SI ON AVAIT BESOIN D'UNE CINQUIÈME SAISON

I must confess that I hadn't even heard of Harmonium before last week. I happened to notice them when I browsed the top 100 album list here and the album at hand was ranked quite high. I read some reviews, and was convinced enough to get the album. So here's my (shortish) review.

Harmonium were a prog folk band hailing from the Quebec area, and they sang in French. They did only three albums in the middle 70s, Les Cinq Saisons (as this album is often shortened) being their second and made in 1975. It is a theme album, the theme being the four seasons, plus a fifth one. Every song on the album represents one of the seasons, with the fifth song Histoires Sans Paroles being the fifth season and the epic song of the album (17 minutes).

The music found on this album is very mellow, they have no drummer and only occasional percussions can be heard here and there. The key elements to their music are acoustic guitars, fantastic sax, flute and clarinet melodies, and on the top of it all, great grandiose mellotron sweeps followed by Ondes Martenot quite a many times. The vocals sound very sincere and heartfelt and seem to convey the emotions of the songs very well even though I can't understand French at all.

I must say that at the first listen the album did not convince me and I was thinking what the fuss was all about. Then, after listening to it several times in a row it started to grow on me fast. Now I hunger for more. The beauty found on this album is something quite unique. Very like a hippie dream, and the cover art reflects this perfectly. The impeccable instrumentation and the flawless arrangements along with very beautiful melodies make this album a must get to all who like prog folk.

My verdict: Full five stars without a hesitation.

P.S. This was actually my first review here, says something how this album affected me that I started with this.