LES PORCHES

In a very prolific year for Maneige, talking about 1975, the Canadian group recorded (again at Manta Studios in Toronto) and released a second album, entitled ''Les Posches''.Paul Picard and Denis Lapierre appear this time as guest musicians in the liner notes, while no less thah five additional members are credited in violin, trumpet and vocal duties.Among the names listed appears to be Raôul Duguay of the Chamber/Avant Jazz act L'Infonie.

The 19-min. suite ''Les porches de Notre Dame'' opens the album in a virtuosic way.This is intricate Folk/Psych/Symphonic Music with excellent use of pianos, flutes and trumpets, changing from melancholic themes to more adventurous territories, featuring extended interplays and smooth orchestral passages.The later part of the track is added some more energy after Duguay's vocals, evolving into a synth-based texture, which leads to an almost R.I.O.-esque ending theme with trumpets and electric guitars producing some good melodious soundscapes.The Classical nature of Maneige's music is even more strengthened through the short orchestral outro ''La grosse torche'' of side A.Another long suite will open the flipside, the almost 16-min. ''Les aventures de Saxinette et Clarophone''.The title says it all, this a more Fusion affair of Progressive Music with extended use of clarinets and saxophones, always delivered in a structured way, nicely supported by Jerome Langlois jazzy piano lines, and featuring decent interplays, although some of the performances sound a bit stretched.Again the ending of this piece is very close to adventurous R.I.O. with xylophones, clarinets and saxes in full collaboration with a quasi-Chamber atmosphere in general.''Chromo'' is a weird closer.Somewhere between traditional Folk and Jazz/Fusion, this one features a nice amount of breaks in short time, developing from flute-driven rhythms to dramatic textures with clavinets and saxes in evidence, very close to CONNIVENCE's delivery.

Although I prefer Maneige's excellent debut over this album, ''Les porches'' is an extremely professional release, maybe a bit too academic for some listeners, however there is a good amount of perfect executions and themes in here, that will satisfy even the average prog listener.Warmly recommended.