CONNIVENCE

Connivence, as indicated by the word, was not actually a normal band, but a collaboration of musicians and groups from the Ouatouais area of Quebec, Canada, who decided to record an album all together in order to share the financial load of the recordings.Four composers and a regular band appear on a first output, released in 1977 on Kebec Disc.

Two tracks are credited to Robert Soucy and these come as an intersting offering of sweet and harmonic Folk Rock with nice orchestral parts, based on violins, piano and acoustic guitars.Gilles Legault contributes with three tracks of dreamy Folk/Folk Rock.''Dans ta fenetre'' from the opening side is a pure acoustic Folk ballad with sensitive vocals, while the two tracks of the flipside follow more or less the same vein, though ''Blanc-bleme'' contains some nice synths towards the end.The opening side contains also two compositions credited to Steve Burman, among the most challenging tracks of the album.''Le boyau en liberte'' is incredible instrumental and quirky Progressive Folk with fast piano paces and hard violins on the forefront, while ''Le pit de sable de Lucerne'' has an intense Chamber Music/R.I.O. feeling ala MIRIODOR with great work on saxes, piano and clarinets.Philippe Legault is the only artist appearing with only one track, ''La villageoise en ville'', of romantic Orchestral/Folk Music with an excellent atmosphere based on the delicate flutes, the sensitive piano and the ethereal female choirs.The two longest tracks of ''Connivence'' belong to the group Oasis and are definitely the proggier ones as well.''Happy Endings'' is great jazzy Progressive Folk, featuring a solid rhythm section with strong violin parts in the vein of DIXIE DREGS, JEAN-LUC PONTY or KANSAS along with superb saxes.The closing ''Lapin'' is even more amazing.Melodic Symphonic/Folk Rock with lovely string parts and furious interplays between flutes and violins to go along with some top-notch breaks.

It seems that this album sums up the whole Prog Folk scene of Quebec at some point.Its material ranges from melodic folky tunes to full-blown Progressive/Folk Rock ones with professional performances.Most of them are very good and deserve a strong recommendation...3.5 stars.