French act STEP
AHEAD was active in the early 80's. Their only release prior to
breaking up, 1982's "Step Ahead" has seen lots of praise coming it's
way, which has led to the album being reissued two times so far. In many
ways the band, dominated by the contributions of Christain Robin
(guitars), Claudie Truchi (keyboards) and Danny Brown (vocals) were a
precursor of things to come. Symphonic rock of late 70's Yes is a clear
influence, but mixed with classical influences and 80's keyboards the
resulting sound was quite similar to what was to be coined Neo
Progressive in England a couple of years later. Other musicians
participating on the only album made by this talented group are Gerard
Macia (guitars), Antoine Ferrera (bass), Jean-Yves Dufournier (drums),
Alain Lejeune (keyboards), Philippe Recht (bass), Emmanuel Riquier
(drums). French act STEP AHEAD mixed obvious influences from symphonic
rock with an 80's approach, specializing in the creation of complex
semi-classical keyboard layers with the end result a style of music
approved by the Neo Progressive team for inclusion into the database.
