Artist: t-bo Album: We Stay Together Label: Musea Records Website: http://t-bo.net Reviewer: Bill Knispel

Track List: 1. Play it 2. Take time 3. Different kinds of life 4. Going on 5. You will find 6. Love is everything * 7. Tears in the rain 8. Your gentleness 9. Love and energy 10. Treasured moments 11. Teach me 12. Parallel directions 13. See you later 14. Sending love * dedicated to the memory of Jean-Marie On 17 September 2003, a driver under the influence of drugs and alcohol tragically killed 19-year old Thibaut Laloux in an accident. He had constantly told his father, Philippe, that he should record the music he was writing and playing, only to be told time and time again "later maybe, when I have time." We Stay Together, credited to t-bo (phonetically spelling his son's first name), is the end result of this promise. I need to say this up front...this is a difficult review to write. People who know me know that music is, for me, more than just an auditory experience. I tend to allow it to move me in countless ways, and often am found to be in its thrall. Having said this, knowing in advance what the motivation behind this material was, I was very concerned to the point of fearful about listening and reviewing this release. My main fear was that I'd find the music here to be...less than moving. Who am I to say something bad about music that is intended as a tribute and a catharsis? Thankfully, this is not the case. We Stay Together is a fantastic, melodic release that has really caught my ear. Filled to the brim with tasty flute, laid back grooves and a melodic sensibility that draws from Camel and David Gilmour's more laconic contributions to Pink Floyd, it's a release that stands as a fitting tribute to a young man taken far too soon. The album opens quietly, a gentle acoustic guitar figure leading into "Play It." I can almost place the melody as influenced or derived as a variation from some classical piece, but I'm just not sure where. Underneath, waves and synth pads create a gentle, ethereal backing for the simple guitar playing. One might be tempted to call this easy listening, but there's just far too much emotion dripping off the instrumental parts. For me, it's not easy listening. I love the flute and guitar interplay on this track, and on first listen, this piece was enough to get me to stop what I was doing and focus on the music. "Different Kinds of Life" is one of two fairly extended compositions on this release, clocking in just under 9 minutes, and opens with orchestrated synths backing a great sax solo courtesy of Jean Quoilin. The pace picks up for a fantastic guitar solo over drums and loads of world percussion sounds, adding a nice touch and colour. The song itself is a wonderful composition, one that sounds shorter than its length would indicate. Carrying on in mini-epic style, the 9-minute "Parallel Directions" is a bit of a jauntier track, with sprightly, cracking drums and a bright guitar solo that rings with bell like clarity. Album closer "Sending Love" almost sounds like a song that Irish singer Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin (Enya) would sing over. Lush, gentle, orchestrated, it's a gentle and fitting closer for an album that could have been harrowing (given the circumstances) but which instead is gentle, filled with love and hope for the future. I've skipped over a bunch of songs on this release, and mostly, it's because I don't know what to say that I haven't already. I'm really struck kind of speechless over >I>We Stay Together...and in this case, it's a good thing. I'm really kind of impressed beyond words over what Philippe Laloux has achieved here. There may not be incendiary instrumental fireworks or solos flying out in all directions, but what you get instead is perhaps far more special (and, in the progressive music field, perhaps rarer by far). If you like albums like Camel's The Snow Goose, you'd best jump over to the Musea site (or your favourite progressive music sales location) and get a copy. This album is one in a million. Band Members: Philippe Laloux : Drums, acoustic guitar, percussion Hugues Gillard : Keybords, trumpet David Epis : Electric and acoustic guitars, lute Stany Lecharlier : Acoustic guitar Jean Quoilin : Saxophone Mano Fauville : Bass Louise Bourgois : Bamboo's flute Pierre Gillet : Flute Gaetan Leboutte : Congas, bongos Antoine Landrin : Darbouka Fabian Damanet : Didgeridou, vocals effects, jew's harp