CENTURY - Is It Red? (1988) bootleg CD

Requested in "REQUEST & FILL CORNER" section...

Amongst the most sought after rarities from my collectors days there was an album from a French band; CENTURY. It was their second and final effort titled "Is It Red?".
Founded by vocalist, keyboard player and composer Jean-Louis Milford in the middle '80s, Century scored a #1 hit in France, Portugal, Switzerland and Brazil with their single "Lover Why", taken from their 1986 debut album.

Century toured Europe and supported major act gigs, then recorded the 2nd album "Is It Red?" in 1988 but they did not found a label to release it. Seems it only was published in Spain and Portugal in very limited copies.
As far I know, never was released on CD and different vinyl versions existed. Besides, seems the cassette version included extra tracks and re-arranged song sequence.
At the beginning of their career Century was a FM Rock oriented band with a poppy, commercial approach. So why the second album becomes a collectors item for AORsters? Well, between 87/88 they were influenced by the rising European AOR wave and this record features some pretty good keyboard driven tunes in this genre.

Just check opener "Colour Of The Wine" much in the vein of Germans Dominoe, Tokyo or Bonfire's melodic side, same with "High On The Beam", "Does She Love You To Mother You" or the poppy "O' Radio".
The rest of the material varies between light rockers such as "This Way To Heaven", the Scorpions-like ballad "Gemini" or the more classic "Blues On A Monday". All nice songs but nothing to die for.
Added by me there's a couple of B-sides not appeared in the first album, and a demo.



"Is It Red?" still is a rarity, though someone managed to rip a vinyl copy and release it on this bootleg CD. The sound is good and much better than some files floating around the net.
Rare.


01 - Colour Of The Wine
02 - Gemini
03 - Does She Love You To Mother You
04 - England In The Sun
05 - This Way To Heaven
06 - O' Radio
07 - Blues On A Monday
08 - High On The Beam
09 - Colour Of The Wine (Slow Version)
10 - Is It Red?
Bonus Tracks (not present on the bootleg CD)
11 - Rainin' In The Park ['86 B-side]
12 - Help Me Help ['86 B-side]
13 - Mixed Amelia ['88 demo]

Jean-Louis Milford: vocals, keyboards
Jean-Dominique Sallaberry: guitar
Eric Traissard: guitar
Fred Payonne: bass
Jean-Jacques Grall: drums




CENTURY - Is It Red?
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