Gilles Legault (from Connivence) and his "Chansons Secretes"

An utterly unknown album that doesn't deserve perdition, especially considering Gilles was one of the principal songwriters for the famed Quebec group Connivence that put out three superb progressive folk rock albums from 1977 to 1984.  (And despite the late date, that last album does have some quite beautiful songs and is worth seeking out.)

This album features not only some stunning songwriting from Gilles' hand but also some really wonderful poetry, some of which is from him and some from other writers.  It puzzled me for many years that his output is limited to perhaps two dozen songs spread out over the 7 Connivence years and this album which was released in 1981 to apparently little notice.  To this day it is quite difficult to find as an LP for purchase, as you could see with a google search.  One would have imagined such a great artist had been more productive, perhaps he has many unreleased songs that would be worth hearing now.

I will suggest to you the incredibly otherworldly "Le passé de la vie" (both lyrics and music from Legault) and provide a quick translation:

"The past, of life,

wishes to come out again from far,

that can no longer sleep in sadness

now you want to know your fate

yes, that is good

yes, that is good

my photo of the sun

will remind you of the end

of the future and of uncertainty,

you will disguise yourself as a magician

not for nothing

not for nothing..."

Really gorgeous, as a result of the things unsaid, what is intimated between the lines as ideas or a setting, you can interpret it in many different ways.  

This is a true gem for the folk fan, for me made all the more special for the immense beauty of the poetry.  And as with the Connivence songs, a kind of nostalgic melancholy pervades his songwriting.

The other notable poem is the song about the Snail, which was written by one Jany Lavoie.  The snail writes on the ground in one line without artifice, the woman writes in a diary with penmanship and a great deal of flourish, but she also writes on the sidewalk of the city, and you must follow her feet to know what she is saying.  Then in the last stanza, this mysterious ending:

"So, angry she cannot write
with the whole pen of her body
she blackens the white flesh
of the cut tree, the fallen tree
under her hand"

As usual, what is invisible to the eyes is what is most beautiful-- as le petit prince once said.

Trance's Here and Now from 1980

And now for the second, slightly less impressive album from this duo...
Very much a buddhist themed album here.

“why has bodhi-dharma left for the east?”

One might be yours for the side

and so much else besides

sinking as in mid-seas

and the dying, so far from overs, but

he in my perpetuum, he is my taker.

And they were worrying through all time

for senses moving forward so far,

trying going forward, always through and around.

But why has that taste put on me--?

New, and unknown-to-be?

Some, to anticipate their morning cigarette

or then, a denial of water, self-abnegation--

as to shirk evolution's opera…

He will go up farther than the perimeter mountains

of geometry resurfaced in the mantle

and the only continent of bridge.

Here I was, wanting absence of want,

when he went past the skin-markings,

nowhere to be found.

Dumb angel, put up for abandoned,

a prayer for us dying.

Have I not learned to junk desires;

who will ride me there?

I cannot turn back.

Stuck at the place you knew me.

Where is thy east, that I would imbibe?

Where will I feed, fed?

Cast for fishermen who will follow

our hollow answers--

And the death-- where does that go?

I have too many questions to ask...

[Copyright © 2014 me; about the seach for answers from Buddhism-- from my soon to be available book]

The ultra-amazing German band Trance's Dystopia from 1979

This is a beautiful album.  I strongly recommend it to everyone, whether or not they are electronic fans, because the variety of the music takes it far beyond any meditative-soporific Tangerine Dream-style one-chord marathon.  Particularly ethereally gorgeous is track B2, "Romeo and Juliet" (sampled below), which most recalls to me the French Didier Bonin albums ripped by the famed French ripper pollux and shared on prognotfrog long, long ago gone now... [actually, only three years ago!  but doubtful the links are still active.]

Here you will find the same softly warm and tender electric guitar twining around the soothing synthesizer work, never boring, always crafted into gorgeous little songs, the same deep and mournful 12-string acoustic guitars that you might remember from the marvelous Bonin, or from French band Fondation which is also quite similar (and whose albums I also strongly recommend, most appeared on mutantsounds I think).

After this they created another great album called "Here and Now" which I will also share shortly.  The lineup changed, however, as you will see if you take a look at the band info.  At first,Trance are Jurgen Petersen (aka Adrian Marcator) and Armin Wischnewski.  This second guy disappeared by the time of the next release with a corresponding diminution in quality, well, perhaps not corresponding, as the whole really stands up quite well despite his disappearance.  But by the time of the third album, perversely called "Entrance - The Pond, A Musical Excursion" the quality really plummeted and in fact in my view almost hit rock bottom, in new agey simplicity or perhaps commercial electronic chirpiness.  Well, I am being harsh, it's true that the album has its moments-- just as perhaps one could say a visit to Scranton, Pennsylvania would have its highlights.  Please no insult to those who might live there, if they are actually reading this, which would shock me somewhat as I had thought there was no internet in jails.  But please, no offence taken, I hope, and if so, please put away the guns, don't forget your three strikes and you're out law there.

Note that the two musicians collaborate on the compositions for the most part and they use a lot of other instruments, as listed on the back (or if I were to be truthful, on discogs):
"Instrumenten:
Gitarren: LP Custom, Fender Stratocaster, Hoyer Telecaster, Ovation Balladeer, Yamaha 12 string, Hagström Bass.
Synthesizer: 2 x Roland System 100, Micro-Moog, Arp Solina, Arp Odyssey, Hohner Strings.
Fender Rhodes, Rhythmus-Gerät, Violine.
Equipment
Bose, MM"
Although this is mostly electronic, I find it very interesting and highly entertaining unlike most albums in this genre which seem more suited to the hypnotherapy of senior citizens.  Again, perhaps I must apologize in advance to those who are fans of the genre (as well as fans of Scranton).  It's particularly wonderful to hear an electric guitar solo break through the somniferous synthesizer work-- perhaps like having a drink of whiskey after attending your young daughter's birthday party full of pink flowers and bows.  But we sure know what style we're dealing with, given titles like "hypnopaedia," "soma," and "park lane hospital" (a visit occasioned by an anaesthetic overdose without a doubt-- or heart medicine?)

And the dystopia of which the title spoke, some 35 years ago, are we in such a condition now?
Well, I think it really depends on whom you ask.  Because if I were able to talk things over with a citizen of North Korea, of which there are millions, they would without a doubt tell me that the worst nightmares of Orwell have come to pass.  As well, if I picked up the phone and called the area code for Somalia, there would be no doubt in the inhabitant's voice (of which there are millions as well of course) as he told me the worst forecasts of state collapse and Hobbesian "nasty, brutish and short" life had come about, with a daily struggle for survival, for food, and a life expectancy of less than 45, with very little hope for his country in the future, and since the UN and the US abandoned them in 1991-- 23 years ago.  And I think the people who live in Iraq, Afghanistan, and many other places we rarely hear about any more such as Egypt and Syria would speak in the same terms, of which there are approaching 50 million maybe in total.  And the majority of Africans who are actually able to take the time to think about our question, not having known anything better, would tell us things are as bad as they ever were, but perhaps no worse-- that is, depending on the country, and there, we are in the hundreds of millions.  According to reliable sources, in the Central African Republic there is already the beginnings of another genocide, perhaps surprisingly this time, Christians on Muslims.  And maybe the fundamentalist Christians in the United States should stop focusing on the little-heard-from Joseph Kony and instead think about what their fellow Christians are doing in terms of crusades over there, in the middle of Africa.
So yes, I think it depends a lot on who you ask, if the world is in a dystopia.  Certainly we North Americans and Europeans will vehemently deny it at this time.  But for sure things will be getting a whole lot worse the way things are continuing with regards to the laissez-faire attitude the world has towards our two biggest problems of climate change and fossil fuel depletion.  Let's hope things can change by the time the world comes together for the next round in Paris next year, but don't be too hopeful-- past experience has been a little disappointing.

Mosaic from USA 1978 [updated with, you guessed it....]

There's really nothing better than to discover or unearth an utterly unknown lost classic, as happened so often on Tom's cd reissue wishlist.  This rare and expensive album is in the genre of 'spiritual jazz' or perhaps 'spiritual fusion' if such there be, but it's a real beauty on its own terms, full of inventive riffs, excitement, the energy of a large band, and wonderful fusion songwriting-- and so completely unknown!

Here are the full details on this release.  Surprisingly for something so rare, it was not a private pressing, but released by LMI records.    I'm at a loss as to what song to upload as sample so I just did the first track like I did with Dreamworld - Gates to Eternity (which I will post soon, promise).  It's called "I'm just a primitive bebop caveman--" it reminds me of that wonderful old Saturday Night Live skit about the lawyer who was once a frozen caveman but who was thawed back to life played by the late Phil Hartman, which always ended with his crazy lawyerly shenanigans and the ridiculous comment, "Hey, I'm just a dumb caveman, I don't understand any of your crazy civilization, your complicated laws, but I do know one thing: my client is innocent!! " after which the jury would always release the murder suspect to the judge's shock and consternation.  Hilarious.

Track A2 is a song by Dennis Kita which travels in the most delightful way between I think A minor and G sharp minor from one line to the next, a really surprising modulation for a song.  "Mahad" by Jim Fairs is just pure and blissful fusion energy and happy smashing around like a bus full of drunk pilgrims about to arrive in Compostella or maybe Justin Bieber in a hotel room with his 'posse' and a ton of pot stashed with them, or perhaps Toronto's wonderful mayor Rob Ford in a washroom alone for a few hours in a drunken stupor.  The wonderful phrases played by I think saxes and flutes just keep building and building as if a flock of birds were coming out of a clear marsh...

But the best track by far, and clearly the most progressive, is B2's "Rackshasi Hornpipe" which is not the expected ethnic rambling song a la Agitation Free, rather something that clearly could have appeared on a classic french fusion album by Transit Express or french Mosaic (Ultimatum), with its beautiful build from electric guitar arpeggios up to the unison sax-flute melody, and it just keeps building and building in both interest and energy to the end.  Stunning you will agree.

Now I'll admit the last track "Christmas in Caracas" is throwaway, for me, because it is exactly that rambling ethnic stuff that I find quite boring-- not only that but if memory serves me (which it rarely does anymore), it stays in only two keys through the whole length, something I find worthy of criminal prosecution for a record like this.

Notice the wonderful credit on the back:

Special thanks to
Dr. Benjamin Robinson 

I would like to thank him too, for making this just incredibly beautiful lost work of art.  Soon I will be able to post an mp3 of it too as well, please be patient as this will turn up eventually.  Meantime there are lots more rarities for me to share, don't worry about that either.  This first track is by no means the best one on the album, I do hate it when people post the best track and the remainder prove to be disappointing:

It gives me great pleasure to be able finally to introduce you to this masterpiece of funky fusion that is utterly unknown, at last I received permission from The Great Nebula-- that is, he who has shared with me so much wonderful stuff... please thank him for this gem...

Genre - Commercial Success from 1978, new rip by request

From prognotfrog by permission:

"From the mighty osurec, "Unknown and Underrated US Jazz prog rock, they came from Albuquerque, private press issued in 1978"...
Of course, the title of the album alone makes one want to feature this. Is there a chance of commercial success for these highly professional and inventive artists in the year 2011, 33 years later? Well, when I hear what music other people are listening to, I am slightly doubtful but I am by nature a pessimist. I would love to hear an optimist's opinion.

For we who love progressive music we often find, especially now so late in the game, we have to mine fusion to find some of the crazy songwriting and willingness to experiment that are its hallmark. And of course it's amazing how much creativity went on in jazz in the period from early 60s to late seventies, even early eighties, when fusion became a reviled term (which I take it, it stills is today, in the 'music biz' and the general public). Personally, I prefer the real classical progressive music such as Genesis, but I feel we've run out of this classical style almost.
Let's start with the opening of this record where a drum crash leads to some insane triplets played unison style with electric guitar and keys, hyperfast, smashing into a sequence of chords that sound lifted from the best RtF chord changes. Subsequently a similar triplet series leads up to higher chords, then abruptly, before the minute mark, we switch tempos to a slow sequence with digital strings and some sustained chords. After some soloing this passes into some slower triplets that sound quite classically composed and then reiterates the triplets with synthesizer only to move on to a standard funk tune. All this in the same track. Virtually the whole thing could be studied as an exemplar of fusion in the late seventies, all styles are featured. The first side continues on into some light fusion sounds, which I understand, may not appeal to all. (I take it this 'soft fusion' is the reason fusion became anathema later on.) Pay attention to the end though, oddly enough an acoustic guitar solo closes it out. I wouldn't say it's the best composition but definitely it makes for a very varied record.

Side two features some more really eye-opening music. Electric guitar is front and centre throughout the record but in the first track we get some crazy Jimi Hendrix solo riffage after a bunch of minor second chord changes recalling alternative or early metal, like black sabbath. Subsequently a chromatic scale descends into the standard funky fusion style again that even we fans are getting a little tired of at this point. At least the energy never falters on side two, and the musicianship is superb. More ingenious riffs pop up out of nowhere, collapsing into almost metal-hard guitar patterns or thick chunky chords. Obviously this guitarist was not just a prodigy but had some brilliant ideas in his acoustic cortex. Side 2 closes out with an aggressive F sharp note on the guitar into an outro with a descending pattern of chords (what could be more fitting), like a fusionist's fadeout-- was it a fadeout to the whole concept of progressive and creative rock music for all mankind?

This is an outstanding example of how much thought can be put into one instrumental record. How unfortunate that this record and the players are unknown and relegated to that great big deleted bin in the sky."

Recently I noticed osurec has been selling many of his beloved albums, have a look.  Many of them featured on prognotfrog, of course...

http://www.discogs.com/seller/Osurec?sort=price&sort_order=desc