Books In French About Prog/Hard/Rock

Aymeric Leroy: Rock progressif.

La noirceur envoûtante de King Crimson, le raffinement symphonique de Genesis, l’exaltation mystique de Yes, les rêveries sonores de Pink Floyd, la virtuosité extravagante d’Emerson Lake & Palmer… Et tant d’autres, plus obscurs mais non moins valeureux – Van der Graaf Generator, Jethro Tull, Magma, Gentle Giant, Soft Machine… Autant de groupes qui, à partir de la fin des années soixante, ont cherché – et souvent réussi – à inventer une musique au-delà des distinctions de genre et du formatage commercial. Le rock progressif représente un legs artistique d’une variété et d’une richesse exceptionnelles. S’il a connu l’apogée de sa créativité et de son succès dans les années soixante-dix, son impact s’est révélé aussi profond que durable, à travers ses nouvelles déclinaisons (le néo-prog de Marillion, le prog-métal de Dream Theater…) mais aussi son influence avérée sur certains des groupes actuels les plus aventureux et novateurs (Radiohead, The Mars Volta…).
Cet ouvrage revient sur le contexte historique et artistique exceptionnel qui a favorisé l’émergence et l’épanouissement du rock progressif, et décortique ses œuvres phares, portant sur ce genre musical un regard à la fois érudit, passionné et sans complaisance.
Né en 1973 à Lavelanet, Aymeric Leroy a co-fondé vingt ans plus tard la revue de musiques progressives Big Bang, dans laquelle il a rédigé de nombreuses chroniques et études approfondies sur les ténors du genre. Expert reconnu de la scène de Canterbury (Soft Machine, Caravan…), il lui a consacré un site internet de référence, Calyx.
> Au mot et le reste, il est aussi l’auteur de Pink Floyd.

Mary Wollstencraft's  " A Vindication On The Rights Of Women"   (1794)

Didn't know there were so many french-reading people on this forum...

I just did a quick search online and Leroy is the author of a Mot et le reste book on Pink Floyd. He managed a prog zine in France for many years and contributed liner notes to a number of prog reissues and compilations. 

He runs Calyx, a site dedicated to the Canterbury scene. 

I feel optimistic about that one.




Edited by machinemusic - February 22 2010 at 17:09

CPicard wrote: Other resources in French: Le Mot et le Reste have released several interesting books :  - Eric Deshayes, "Au-delà du Rock" http://atheles.org/lemotetlereste/formes/audeladurock/ A good book about the "Kraut-rock" scene, organised as a dictionary The same author with the musicia Dominique Grimaud also wrote a book about the 70's French Progressive movement : http://atheles.org/lemotetlereste/formes/lundergroundmusicalenfrance/ There's also a new book about the 70's Hard-Rock. I'm going to check this one: http://atheles.org/lemotetlereste/formes/hardnheavy19661978/index.html

I bought Au-delà du Rock a little over a year ago and really enjoyed it. Deshayes has written a bunch of material here and there about experimental and electronic music. His site, néosphères, is also a really great resource for material published/released in France.

I am actually working on a review of Ghosn's La Monte Young at the moment although we are far from prog rock here. It is also from Le mot et le reste. Elegant and affordable books!

CPicard, you might want to check this book also. It is exactly what this thread is concerned with (scheduled to be released in April):




Edited by machinemusic - February 22 2010 at 07:56

CPicard wrote:  - Denis Protat, "L'encyclopédie du Hard-Rock des 70's" Here's an interview (in French) : http://www.lefantastique.net/musique/interviews/protat/protat.htm

I have got this book. It is a good dictionary, the only problem I have with it is that the covers of the albums are in black and white.



I also like to read these magazines: Prog-résiste and Big Bang.
http://www.progresiste.com/
http://www.bigbangmag.com/

The other publications about progressive music written in french are on this page:
http://pagesperso-orange.fr/frogprog/index_fr.html .

Eurotrash/Rapido presenter Antoine de Caunes also wrote a biography on Magma, in French, called "Magma".




Edited by James - October 25 2009 at 17:36

@Jon89: maybe you should try to find some volumes of L'Histoire Mondiale Du Rock Progressif by Didier Gonzalez (Highlands Magazine).
http://highlands.fanzine.free.fr/hmp/hmp.html

Sean, the book you are talking about is called Chroniques Du Rock Progressif 1967-1979.
Frédéric Delâge also wrote a book about Genesis: La Boîte à Musique.

Easy Livin wrote: Were you going to share your thoughts on it/them with us? That's what this section is intended for.

Hi! Ok, it is a book about progressive music from the 60's to nowadays through the evocation of 500 LPs.
From proto-prog (The Beatles, The Moody Blues) to  actual progressive rock/metal (Porcupine Tree, Dream Theater) with also chapters about Canterbury music, Zeuhl, RIO, Neo-Prog, Space-Rock ...