France Masterpieces

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 The.Crimson.King wrote:

 Atavachron wrote:

 The.Crimson.King wrote:

Pentacle - La Clef Des Songes

Good one -

Thanks.  It's just on the cusp of very good->masterpiece for me so thought it deserved a mention 

 Atavachron wrote:

This French quartet's only album is paradigmatic of what was happening to rock musicians faced with
both overwhelming odds and the astounding musical breakthroughs of the 1970s.  Like many, the group
probably figured this whole art thing would last forever.  Rock would surely continue to expand into
even greater areas previously unrealized.  I mean, how could things go back?  The public seemed to
agree as evidenced by progressive rock's impressive chart listings and perfect storm of
inspiration and timing.  And it would be all but over by the end of the decade. Pentacle's music is both intricate and humble, and the material here seems to have been composed
in a flurry of activity during 1974/75 when the band - founded by friends Michel Roy (drums) and
Gerard Ruez (guitars) - had after several years of gigging found the right line-up of gifted
keyboardist Claude Menetrier and the rare talents of bassist/composer Richard Treiber.  Evidently so
turgid were the compositions that producer Jean-Claude Pognant [Ange] asked that they be shortened,
a request warily agreed to by the band.  But on stage they were able to expand their work with three
of those live versions added to the Musea reissue.  The opener starts unremarkably and the Ange
comparisons are fair though the sound may also remind of Italians Le Orme with wafts of Bo Hansson
in the background.  Trieber's bass parts are the star along with Menetrier's synths supported
admirably by founders Ruez and Roy.  'Naufrage' is better, ending solidly with a nice keyboard/drum
exchange followed by full-powered symph rocker 'L'ame du Guerrier'--  6 minutes of thematic
development, good vocals and a great sense of soft-to-hard dynamism, Ruez's minstrel acoustics, and
plenty of feeling.  'Les Pauvres' is French romance at its most poignant featuring Gerard Ruez's
whispers of longing.  Menetrier's elegiacal organ leads plodder 'Complot' and it wraps with
eleven-minute 'Le Raconteur', a piece with good moments as well as disappointing ones.  
The band deserves the love, of that there is little doubt, though this album's legend may only grow
so large.  Pentacle are a band that causes all weepy-eyed prog romantics to warm to them, and to
want to extend a hand if 35 years too late.

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Guys, it's so nice to read of others praising this album in such a way. It is hands down not only my favourite French prog album, but one of my overall favourite prog albums of all time.

It means so much to me....I have lovely memories of getting this quite young into my prog journey (picked up an original vinyl for $10 - cheap because someone had written in big black letters on the front `File Under French Section' - clearly from an ex DJ's collection), and I was playing it at home, and my mother poked her head in the door and said `What a beautiful voice that singer has..'....that really stuck with me all these years.    