New Musical Express CLAIR OBSCUR I The Pilgrim’s Progress (All The Madmen) WE ALL like to hate a little religion now and again. The trappings, especially the hypocrisy, but above all, the dictates that it places on day-to-day living. Clair Obscur hate it with a heart, or more pointedly the austerity demarcated in the ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’; “Where Christian Strives not to wander from the straight and narrow”. Trying to transfer their live show, which by all accounts is a largely visual satire on Bunyan’s prodigy, onto vinyl is, by definition, an impossible task. A pity, because the musical residue needs some kind of injection to push it above the lethargic feeling present. The atmospherics created by the drum and the bass together, the synth, the growling vocals, can’t rid this record of its ‘no-thing without visuals’ aura. This French band have chosen a brave course for their debut UK LP. Stan Barton, 1986