Cap'taine coeur de miel (Ange, 1978)

This 14 minute epic from the album "Guet-apens" is probably one of the best tracks by the French band Ange. I certainly like it very much. The first half of the suite lays on Christian Decamp's passionate and theatrical vocals, a stunning performance winding between drama and irony and describing an adventurous sea dog reminiscent of both Jules Verne and Arthur Rimbaud.

"Guet-apens" is often considered as the last fully prog Ange's album.

The second half is more arcane and slow. Here Decamps turns towards an inner and painful note, powerfully supported by a piercing electric guitar. There's a growing sense of frustration, as the volume rises up and the final guitar solo takes the form of a majestic cry of pain. Yes, this honey-hearted captain is a great experience for all prog children around there.

...And Then There Were 200...

Yes, next post will introduce the 200th song of my little collection. As always, this is not intended as a self-congratulation (I hope I'll do something better in my life than writing 200 posts in a blog!), but as a thanksgiving to all this place visitors.

You're really kind, my friends, and it's great to welcome you all here. Make yourselves at home and please let me know what you like and what you dislike.

Illusions on A Double Dimple (Triumvirat, 1974)

This long suite (6 parts and more than 23 minutes) is the title track of 1974 Triumvirat's album, probably the best one in this German act's career, recorded during 1973. This track a well written and melodic epic, including effective themes and a wide range of pleasant arrangements, so that you're surprised to know they were just a trio then. If elsewhere the band used to go too far with special effects and magniloquent keys, here they created a well balanced architecture, standing on solid compositions. Starting with Flashback, a delicate piano & voice intro, the suite goes on with Schooldays, a section including a very good keyboard work and another nice vocal theme.

Triumvirat were a bass-drums-keyboards trio in 1974.

Triangle is an instrumental, vaguely jazz-oriented part, where Fritz proves his skills on keyboards, supported by the rythm section. Then comes the short Illusions, featuring a tight vocal performance, followed by a faster section called Dimplicity, reminiscent of late '60s pop-rock... it could be a Kinks' song! Last Dance is the final section, debuting with a wild piano, then featuring all the keys you can hope for. Here, some ruthm & voice arrangements à la Yes announce the final acceleration. A very good example of traditional progressive rock with a welcome theatrical scent.

Afterwards (Van Der Graaf Generator, 1969)

Each tyime I listen to "Afterwards" I wonder how on Earth VDGG could write and perform such a deep song in their debut album. Well, luckily they could. It's a 5 minute jewel track, based on keyboards, clever drumming and the sensitive Peter Hammill's vocals. The dark atmosphere is somehow softened by a pleasant melody and a relaxing tempo, while the electric piano / Hammond organ plots and the wah-wah guitar add some a peculiar (and psychedelic) stress to the song.

The VDGG's line-up for "The Aerosol Gery Machine" (1969).

Even if the album "The Aerosol Grey Machine" was originally planned as a Hammill's solo work, the band here acts like a band should, interacting and improving each other's contribution. "Afterwards" is a prog ballad, one of the rare specimens of "traditional" song structure in VDGG's discography, but nothing is really traditional, when it come to Hammill & friends.

Homesick I-III (Airbag, 2011)

As the title suggests, this 17 minute and three part epic is a nostalgy song, taken from Airbag's "All Rights Removed". This Norwegian band's main influence is a Floydian one, but I wouldn't say they are just a derivative Group. In fact, there's more than Pink Floyd meet Radiohead here: first of all, there's a really good music. The first part, the only sung section, features an excellent ballad, slow and airy, performed with a sweet and impeccable voice by Asle Tostrup, then keyboards come in and the space atmosphere rules the section, paying an implicit tribute to Rick Wright and to "Shine on You Crazy Diamond".

Airbag as pictured by Arthur Haggenburg for Background Magazine.

They were part of Progdreams festival in the Netherlands (2012).

The final section is dominated by the (Gilmour-esque, of course) electric guitar and proves how much the band worked on their original model in order to simplify and modernize the sound and the composition. The final result is excellent: not only the '70s Floyd mood is preserved, but it is respectfully translated in a contemporary musical language, focusing on melancholy and introspection. That's whay I think this track is worth both your attention and a place in my blog.

Kometenmelodie 1 / 2 (Kraftwerk, 1974)

For sure, this is an electronic music track of prog interest. Not only its structure is complex and carefully articulated, but the two different parts form a 12 minute coherent suite reminiscent of a synphonic two-parts composition, not so far from many romantic opera preludes. This instrumental track is inspired by the comet Kohoutek, discovered in 1973 and rapidly becoming an event during 1974. In fact, a 1973 early demo-quality single of Kometenmelodie part 2 was actually titled Kohoutek-Kometenmelodie, while an edited version of Kometenmelodie part 2 was released as a single immediatly after the album release.

The cover of the early version of Kometenmelodie, released in 1973.

The first part of the song describes the long, dark, silent journey of the comet through the far and cold regions of the Solar System and the mood here is morn and arcane, on a very slow and almost lugubrious tempo. Then, part 2 introduces the brighter and spectacular passage near the Sunk, with a tempo acceleration and a melodic, pyrotechnical variation of the main theme. Prog or not, this is great.

Första vandringen (Bo Hansson, 1970)

Here's a short and beautiful instrumental track by the Swedish  multi-instrumentalist Bo Hansson, who unfortunately left us in 2010. The original album "Sagan om Ringen" was released in Sweden in 1970, while Charisma Records published it worldwide as "Lord of The Rings" in 1972. This is the intro of the album, one of the many ones dedicated to Tolkien's books, and I like it very much.

 

Bo Hansson and his beloved keyboards.

 

It's a fluid, almost liquid melody driven by keys and flowing on a slightly Oriental rhythmic background. A few notes giving a sweet but unusual feeling and perfecly describing the Middle Earth and the special mood we all experience when leaving for a long journey. The English title of this song is in fact "Leaving Shire" (but the actual meaning of "Första vandringen" is "The First Journey") and I find in it the distant lights of a new horizon at the end of the road.