whether they played any other tracks from this one, but the first couple of them were among the highlights of the night: "(Love Is) The Answer" is a 70's style acoustic based prog rocker featuring tremendous Rick Wakeman-like keyboard solos. These are curtailed in the CD bonus radio cut version; if you're even a bit of a proghead you'll certainly want to go for "the full monty". "Slave to Rock 'n' Roll" is another kind of song entirely, a hard rock anthem that reminds me of Rainbow - albeit of the short-lived Graham Bonnett era. "Superstar" is a duet with Mary that, at 12,5 minutes, manages to incorporate many different ideas in true prog fashion. It features some tasteful synth and rousing guitar, but feels a bit disjointed and overlong for my taste. "The After Effect" is heavier and more exciting, somewhat reminiscent of Dream Theater. Only 10 minutes, this one. "The Game of Life" is a nice little ballad - I especially like the piano that drives the piece and trumpet at the background. But I do have a nagging sense that Franck is attempting to sing a text that wasn't written with a melody in mind, which makes his vocal sound a bit awkward. "Asylum" is the last of the long tracks (11+ minutes). The first half is bluesy hard rock reminiscent of Bad Company or David Coverdale; the second half is once again a patchwork, with a soft ballad excerpt followed by some awesome Hammond-based jazz rock and drum and guitar solos, before returning to the bluesy hard rock - this time I want to say Thin Lizzy? "On the Road to Nowhere", a live bonus track, is a country-ish acoustic song with nice harmonies. Now that I think of it, they probably played that one at De Boerderij too, it just didn't make as much an impression to me as the first couple of tracks on this CD. It's followed by another ballad with a nice synth intro, while the CD closes with two more bonus tracks, the radio cuts of "(Love Is) The Answer" and "Slave to Rock 'n' Roll". In this incarnation, both songs sound like radio hits from the late 70's - early 80's. Too bad we don't live in the age of FM radio but in that of youtube and Spotify; I guess Franck was born a few years too late for rock'n'roll stardom.
**** for (Love Is) The Answer, Slave to Rock 'n' Roll, The After Effect, (Love Is) The Answer (radio-cut), Slave to Rock 'n' Roll (radio-cut)
*** for Superstar, The Game of Life, Asylum
** for On the Road to Nowhere, Beautiful Night
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