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NIMAL

Nimal

RIO/Avant-Prog


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Nimal Nimal album cover
3.22 | 13 ratings | 2 reviews | 31% 5 stars

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Studio Album, released in 1987

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. La semaine des quatre jeudi - Part I - IV (10:04)
2. Dimanche (2:46)
3. Animal triste (4:21)
4. La marelle (4:26)
5. Au zoo (3:55)
6. Un drame (2:06)
7. Le tram (1:44)
8. Maligne (3:07)

Total Time: 32:29

Line-up / Musicians

- Jean-M. Rossel / guitars, bass, accordion, hurdy-gurdy, bouzouki, piano, DX- 100, percussion, sound effects
- Tom Cora / cello (6,8), bass (7), voice (2)
- Pippin Barnett / (1) drums, percussion
- Dominique Diebold / (4) drums
- Victor de Bros / (4) piano, prophet
- Gilles V. Rieder / (5) percussion
- Didier Pietton / (2) soprano

Releases information

Released by RecRec

Thanks to ProgLucky for the addition
and to ProgLucky for the last updates
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NIMAL Nimal ratings distribution


3.22
(13 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music (31%)
31%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection (31%)
31%
Good, but non-essential (31%)
31%
Collectors/fans only (8%)
8%
Poor. Only for completionists (0%)
0%

NIMAL Nimal reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by Finnforest
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
3 stars Swiss Avant-Rio misadventures

Nimal are described in our Bio as something of a Rio supergroup whose member's various groups were influenced by older bands like Samla Mammas, Univers Zero, and Henry Cow. They were together only about five years but managed to tour and release three acclaimed albums. This debut, which was apparently not released on CD, is said to be not quite as fully realized as the latter two. If true, it blows my mind, because this is some intensely creative music.

"Nimal" is like walking into a snowstorm. At first jarring as the freezing wind blown snow hits your face. But later as you acclimate to it, walking in the winter becomes serene, a little bit of contemplative despite the chaos.

The cacophony of standard rock instruments and exotic ones are seemingly being crashed randomly by children, but as with other good avant releases, a little patience and a few more plays will pay off. The most ambitious track is the 10-minute opener entitled "La semaine des quatre jeudis" which is all over the map, sometimes it feels like an insane wedding soundtrack, very cinematic. The odd feel is courtesy of the hurdy-gurdy and the bouzouki employed by Rossel. Equal measures menacing, exhilarating, confusing, and dramatic, the piece feels like a great drunk one moment and the hangover the next.

I also enjoyed "Animal Triste" where there are wordless choral vocals sampled over the intense noise. It's like a life boat. The same with the cello on the closer "Maligne" which is quite the departure. Its calming strokes and deliberate pace nicely bring one in from the snowstorm and allow you to sink in front of the fireplace.

While not my favorite album by any means, "Nimal" is the kind of discovery I still enjoy. It's wonderful something so rare can now be heard online by the next generation. Avant and Rio fans will love this group.

Review by Mellotron Storm
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars 2.5 stars. NIMAL rose from the ashes of DEBILE MENTHOL with multi-instrumentalist Jean-M Rossel leading both bands. Based in Switzerland these two groups were very much in the rio/avant realm. NIMAL's self titled debut was released in 1987 and it really comes across as a solo album by Rossel. He produced and mixed this record but the man also composed and arranged all of the music and is all over this with his playing. Five of the other six members only play on one track each, with the other member Tom Cora actually playing on four of the eleven songs. He's playing cello on two of them, vocals and bass on one each. I should mention that the sax player Didier Pietton played with ART ZOYD during the first half of the eighties. Again he's only on one track.

There's a lot of short tracks here with eleven tracks over just 32 1/2 minutes and Rossel's hurdy gurdy is all over this record. There's a strong folk element here besides the avant. I have no favourites here. This was a difficult album to play repeatedly I'll tell you that. Even one of the band members was quoted as saying this was a subpar representation of what they were working on at the time. And there has been no cd issue for this one because of that, but they did do a cd re-issue for their second and much better album "Voix De Surface" from 1990.

It's hard for me to even find any highlights here but "Un Drame" is different with that dark and melancholic sound. Maybe "La Marelle" with the deeper sounds for a change with those bass and drums. Or perhaps "Animal Triste" but I think that's because the track before it is my least favourite, while this one is sparse with sax and synths standing out.

I am a much bigger fan of DEBILE MENTHOL but I know avant fans love NIMAL's second record "Voix De Surface" where it all seemed to come together for them, and a huge improvement on this the debut. A low 3 stars.

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