MÉMOIRES DU TEMPS

'M'moires du Temps' is Orion's second album. It was originally recorded in 1980, but released only in 2013, after digitalizing and mixing the original tapes, and adding 4 bonus tracks. It is an album that manages to blend successfully hard-rock and symphonic progressive rock.

The title track, "M'moires du temps", features in the first half strong vocals in a hard-rock mood (Grzegorz Kupczyk of Turbo, who shares the same origin as the founding members of Orion, Janusz Tokarz and Pat Wyrembski, might be a good comparison). Those hard-rock vocals contrast with the mellow voice of the chorus. Keyboards and guitars offer some "orientalizations" after the first verse. The rhythm guitar reminds the southern-rock guitar heroes. The second half of the song is a "jamming" playground where guitar solos burst all along with notes "flying" from left to right speaker, as Jimi Hendrix had the habit to record his guitar solos back in the late sixties, and drums express themselves more prominently. Words sung and repeated during this second half are in an anthemic way, or for a better comparison, like sailors singing "sea santies".

The first half of "Attila" is in a hard-rock mood again, sounding like Mahogany Rush or even the Judas Priest of the late seventies, with, once again, the Grzegorz Kupczyk timbre in the vocals. The second half, like in the title song, gives free card to instruments to express themselves, with keyboard and guitar solos. Gong's "the isle of everywhere" comes to mind with the prominent bass and the the groovy rhythms.

"Carpe diem", is, like its title would suggest, a cheerful upbeat song, with echoes of Camel's "unevensong". Guitars are played in the delicate and muted way of Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia. In the bridge, hypnotic keyboards and guitars provide a haunting atmosphere to the whole. A mellotron solo escapes at times from the cohesive ensemble. Anthemic guitar/keyboard interplay conclude the song. Vocals here are reminiscent of famous french vocalist William Sheller.

In "noyade interdite" [drowning forbidden] (a pun on "baignade interdite", bathing forbidden), vocals are in a soft mood all along the song, still reminiscent of William Sheller. This song features echoing guitars with cascading keyboard notes and complex drum patterns, harking back to the jazz-rock drum heroes (first with Billy Cobham in Mahavishnu Orchestra's "miles beyond" then, when the pace accelerates, Rod Morgenstein in the faster moments of Dixie Dregs' "Odyssey"). At times, a keyboard-generated choir backs vocals, and some whistling keyboards punctuate verses. A crying guitar, accompanied by a syncopated hard-bop piano, concludes briliantly the track. Sounds of birds singing, flute and human voice open "Pr's de la nature", a song paying tribute to wildlife. Echoing rhythm guitar (that a few years later will become common in the sound of many bands of the "gothic wave/darkwave" bands) are soon accompanied by biting southern-rock guitars. Solid drums maintain a "hopping", funky rhythm. The words sung towards the end of the song match the title of the first album, hence linking this album to the previous one.

Those 6 songs, that constitute the "unfinished" second Orion album, besides the previously mentioned vocal resemblances with Grzegorz Kupczyk, share also similarities with songs of another polish act, namely the band Exodus, one of the most accomplished Polish progressive rock band.

On to the bonus tracks.

"NoirO evil" [which is "live Orion" in reverse], is a song recorded during a live performance, and according to the liner notes, after attending a Gentle Giant gig. It is instrumental, and has a strong hard-rock vibe, Mahogany Rush coming once again to mind. However, with the humorous guitar and rhythm changes, we can see there indeed a little tribute to Gentle Giant.

The other three bonuses are pieces recorded in 2011, all on keyboards with drums and guitar programmed, and the overall sound is obviously very different from the previous tracks. "Le Rappi'c'" ["patched", with a pun on "rap' (not gratuitous, see the use of turntable) since the correct spelling is "rapi'c'"] is a new version of "le rapace", a song from the first album. It features "mischievous" guitar, blowing winds and turntable playing the main theme of the song in the closing section of the song. The second bonus track recorded in 2011, "j'entends les filles", is an upbeat pop song with some "gothic" accents in the voice, probably as a match to the words ("the haunted castle", "fear"). The closing bonus track, "Il est parti", is a synth-pop song with vocal canon as a wink to Gentle Giant. This is a tribute to the Orion of the late seventies first, and to the late members (Laurent Delenne and Pascal Vatier), "il est parti" means indeed "it/he is gone".

Last but not least, the issue of this second Orion album comes with a briliant artwork by Michel Philippon, blending the cubistic vision of Picasso with the oneiric world of Marc Chagall.

Brought together, all the musical and graphical elements above described, make for a very enjoyable album.

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