CATHARSIS

Volume V - Le Bolero du Veau des Dames is the band's best and strongest album. It's more rocking than the others, and has more energy and variation as well. This would be the recommended starting point, and the most likely to be enjoyed by fellow progheads. This, as with the band's last album, feature full drum set. The mix and production are also the biggest and fully round of the albums.

The leadoff track "Palace" and "Doctor Pleu" are both reminiscent of ELP and Fireballet's first album.

"Styx" has some nice dreamy synth lines and non-vocal singing. "Melba" sounds quite a bit like Gryphon. The title track "Le Bolero du Veau des Dames" starts off with a very regal / royal melody - highly European - and builds up as it goes along, into a prog rock march along the lines of something by Ange or maybe even early Genesis.

Definitely recommended.

Unfortunately, this is second weakest album by the band, after their final album Volume VI - Et s'aimer ... et mourir ... The songs aren't very adventurous or interesting, and it sounds like they were bored or short on material, but went forward with releasing an album anyway.

One of the biggest problems with this album is that most of the songs this time just revolve around repeating a simple riff, not going anywhere in particular. The percussion / drums are especially low-key, and actually the guitars as well.

The other issue is that Charlotte is back on vocals (from the first album), and way more obvious and upfront than before. They have a nice quality, not unlike Annie Haslam doing her non-word thing. But sometimes something good should be used sparingly. They're overdone here, and actually get in the way of the music at times.

The best song is "Poèmes du 17e siècle". It actually has full drums, rather than some light percussion noodling. Charlotte's doing some strange heaving breathing thing, which is sort of sexual, though not quite to the point of moaning. She laughs a few times too. "Mignonne allons voir si la rose" actually has quite a bit of laughing from her too. For all we know, she could have been higher than a kite when it was recorded. Maybe the whole band was too stoned to put much energy into this album.

This was released as the fourth album by psychedelic French band Catharsis and it adds more to the confusion surrounding their albums. Chronologically it's probably their second album, the line up is also the same as their debut, like a lot of their material being recorded in 1971 this was too. The album was actually released in 1972 without an album title, along with two more albums and then again in 1975 as Vol.4 Illuminations to set things straight. In regards of album length this is still very short like all of their albums, only 28 minutes of music. Musically speaking it is closer to their first album and a little bit different than what came after it, The music drowns in 60's psychedelia mostly acoustic, quiet and dark, very trippy and psychedelic unlike 32 Mars and Les Chevrons albums which are louder and more upbeat yet still maintaining a very psychedelic atmosphere. I do love the fact that it's unique and compared to other works by the band the concept here is natural and very much welcomed. I think the biggest reference here is Pink Floyd's early period especially Atom Heart Mother's main suite with its quiet female vocal part, it seems Catharsis drew a lot of inspiration from that part because it is scattered all over the album. You could also sense the experimentation spirit of Ummagumma at some places.

At first it might seem like there's nothing going on but actually there's more under the surface, it's mainly about the atmosphere and ideas rather than technical playing. The album presents all sorts of psychedelic experimentations, there are 9 songs, 8 of them ranging between 2 to 3+ minutes. Some of them in spite of having a good idea remains a bit undeveloped and so misses the point. One of the highlights are the beautiful female vocal chants by Charlotte Boutillier, they play a big role here, drums are used very sparsely and if so only with bass drums and cymbals, there's a bigger use of percussions, so that adds to album being quiet.

The album begins really well with the first three tracks being the best, a wonderful trippy and dreamy atmosphere is built with the sound dominated by ethereal organ chords, keys, percussions and all sorts of weird sounds. Boutillier almost operatic vocal chants adds a lot of character and adds to the mysterious textures propelled by Roland Bocquet's almost classical farfisa organ and piano playing. Another reference would be their french neighbors Wapassou, maybe some Bo Hansson or the Italian band Pierrot Lunaire due to the vocals and weirdness. There's a good flow and balance between the songs adding also some acoustic moments played with acoustic guitars like the closing 6 minutes track which sounds more effective.

So overall this is a good album but still a product of its time, there's nothing new or ground breaking about it just more of the same hippie experimentations of the time, I'm guessing die hard fans of the genre will appreciate this even more than I do. 3 stars.

By 1973-74 the original years of Catharsis appear to have come to an end and the band had taken a break.Being under contract though, albums kept coming, based on earlier recordings of the band.''32 Mars'' was released in 1974 on the Festival and Galloway labels, the eponymous track had already appeared in the first ever single released by the band.

This has to be one of the shortest LP's ever recorded, clocking at 23 minutes and half of it is dedicated to a long version of ''32 Mars'', a tour-de-force of haunting, organ-drenched Psychedelic Prog with some Classical influences and a really dark atmosphere, dominated by chants and sinister moods.Somewhere between GOBLIN and VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR, this one is characterized by middle-placed sax scratches, neurotic organ waves and some soft piano lines with an ending section full of smashing percussion.Among the very good pieces recorded by the band.Second side contains no strangers to Catharsis fans.''Masq'' is a shortened version of the track already presented in their eponymous debut with Charlotte again behind the microphone.Kind of an Avant-Garde/Psychedelic Rock piece with focus on the Farfisa organ and Charlotte's operatic stylings with some more quirky organ drives added for good measure.''Les Chevrons'' is the same version as on Catharsis' self-titled sophomore release, where the band had taken a more symphonic direction, still displaying a love for dark soundscapes, but surfacing enough Classical elerments, that eventually refined their whole style.A short, 3-min. version of the opener will close the album, lacking the piano moves, the percussion grooves and most of the Avant-Garde touches for a rather organ-dominated version with slight symphonic overtones.

Extremely short album, which still deserves some praise for its haunting atmosphere and intense organ variations.Recommended, unless you feel that 23 minutes of music do not worth your money.CD reissue out on Spalax.

By 1972 the line-up of Catharsis was shortened to a quartet, which would carry the band until its demise.Niles Brown, Charlotte and Allain Geoffroy were all gone and the style of the band was limited to a typical bass/guitar/organ/drums format.The remaining members Roland Bocquet, Yves de Roubaix, Charles Eddie and Patrick Moulia recorded the next album at the Studio Davout in Paris.The single ''Les chevrons'' was quite succesful and the album was finally released on Saravah under the title of ''Vol.2-Les chevrons''.

The non-presence of an extended core worked well for Catharsis and the hypnotic, sinister sound of their incosistent debut was replaced by a much more energetic approach, which was still rooted in Psychedelic Rock, but bursts strong amounts of passion and dynamics.In fact they added in their style a certain and pronounced Classical flavor, always in dark and haunting realms, often getting into serious drama with the presence of obscure chants.The music remains in the hands of Roland Bocquet, who drives Catharsis' ideas through his long organ fanfares to symphonic, psychedelic and intense textures, which can be both relaxed and bombastic.Moreover the band now holds some similarities to ANGE's debut album, having a muddy production surrounded by captivating Classical influences.A very short offering by Catharsis again, clocking at only 30 minutes, ''Les chevrons'' suffers a bit from some needed variety, as the whole album seems to be covered by Bocquet's organ moves with little space for guitar-driven textures or any other activity far from the lush keyboard arrangements.

This is a certain improvement over ''Masq''.Organ-based Psychedelic Rock with obvious symphonic vibes, played with power and passion.Recommended.

Catharsis are a four piece band from France who were active in the 70's. If you look for information about the band's albums you will find quite a lot of confusion, and this is due to the fact that other labels released collaboration albums by Catharsis and various singers. In 1994 Spalax released most of their albums on CD but didn't include the collaboration albums, so the band's discography here in the archives is according to the Spalax releases. So only for your information there are two more albums by the band which should be in here as well. Although a lot of music was recorded during 71-72, the band released very short albums clocking at about 30 minutes each, on top of that some of the songs appear in different albums with alternate versions. Although this album doesn't offer a lot of new music, since two of the songs already appeared in their previous albums, this would be a great starting point for anyone interested to check them out, I think this is their best album (from the ones I've heard).

All their albums are instrumental but with the addition of frequent chanting and operatic vocals sung by the band with an additional female singer. Their main style can be considered as psychedelic prog but there's a lot more going on, they can be quite symphonic at times but there's also some krautrock kind of experimentation and all kinds of middle eastern influences too. The music is dominated by the spooky farfisa organ by Roland Bocquet, and that's the reason they are often regarded as a Pink Floyd influenced band, but aside from the organ sound the music is nothing like Floyd. Bocquet's playing has some clear classical influences, so the music has a very unique vibe to it. I can't help but think that "32 mars" sounds more like something that was released circa 68' rather than a 70's album, the sound at times has a strong Doors feeling due to the organs and drum sound, but the music is nothing like it too. It seems to me like there's two main styles when talking about psychedelic music, there's the more ambienty trippy experimentations without any actual structure, and there's the more song based psychedelic stuff, where you can follow an actual melody. Catharsis are exploring both styles, but here in this album it's the more song based kind of style, and it's the one I usually prefer.

"32 Mars" is the main piece here, 11 minutes of cool and trippy experimentations which goes from one part to the other smoothly. It starts with an exciting arabic/classical melody on top of an upbeat rhythm, beautiful keyboard work there! It then goes in another direction, a frightening atmosphere played only by piano, like something out of a Stanley Kubrick movie. When that's over it's time for some weirdness, shrieking saxophone noises on top of rolling drums rhythm and some background organs to spice things up, I can listen to this all the day long, it just works perfectly. "Masq" is a song which appeared on their debut, this version is slightly shorter but enjoyable as well. It's quite symphonic this time, it goes from one melody to the next, nothing special overall, just enjoying the melodies with beautiful vocals chanting. The debut's version contains a weird piano part which definitely adds a more progy feel to it. "Les Chevrons" was originally released in their second album titled the same. Again this one explores the spooky atmosphere with hints of a classical inspired theme. The fourth song goes back to the first and main piece and only shows the main themes without the experimentations, it's shortened to 3 minutes, totally useless.

This is a great band to discover and totally worth it if you come across a copy, not essential in any way but still very enjoyable stuff. Their next album "Illuminations" sees the band exploring more psychedelic realms without any song based themes. 3.5 stars rounded up mainly because of how I enjoy it.

Plain and simple 'Masq' sounds like the soundtrack from a dodgy Spaghetti Western.

An easily accessible album that suffers from it's hippie sensibilities. It also sounds very dated in an early 70's way. There are some brief experimental parts which are ok and I have to admit a liking to the high pitched vocals of the woman known simply as 'Charlotte'. Actually, there's a bit of a ghostly feel to parts of this album, probably due to Roland Bocquet's Farfisa organ and the male chanting in the background.

The drums could have done with being beefed up a bit... they sound awfully tinny. Clocking in at a paltry 29 minutes it makes you wonder when an album stops being an album and becomes an e.p.. I suppose after 20 minutes I'd pretty much had enough anyway. Just okay but it's a lot of old pants if truth be told and I certainly can't imagine it being anyone's album of the year.

Remained well hidden in the shadows of the past,CATHARSIS were a French band formed in 1969 and led by the major figure of organist/pianist Roland Boquet.They started as a sextet to record their debut ''Volume I-Masq'' in 1971 on the French record label Savanah.

The album contains four rather long cuts for an early-70's rock band,however it clocks just under 30 minutes.The musicianship in here is quite innovative and dark with lots of psychedelic echoes,even some Eastern influences, but also a very dated sound.It is Boquet's obscure Frafisa organ work,which leads the music surrounded by the mournful vocals of Charlotte and the weird vocal lines of the other members.Charles Eddie seems to be another major figure of the band,as his percussion work dominates the release,sometimes doubled by Boquet's organ,while others acoustic guitars try to capture his slow-tempo playing.Unfortunately the album lacks a bit in changing moods and tempos,which might be found a little boring for the mass of listeners,though you'll find familiar elements from early KING CRIMSON,PINK FLOYD with some hints of JACULA thrown in this effort.Be warned,that this is not everybody's taste, and definitely not mine.''Volume I-Masq'' turns to be an album for followers of slow Psychedelic Rock music with a dark and haunting atmosphere...sorry,I'm not one of them...

3.5 stars really!!

Catharsis is one of those French pioneering groups that forged ahead and paved the way for many of their compatriots. Their first album was recorded early spring 71 , but apparently there was a lot more material put on tape than just this album. Actually when their second album was recorded in Dec 71 (with a fairly reduced line-up), there was also much left out of the two records, that it turns out they released at least another two albums from these very sessions (71), but released in 75. Most of the tracks are written by keyboardist Bosquet and two of the guitarists (deRoubaix & Moulia).

Four long tracks on this debut album from a group that had their own distinctive sound, even though they were obviously Floyd-inspired, but with some more symphonic touches than Pink had. Indeed outside the strange ethereal female vocals, courtesy from Charlotte, but the groups was a septet. Through a percussive and gradual start, the track develops into an interesting psych rock, over which Charlotte's vocals (sometimes joined by the others) are soaring, then bizarre effects and percussion derail the progression of the title track and render its outcome unpredictable. We are going thru a few Bolero (Ravel) measures, than joined scats vocals, then an uncertain landing. Rising from that shaky ground and with baffling percussions and effects, 4 Art 6 develops slowly, remaining a bit irritatingly on low dynamics that when they finally come to acceptable level, there are some very weird (even a bit objectionable) vocals.

Actually the main interest of this album is also its flaw, because the scat vocals are over-used throughout the duration of the album. And starting the flipside, Cantique is not about to change that with Charlotte's scats taking on a mystical or liturgical note and if the male pagan chants coming just after, then superposed to Charlotte's. tunnel Extatique is hust more of the same that youy'fe so far abnd even induce a slight boredom or irritation.

By the time they would be recording their second album in December, Catharsis was only a quartet, having lost Charlotte, one keyboardist (Geoffroy) and a guitarist (Brown) along the way. Reputedly their best album, Masq is certainly a charming album that does bear the era that saw it born, a rather enjoyable piece of symphonic psychedelia, but repeated listening could prove somewhat difficult if one is not entirely comfortable with Charlotte's aerial scats.

3.5 stars really!!!

Le Bolero Du Veau Des Dames (76) is the first album of new material for Catharsis since Pop Poèmes of 73, because the following two releases (32 Mars and Illuminations were both recorded in 71 along Masq, their debut album. This album stands a bit apart in Catharsis' discography as there are only of the four usual members (the other reappearing for the following year's S'Aimer Et Mourrir. Replaced by members Claude and Michel (no last names given), the quartet probably signed their most symphonic oeuvre (although I've not heard half their albums) and arguably sounded the least like Floyd, although there are still some strong hints. BTW, don't be fooled by the vol 5 on the Spalax Cd reissue, this is their seventh album.

Although an organ-dominated sound, Catharsis' music sounds a tad different, as Bocquet's organ is a Farsifa, rather than the usual Hammond. Right from the first notes of Falace' you'll see easily that you are in a very different kind of musical realm. Some tracks like Melba still have a Floydian streak, but most include a fair bit of very tasteful brand of symphonic rock between Camel and Genesis. As with all Catharsis albums LBDVDD is hardly clocking around the 30 minutes mark.

The best track of the album is clearly the 10-mins title track, which spends all its duration throughout, changing through a myriad of moods and ambiances much like a better version of Camel (and even sometimes close to Caravan and Genesis) and French compatriots Carpe Diem. Also among the better tracks is Docteur Pleu, which has some delightful spacey sounds as well as some near-orgasmic breathing over a not-so steady beat, before breaking into a very Genesis-type of close. The weaker track would be Tango, with its staccato rhythm, but even then this is a stretch call it bad.

Catharsis might just stand as one of France most singular groups, this album is probably their proggiest (in the light of symphonic prog) and it seems that Catharsis has forgotten a bit their psych roots and developed a stronger symphonic sound. .