【Pls look at the top comment first】This song features ultra brilliant solos on its outro. Melodic rock from France seems to be rarely mentioned, but there must be hidden gem by French musicians that is worth hearing. This band is called "The Element". Even among the French melodic rock artists, The Element is rare to find with this ultra precious album "Time". Few information can be found about The Element, but one thing can be sure that the one-off album of the band symbolized the nostalgic sounds of 1980s French aor. Besides, The Element featured a renowned musician as the core member.

The Element consisted of five members. On the front cover, they are vocalist Raphaël Garrido and bassist Frédéric Guillemet, two co-founders of the band. On the back cover, it features the legendary French guitarist Patrick Rondat. In 1985 when this album came out, it was his first studio album that he worked together with other musicians.

This album was released only on vinyl, which is hard to find. It was released on the French local label Rocks Records, focusing on 1980s French hard/melodic rock & heavy metal album releasing, which should be distinguished from another Taiwanese big label which is also called "Rocks Records".

When I heard this album for the first time, it featured the singer's strong accent into my ear. I'm not sure if this is the distinctive accent that a Frenchman speaks or sings English, but it is truly different from many other non-English speaking singers from Europe who perform in English. Apart from the strong accent that Raphaël Garrido (the left one on the front cover) had as his distinguishing feature, his polished and sharp treble on vocals also stands out. In The Element, his voice sounds much gentler than before, who was a heavy metal singer with an ultra sharp voice.

Before Raphaël performed in The Element, he was the lead vocalist from French metal band The Warning and recorded two albums in the early 1980s. In The Warning, Raphaël's mighty voice was an incredible sign that heavy metal sung in French can really shake souls. The language is not only the sign featuring romance in gentle love themes.

Musically, the album "Time" consists of poppy aor and hi-tech tunes. Two singles "Time" and "Woman" were released on EP in 1986. This song "Hot Connection" is a flaming masterpiece, which I think can become the majority's favourite from the album. If I'm not mistaken, here the steady and compacted beats were the sound set by the electronic drums, where I feel the bass frequencies sound a bit different.

The greatest charm from the song is Patrick Rondat's ultra brilliant solos from 02:54 to the end, which last over one minute as the highlight of the full-length of this magic "Hot Connection". For whoever hears of his name for the first time, this is a good opportunity to hear Patrick's excellent playing in his early years, because The Element was the beginning of Patrick Rondat's music careers as a young talent. In 1989, his started his solo careers with the solo debut coming out. In the following years until present, his musical activities have been spread and well-known throughout the world.

As a solo artist, Patrick Rondat's works are associated with diverse influences such as new-age music, progressive metal, classical music and jazz. He has collaborated on various projects with famous French composer and producer Jean Michel Jarre and has taken part in some of his shows. Having collaborated with various artists in epic albums and compilation, participated in the tour, his fame has become widely known to the audience. His solo debut "Just For Fun" confirmed his position as a leader of French instrumental metal.

What impressed me the most is his second solo album "Rape Of The Earth (1991)". In this album, he focused on more melody expression by comparision with his 1989 debut "Just For Fun". It featured neoclassical style in music. If anyone loves Jason Becker's creations, don't miss Rondat's brilliant "Rape Of The Earth". Moreover, he was involved in workshops and master classes in France and abroad, and recorded an instructional DVD (Virtuosity and Velocity, 1997). Both the film stars Harrison Ford and Hugh Grant have mentioned Patrick Rondat as being one of their favourite music artists.
#MelodicRock #aor #PatrickRondat #RaphaëlGarrido #FrédéricGuillemet #TheElement

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