SURVIVANCE

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.