Bahamas - Le Voyageur Immobile, 1976 France [FLAC limited time only]

 

Another fantastic Magritte-influenced cover.  Will AI one day achieve this level of beauty?  If so, we might say art and human culture might be on its way to extinction, like so many animals in the world we've bullied...

Information here.  This is their only release.  It's a shame, as I really love their delicate, highly professional, and slightly prog-inflected manner of ssw overlaid with luscious harmony vocals.  When you take a look at the credits here, note that bassist / vocalist Didier Batard later appeared on George Jinda's Wheel of Love I posted just a few days ago.

You will note that Motel has a very odd, very original, but interesting melodic line:

The track called Crow, translated from a French version called Norway Samba with entirely different lyrics and a different subject, strangely enough, describes what sounds to me like a world without humans wherein crows are the only animals alive. These English versions appear as bonus tracks on this release.  The lyrics are stunningly gorgeous and really haunted me:

What makes this so breathtaking too is that lovely shimmery, wavy and full electric guitar sound, which is so so gorgeous.

Here's my transcription of the lyrics, likely with multiple errors:

In the journey of the crow, all the old ways became one, Kyrie Eleison

And the chime began to go, soon the last days became known, Kyrie Eleison

And only crows to gaze on, the ashen light upon the sun.

We came to your skies, crow be our name, 

we brought the old cry, crow be our name,

we never came to know why, crow be our name.

We came to learn the old ways, 

and the answer became the last days,

I never knew what love will do.

We saw the wind blow, crow be our name,

we saw the time go, crow be our name,

we fled beyond the black snow, crow be our name,

days flecked like old skin, 

and we learned to give the old sin

we've never seen what fate is for.

We come to your skies, crow be our name,

we bring the old cry: crow be our name,

we come again to know why, crow be our names

so we reveal the old ways

so we be all we are now

sky, make it so and keep us crow--

Post-nuclear apocalypse future?  More likely post-AI apocalypse future, given what's happening today. Did we really need another reason to fear for the end of the world?  

Damn tech giants, and end-stage capitalism.

Until then, we can really love this one-off album of magical songs.