An Odyssey Through Québécois' Progressive Music

 

Welcome to the Odyssey through Québécois' progressive (and related) music! With this blog, I will try to introduce you to some well-known and obscure Québécois bands. Maybe you will already know some of them, maybe not. I'll try to make my first presentation during this week.

Also, feel free to discuss and comment if you want.

To begin, I'd just like to link that other thread I've started some time ago (five months). I think it can also be a helpfull one!

 

Gabriel

 

Harmonium is probably the most well-known Québecois band, and an excellent one. I'm glad you enjoyed it, because it is a good band to start with. Et Cetera and Pollen are, in my opinion, both great bands, though I can understand why one can not be impressed. There are a lot of bands from Québec who are/were not influenced by Gentle Giant, by the way  Hope you'll find tons of bands you will appreciate.

They were my favourite band from Quebec.

How about Syrinx? Were they not from Montreal?

They did the theme music in 1969 for a CBC tv show called "Here Comes the Seventies"

I loaned my Syrinz LP to a friend who dissappeared. One of my only regrets in life. Cannot find it now anywhere.

BTW merci beaucoup pour c'est blog.

Harmonium biography (from this website)
This Quebec-based Progressive rock band, who sang in French, has a very apt name in HARMONIUM. The core was a folk trio formed by guitarists Serge FIORI and Michel NORMANDEAU, and bassist Louis VALOIS. Their career was short (five years) and they released three studio albums in the mid-Seventies and a posthumous live album. They started off as a jazzy and typically French folk trio but began to delve into more progressive material on their brilliant second album, "Si on avait besoin d'une cinquième saison" ("If We Needed a Fifth Season"). They are regarded as one of the finest exponents (along with POLLEN and MANEIGE) of the "Golden Era of Quebec Progressive Music" Scene.

"Harmonium" is a "folky" album, but it contains progressive elements too. By their 2nd album, they were very much a cross between a symphonic rock band and a folk band; an interesting combination which you can hear most clearly on the 20-minute "Histoire Sans Paroles". Overall, a perfect album to start your French Canadian prog collection. With "L'Heptade", they reached their symphonic/progressive zenith. In addition to the now increasingly large band, classical instruments and mellotron are used throughout. This elegant double album is a testament to the potential of the genre. Both are really satisfying; if you are a confirmed proggy-prog band head,to begin with. "Harmonium en tournée" is an excellent live version of their conceptual work "L'Heptade". Fans of brave musical experiments and elegant songwriting could not be disappointed by HARMONIUM...!

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Now I'll add my opinion. It is really an excellent band. It is classed in Symphonic Prog, though it's more of a Folk-Prog one (except for their self-titled album).

 

My reviews:

Certainement pas un album parmi tant d'autres! (Certainly not an album among so many others)

This is Harmonium's first album. So, I tell you, they didn't reach their peak then. But don not misunderstand me, it is a great album.

I have to say that it is NOT symphonic prog, it is folk prog. This album is particular because it contains the two Harmonium's biggest hits: Pour un instant and Un musicien parmi tant d'autres. They're really good songs, but they're undoubtly not as good as Harmonium, Aujourd'hui, je dis bonjour à la vie and De la chambre au salon. It is also particular because it is really obscured by Si on avait... and L'heptade. Si on avait... on Prog Archives and L'heptade, in Québec, which is considered as their best here.

Don't miss this album just because of this. If you like Harmonium's folk song, you'll adore this album!

That live album from '78 was one of the best live albums recorded by any Québec band in the 70s. I'm not a big fan of the more recent stuff though with the exception of Spaced Out. These guys play the farthest out fusion since the MO. Duh I guess that's why they call themselves Spaced Out. I was a big fan of UZEB back in the seventies and eighties and when I came across these guys by accident in a music store my jaw dropped. 

The http://www.progquebec.com/ site lacks in many bands' info and I would like to see some of these bands listed here...

 

As for my fave band from Quebec I would vote for MANEIGE and POLLEN...awesome music!

Well, my friend, I'm presently writing a bio for Offenbach and they might be added here soon

I think le Match is already listed here, isn't it?

As for l'Orient d'Ô, Solstice and Nebu, they're all great. Maneige is also one of my favorites.

I'll try to present them all but I have lots of bands to do also.

 

Some exemple that I will present soon:

 

- Maneige

- Conventum

- Morse Code

- Miriodor

- Octobre

 

 

They're the ones that are coming soon (as I can), I guess!