Thursday, April 05, 2012

André Demay - Generic (1980)

I wanted to take this opportunity to welcome our new amazing contributor and collector pollux (with perhaps myself le castor--?). In honour of him, I will post a few extremely rare gallic goodies, including some so rare, they don't even exist! for the propagation of le patrimoine francais. I'm sure I'm not alone in having a deep and profound love for the progressive of France, with its crystalline, melancholy, highly emotional, sometimes brilliantly pure and perfect, classical and often rigorously composed music. Whether it's folk, jazz-rock, classical, RIO, symphonic or genesis-style, any style, the French will provide examples of mastery of the subgenre.

I love how pollux is highly in tune with the covers of these albums. I often feel I'm the only one who truly cares about this (lost) art, which is sometimes breathtaking, witness the recent Galorn cover. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who has framed favourite covers for my basement walls (Art Bears' Hopes and Fears, Jan Hammer's Like Children, etc.), right Tom? Pollux really puts me to shame with his efforts that have gone into cover scanning, where I wimp out with a smartphone. It's clear that in the CD era, with the size difference alone, not as much care is put into cover art by musicians. Holding a record and gazing lovingly at the cover whilst listening to the vinyl is truly a lost experience for most.

Some comments were made earlier about the fantastic team we have going here (thank you for the positive remarks) and I think we will all be spoiled rotten in the next little while with master shige, the indomitable pollux, mighty osurec, our very own beautiful princess of prog Isabel, and myself, all of us coming up with rarities right left and centre. Although Isabel has been MIA recently I sure hope it's not due to some negative comments in a recent post, which, as I can testify, can be a little bit off-putting. It surprises me when people feel they have to complain about a record they never bought: what you could do is right-click on the folder and then press delete, it's really that simple. Of course perhaps you wasted 5 - 30 minutes downloading it, and for that, I sincerely apologize on behalf of all of us for your wasted time.

To me this record is quite a find, a genuine rarity, not expensive, and with a load of progressive elements, with a very high dynamic that is sustained throughout. Notice the high quality of the musicians too (incl. credits below).

In terms of music, think Patrick Moraz' Story of I as interpreted by Heldon and Jannick Top and I think you can get a rough idea, a mix of electronic and jazz fusion with excellent synthesis or heterosis (hybrid vigour) as the biologists would say, including great guitar effects and some really throbbing (erect?) bass (as the cliche goes). The song "Private Entrance" in particular really sounds like a Jannick Top late-fusion song, full of odd vocal effects, great jumping bass figures. Or perhaps imagine if Michel Moulinie's masterpiece Chrysalide was played twice as fast and twice as deep with a ton of heavy drums due to several complaints about its wimpy nature, or maybe if some drunk and crazy deejay wanted to use it for house techno trance electro-jungle music or whatever it's called, tritones and dissonances and all, horrifying the partiers with progressive music their small and simplistic ears could never handle... Or perhaps think Stravinsky as played by a US-made flamethrower educated at Juilliard with some extra lessons from jazz great Herbie Hancock (in his fusion period) who however is the reincarnated electric guitar maker Les Paul after he was killed in a bizarre industrial accident involving an electric kazoo and a robotic amplifier made at MIT by the artificial intelligence lab headed by Walt Disney's head in suspended animation, recently revitalized by area 51's extraterrestrial metabolism lab... I think you get the point.

Tracklist
A1 Generic Cycle 5:50
A2 Nervous Structure 4:50
A3 Musical Syntax 4:20
A4 Sybarite Island 4:50
B1 Private Entrance 5:15
B2 Telepathically Yours 4:30
B3 Razzia Man 4:35
B4 Automatic Stop 5:00

Credits
Guitars - Andre Demay
Bass – Jannick Top
Drums – Joe Hammer
Guitar – André Demay
Other [Artwork] – Razzia
Percussion – Fred Desplan
Producer – André Demay, Paul Scemama
Synthesizer – Celmar Engel

Song Samples and links up soon -- or rather, maybe never, given the trouble with uploads these days.
Please enjoy this wonderful 'lost' record.
Absent from the credits (and record) are compositional information, but I think it's safe to say Demay wrote everything, since all songs feature strong guitar leads. Although the titles sound like a kind of electronic library record, in fact there is a huge variety to the music. I was praying it would not turn out to be droney boring electro music, and looks like my prayers were answered.

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17 comments:

Tristan Stefan said...

http://www.sendspace.com/file/8zi2tw
this is the mp3, flac up soon (or maybe never)

RickK said...

Thanks for your efforts. Although I understand your dislike of negative commenets, we also do not appreciate being chastised for not liking something that you have posted. Then you don't even print my comment. So if you want positive, stay positive yourself.

ganada

Unknown said...

Strong guitar and surprising music! Highly recommended by Mr. Morgan

apps79 said...

great album,thanks a lot!

Tristan Stefan said...

flac
http://www.sendspace.com/file/lvrxsy
http://www.filejumbo.com/Download/48D995252C6429CD

nahavanda said...

@Rick, about the comments i am the person to be blamed, but before blaming me, i would like to tell some: in blog, we try to give all kind of information and add a mp3 player so that friends can listen before they download, with in a week an album get downloaded 1000 times to 1500 times and sometimes more. assuming that people already have an idea what it sounds like from mp3 sample and reviews.. they download because they mostly like. problem is not negative comments but the people who like this album and choose not to write comments. imagine album getting downloaded a thousandd times and what you got is a few comments with negative opinions. it is not a problem for me or the editor that you or someone write a negative comment. but generally 1/8 of the albums posted here found by the band members, musicians. they dont see and interested how many times an album downloaded, but they see the comments.
i saw some of your comments and as i remember most of them are on negative edge. could you show me 1 single comment that you were positive? i am sure there are some albums that you may enjoy, have you ever post 1 single positive comment? not because of my moral or editors moral. perhaps for the musician or help others with your constructive comment. i hope you now understand the situation. i also offer to stay positive to you :)

Tristan Stefan said...

moi-- not positive? please-- I've said it a thousand times already, I'm pretty sure western civilization is doomed thanks to the coming tsunamis of resource depletion (peak oil) and climate change, so in some number of years, there will be no more free downloaded albums ever again.
Btw I forgot to include Mr Morgan vinyl-cutter extraordinaire and eightfold path nahavanda in my credits...

Anonymous said...

I can never understand why people take the time to leave negative comments.

If you're angry about someone's opinion about politics, religion or some other weighty topic, it may be worth taking the time to express yourself.

But when someone takes the time to share rare music that he or she enjoys, it's bad form to spout off and criticize the person who is doing the sharing.

Chicopee

Unknown said...

Thanks for remembering me Tristan, =))

Pollux said...

Thank you very much for the music and the kind comments my friend. I hope I will live up to them.

French prog is definitely one of my guilty pleasures, along with wine, cheese and a myriad of other things :)

I think every one here should be thanked for making this place what it is. Remember when we post an album is because we like it and want to share that special feeling with others thinking that it might also get a similar reception. I certainly don't like everything I hear but I am always thankful to have been given the opportunity to form my own opinion.

That being said Thanks a million for the tunes :)

Tristan Stefan said...

your welcome Mr. Morgan, you've really worked a lot here without a doubt and personally I really appreciate the results, and I'm sure I'm not the only one...
chicopee, as usual you really hit the nail on the head with your comment, and damn that nail gets hit a lot with your great and enviable attitude (a positivity in which I am seriously deficient, obviously)
pollux, I love the wine, cheese and prog statement, can I add to that, finely crafted beers and trappist ales.

Anonymous said...

Hey, anyone know what is going on with the Phrockblog site ? I cannot get on it anymore :(

SrRooms said...

Oh man, I´ve just discovered this site today, and I must tell you guys that I´ve never seen something better.

I´ve been looking some of this stuff and all of them are brilliant! Many artist... so much quality... not time enought...

I´m a fan of prog music, but I´m young enought to does´nt know about rarities from seventies and eighties. You guys helps me a lot!!

You gain a new follower for sure! Stay prog!

Dr Dopo said...

Finally got a chance to listen to this. Great post, thanks!

Anonymous said...

It' a fascinatingly enjoyable ride to listen to this exciting finding while relish your wonderful writing at the same time.
What a pertinent and inspiring guidance you have provided in this post ! My humble Respects to your marvelous team !
duran

skylab67 said...

Please - new link!

Anonymous said...

Hi Tristan,

For what that matters, please be assured: For every 1 that complains there are 100s that are silently and eternally thankflul, yours trully. ProgNotFrog is the best Prog blog ever (OK, Tom's blog is a blast too :)) and I sure hope these haters don't get under your skin.

Thankfully Yours,
GentleFriend from Portugal

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