OCTOBRE

OCTOBRE were a four piece out of Quebec who had a pretty good run in the seventies releasing four studio albums including this one their third in 1975. The singer/keyboardist dominates here as this is very much a piano/vocal led record. I like the drums and bass on here more than the piano and the guitar is almost an after-thought much of the time. This is a nice record though and I find it interesting that Quebec seems to have it's own sound during this 70's period. And I certainly am a fan of many of the records that were birthed from this era but this one overall is not a 4 star record in my music world.

The vocals are warm and he sings in different styles with confidence. And this is a proggy album and the one track that I kind of took to first was "La Valse A Onze Temps" with the drums and urgent sound early on. Some intensity here and I keep waiting for the breakout but instead they change the second half of the song to a light and silly sound with vocals which I'm not into.

I like "L'oiseau Rouge" a lot and it's these tracks where we get some heat that I'm drawn to. Mostly a piano/vocal start but after 3 minutes they turn it up with vocal melodies too. There's a jazzy vibe on "En Familie" that would come out more on their next album apparently. Clavinet too which is also on the opener which is very much a feel good piece and a great way to open the album. It's also the longest track by far at 6 1/2 minutes.

So my rating reflects my opinion that this is an inconsistent record despite some real highs but almost every track has it's ups and downs.

I don't care how proggie this is, it's amazingly beautiful music. Singer-songwriter Pierre Flynn sounds like a man invested in his music: like a cross between Jacques Brel and Ευστράτιος Δημητρίου (Dimitrio Stratos).

1. "Si on partait" (2:34) organ and gently picked electric guitar are supported by bass and drums as Pierre Flynn sings his heart out. The choral chorus is intriguingly gentle and delicate. A very competent rock song as if from some of the masters of the late 1960s. (8.5/10)

2. "Ça prend presque rien" (4:06) brooding piano arpeggi support the heart-wrenching solo vocal of Pierre Flynn. Wow, is he powerful! I can only imagine seeing him perform live, in concert! Must be an emotionally draining experience. His voice has the power and presence of Dimitrio Stratos! And the music beneath is absolutely perfect in a Motown/Temptations kind of way. But what a vocal performance! Three minutes in we move into a blues-jazzy organ solo with perfect support from bassist mario Légaré and drummer Pierre Hebert. My favorite song on the album--and that's saying a lot! (10/10)

3. "Dans ma ville" (3:12) sounds very much like a Jacques Brel song were Jacques to have adopted to a more rock/prog rock lineup of instruments (electric guitar, clavichord, electric bass, rock drums). (8.5/10)

4. "Les vivants" (4:20) a gorgeous and not-so-simple chord progression opens another song over which Pierre delivers yet another powerful vocal performance--a bit like Serge Fiori and a slightly tamer Dimitrio Stratos. Nice bluesy-rock lead guitar performance over Pierre's clavichord-dominated keys during quite an unusually extended instrumental section. Almost a top three song. (8.75/10)

5. "Viens vivre" (3:00) sounds as if it comes from a Broadway musical with its full-band overture opening and support of the choral delivery of the lyrics. But, then, surprise, there is a dramatic shift to a gorgeous and dreamy passage with more spread among the vocalists. Really tight instrumental performances--very much like a professional pit orchestra at a theater. A great song. Another top three for me. (9/10)

6. "Au fond de tes yeux" (4:19) Another gorgeous song that feels as if it could have come from a stage rock opera like Godspell. The extended chorus outro is a bit long, but, otherwise, another great song. My other top three song. (9.25/10)

7. "Bonjour" (3:01) Pierre's voice over the organ-led rock combo is a little pitchy--a little too lax. Still, this guy can write powerful songs! And what a great drummer is Pierre Hebert! And guitarist Jean Dorais is no slouch. (8.75/10)

8. "La maudite machine" (4:02) opens like a classic rock song from the late 1960s--perhaps The Animals and Eric Burden. Probably my least favorite song on the album--and it's still powerful! (8/10)

Total Time 28:34

As Sean Trane wrote in his review of this album, the prog lover will not be disappointed with these songs due to the presence of enough prog instruments but also because the songs are so powerful and beautiful. There is also quite a little feel of the politico-religious" rock operas of the time like Hair, Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Godspell.

As masterful as this collection of great songs is, the short 28+ minute length provides some issues for in regards to assigning a rating. I want to give it five stars so badly--these are incredible songs!--but . . .

My explorations of French Canadian prog of the seventies brought me around to Octobre; however, the only album I could find on CD was this compilation. As I understand it, only their fourth album, "L'Autoroute des rêves" was ever released on CD. As far as compilations go, though, this double disc is pretty good. It includes six of the eight tracks on the original debut in 1973, eight of the nine tracks from the second album "Nouvelles Terres" of 1974, seven of the eight tracks on the third album "Survivance", only two songs from the fourth album mentioned above and probably only two because the album was available on CD, and seven of the nine tracks on their fifth and final studio release "Clandestins" in 1980. There are four live tracks as well, recorded at a one-off live performance in 1989. So with this compilation you are nearly getting all of the songs from four of their five studio albums which were never released on CD. That's a pretty sweet deal, especially since I picked up this double disc for about $15!

Octobre were a bit of an odd ball prog band. Most Québec bands I have in my collection are closer to jazz rock fusion with a strong classical background or they emerged from the heavy psychedelic rock of the early seventies. These bands, especially the former, put most emphasis on music and less on lyrics with some bands like Maneige and Sloche being almost entirely instrumental. In the case of Octobre, pianist/vocalist Pierre Flynn wrote songs reflecting the social political climate of Québec in the day when Francophone pride was fiercer than ever and the separatist movement was very strong. Given the subject matter one would think that heavy metal or punk would be better subgenres for expressing Flynn's feelings and observations. Certainly not prog. Add to that Flynn's beautiful classical piano passages and his voice which at times goes French chanson style and the jazzy nature of the rest of the band and you might be wondering why progressive rock for these lyrics. Well, that is if you can understand the lyrics. My French reading skills are barely passable with a dictionary and my listening skills are much worse. I have to take the word of another reviewer regarding the lyrics.

When I first got this double disc, I found the amount of music a little overwhelming and one of the first things I did was to arrange the songs on a playlist in the order that they appear on their original albums. This way I know at least what album I am listening to. As it turns out, the songs were all arranged chronologically anyway just not in the exact same order as they appeared originally. Listening to all the songs this way helped me break down the different musical periods from album to album and formulate a clearer opinion of how I perceived the band had changed over the course of their five studio releases.

The six tracks from the self-titled debut are very much song oriented and not so long. The music is very good early seventies rock with the classical and jazz elements taking a backseat to the importance of the sung parts. From the first listen, the song that caught my attention here was "Les vivants". There's a beautiful keyboard intro with what I'll guess is a tricky time signature. The song then becomes more gentle and "normal" but features a rockin' guitar solo in the middle interspersed with more keyboards.

"Nouvelles Terres" sees the progressive music element coming more to the forefront. The songs are still mostly geared towards the song structure and lyrics but the complexity of the music (meter and tempo changes, stylistic changes, etc. within a single song) has stepped up. "Les Nouvelles Terres", "Violence" and "Génération" feature some great progressive music sections and "La Passe du Grand Flambeau" is an exciting instrumental where the band can really show of their talent.

Their third album "Survivance" must have been Octobre's best. Tracks like "Tendre Torture", "La valse à onze temps" (Waltz in Eleven Time), and "L'Oiseau Rouge" see the band developing their progressive abilities further. The instrumental "Baptême de l'air" was short enough on the original album but it's truncated here to a mere 1:46, a pity really as it is also an excellent bit of work.

The fourth album "L'Autoroute des rêves" can only be appreciated in two songs here, but my impression is that by now the band had moved past the more progressive rock approach of the second and third albums and had returned to focusing more on songs. However, this notion really strikes home for me with the fifth album "Clandestins" of 1980. Though the music is still very good and even excellent, it sounds more pop rock than prog and I feel like I am listening to someone else's music and not something from my collection. Still, I noticed that even when I felt like the songs had returned to being more mainstream, there would be pleasantly surprising parts regularly cropping up.

The live songs are good and certainly I understand the desire to include them here as part of the band's closure. I, however, would have preferred more studio tracks, perhaps more from the fourth album. Nevertheless, I can't complain as I got an impressive collection of music that covers most of the band's recording career.

One point to make is that the CD booklet is all in French. Albums reissued in the ProgQuebec series come with a brief history in both French and English. But other Francophone albums like this one tend to have a bio in French only. If you want to read more in English, you can find a decent bio on the ProgQuebec web site.

Overall, if you don't mind albums in non-English or you can speak French, the music here is mostly fun to listen to. Not your typical seventies rock band and not your typical prog band either, Octobre were wonderfully talented and wrote a lot of great songs nonetheless.

Progressive rock can have many kinds of subjects: from war, fantasies of the medieval times, as well the tarot cards. Hell, it can even be about a tale of two brothers in New York City. However, one subject in Canada was practically rarely discussed: the government itself. Octobre, named after a local political crisis in their hometown of Quebec, would come to the front out of the many bands spawned by the French-Canadian/Quebecois folk rock renaissance of the early seventies (along with Harmonium, Offenbach and Maneige) to go against the higher-ups relentlessly. Led by an eighteen year-old vocalist/keyboardist from a bourgeoisie upbringing, Pierre Flynn had a bone to pick with the government along with other band mates, and oddly used the genre of progressive rock to voice their discontent with the political situation of the time.

Octobre's self-titled album, released in 1973, would introduce many into the horrid situation Quebec was in at the time. Most notably the October Crisis of 1970, which would result in the assassination of Quebec's Labor Minister Pierre Laporte. These particular incidents, along with the reluctance of the local government to do much about the situation angered many; Flynn was one of the many.

Recorded on a shoe-string budget, Octobre was rather short, clocking in at twenty-eight minutes. As far it was concerned, that was more than enough time to convey the band's message, and left for absolutely no time to waste on the typical progressive rock tropes. The main focus was getting the point across, which was well done. Behind the message was the excellent work done by the band: Mario Legare's fluid bass work, as well Pierre Hebert's stunningly accurate drumming held the compositions by Pierre Flynn together. Not to mention the edge guitarist Jean Dorais brought to Octobre's music.

Songs such as La maudite machine (The Damn Machine), and Les Vivants (The Living), would show many the great anger welling within the band, and would inspire a younger generation of French-Canadians to speak out against the local government. Throughout the album, there are vague hints of folk-rock, most notably on Au fond de tes yeux (Deep in Your Eyes) and Bonjour (Hello), which brings up comparisons to fellow Quebec band Harmonium. There are also touches of influences by Gentle Giant and Genesis on tracks like Ca prend presque rien (It Takes Almost Nothing), which further displayed the band's intent on causing change in Quebec, one way or another.

With the exception of a few weak moments, Octobre made for a staggering debut unlike any other. The folk-rock influences would eventually phase out, but for the time being, it would have to remain while the band searched for their voice. The aggression of the band's music can only give a vague idea of what was going on at the time, and to make it more confusing to some, it was entirely in a foreign language. But language truly doesn't matter; only if you can immerse yourself into the world of Octobre will you understand what happened. And maybe the music will accompany you in discovering the story of the people of Quebec, and finally understanding the message the band tried to convey forty years earlier.

In my opinion, this third album of the Canadian band OCTOBRE entitled "Survivance" is his r best work, and t that is more to the level of the best and more significant disks of the progressive of that country. Unlike their previous works, this disk presents music with much more complex themes and instrumental passages in the "height" of the great names of the progressive. Besides, there is the most pronounced presence of instruments as the mellotron and the synthesizer (practically absentees in the previous disks). My highlights are the track 1 "Tendre Tortures", track 5 "Baptême Of L'air" (including of a feminine choir ) and the track 7 " L`Oiseau Rouge ". My rate is 4 stars!!!!

3,5 stars!!! I found this second albun from the band OCTOBRE "Nouvelles Terres" (1974), a little different from his first work "Octobre" (1973), and that more called me the attention was a certain approach with jazzier themes and the use of other musicians' as guests (although there are not credits) in an attempt of "enriching" the melodic textures, as example of this, I can mention the orchestral attendance in the final passage of the track 4 "Ma Chanson", the brass section arrangement in the track 5 "Violence." However that "enrichment" (in my opinion) doesn't do a superior work in relationship to their first disk, I consider both in a same level.. The best moments of the disk are the track 1 "Nouvelles Terres",a track 3 " Quand La Nuit If Réveille" with interesting counterpoints among acoustic & eletric guitar and keyboards,and the track 6 "La Passe du Grande Flambeau" (the best moment of the disk) that reminded me in some moments GENTLE GIANT. My rate is 3,5 stars. Standing out (as in their previous work) that this also deserves a place in my collection!!!!

3, 5 stars !!! In spite of not could classify this first album of the Canadian band OCTOBRE as a work of the same "caliber" of disks of other bands of the same country (for instance: MORSE CODE "Procréation", POLLEN "Pollen" and etc...), even so I classify his work as worthy of being known by the community of prog fans. I say this, because, although it doesn't present many moments of virtuosity (nor instrumental, nor vocal) their music are "filled" of quite interesting themes and us which it is almost imperceptible some influence of any other band (I admit that I didn't get to notice any enough strong influence that it went worthy of note), what does with that his sonority is very particular. Besides, the disk presents many themes that make to deserve an audition, such as: the track 3. " Dans Ma Ville", track 4 "Les Vivants" with a "dialogue" among harpiscord & eletric guitar as main theme, track 7 "Bonjour" with beautiful work of hammond-organ and etc... Actually only I find lamentable the fact of this album it was not thrown in cd. My quotation is of 3,5 stars, emphasizing that this albun deserves place in my collection of progressive music!!!

Legend has it Octobre almost stole the show when they opened for King Crimson in the early 70's in Québec (though the fact that they shared a common language with the crowd made it easyer for them to identify to the band probably came into play). Well, with this live performance recorded in Montreal in '78, we get an opportunity to hear what the fuss was all about.

From the point the show kicks off with a beautiful acoustic build-up version of Survivance till the closing classic piece la Maudite Machine, we are treated to an excellent show of musicianship showcasing many highlights of their career and adding a few instrumental pieces in the blend like the "holy grail" of Octobre fans, the long latin-beat; "Brazilia". A few songs, starting with Insurection, benefit from a full horn section and theres also a very nice orchestrations on "le Vent Se Lève" which was left aside on the cd reissue as was also "l'Oiseau Rouge".

Overall I'd recommend this to fans and newcomers alike. The only problem is to get your hands on an actual copy since the LP and CD have been long out of print (some rips have been floating about though). The sound quality is very good and the bands performance is at its peak.

It's not a small feat to be regarded by many as tied with Harmonium's "En Tournée" as the best live recording from a Québec prog group.

Once upon a time... A Canadian prog band lead by Pierre Flynn, Octobre were one of the major progressive bands in Quebec more precisely. Despite a rather chaotic career and production, they released a pure gem, "Survivance" in 1975 which is still not available on the CD form. I'm still wondering why because French speaking fans will enjoy the gorgeous lyrics of 'Suvivance', close to Atoll's fabulous 'Le Cerf volant' (in "Tertio" 1977) or 'L'oiseau rouge'. The other fans will like a very personal kind of prog in the 'French tradition' (theatrical and poetic chansons with instrumental developments in the way of Ange) showing influences such as King Crimson in awesome instrumental tracks which supports this superb melancholy singer.

2.5 stars really!!

After recording their live album in 78, and their drummer Hebert leaving, Octobre experimented with some theatre troupe and add saxman Gerry Leduc, played in France (where their albums never were released). At the turn of the decade, Quebec's cultural boom and the political emancipation programme were both in a coma (or at least a solid hangover), with Disco sweeping up the floor and a negative referendum, only a few pieces were left to glue back together. Most of the late 70's group from La Belle Province were now defunct or close to it. Octobre will actually manage to survive (survivance?) until 82 and record Clandestins on the small independent Kebek label, with Hebert returning to the fold. This album is clearly self-produced and "suffers" (but not really) from a less professional production job, but overall, the group managed it passably, but does not escape an end-of-era feeling. They did try to regain the spirit, bringing back the odd brass section arrangements and their early rock feel.

Opening on the Springsteenian Pour Te Retrouver (find you again), the album has to wait for the title track to find life, with newcoming Leduc sounding like Supertramp's Helliwell. Both tracks are close to overstaying their welcome, though. Imposteur is almost a brass-rock track, where the arrangements are flawless in the previous ADR album's mould. The aptly-titled Je Veux Rouler (I wanna roll) is just that: a meaningless rocker that is quickly forgotten. Not much more successful is Prière D'Asphalte (asphalt prayer, but it feels like they drank it instead of praying it). A good deal of the tracks would've been fillers on previous albums, and only L'Imaginoir manages to stand out of a relative mediocrity. Flynn wrote that on a Paris trip and the music does resemble what he would've written in Survivance's era and I really believe it is of the same excellent accabit with a great sax solo. The prophetically-titled closing instrumental Bout De La Ligne (end of the line) is a correct instrumental, but doesn't have the strength of their previous works.

Octobre manages to save this album from catastrophe, relying on their professionalism and almost succeeds to hide their failing inspiration, but to those knowing the group, Clandestins is really a half-hearted effort, where they shine all too briefly for two tracks. Best avoided, although confirmed fans will likely beg to differ.

Following this album's release, the group will embark a big semi-national 50-dates tour (from Ontario to Atlantic provinces), but obviously the group is standing on its last leg (this writer saw the group on that tour and was relatively unimpressed), lasting until August 82. The group will reform for a one-time reunion concert in 89, from which will be recorded four tracks available on the two disc compilation set.