Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Noco Music - ST 1987

Here, as promised, is the last Noco Music album, from 1987. When a progressive band reaches such a late date we never know what to expect, and indeed this year or 1986 seems to be the cutoff where the last holdouts gave up permanently the progressive spirit (with a couple of notable exceptions like Alcatraz). There is still a little bit of the old magic -- at least once one gets past the first 2 throwaway tracks. You will discern the same sweet combination of vibes and sax sounds, melancholy and distant, like Paul Verlaine's "voix lointaine et calme et grave... [avec] l'inflexion des voix chères qui se sont tue" [Mon Reve Familier].

What about the eighties influence? Let's look at the back cover-- is the band wearing silly tight suits with very thin ties? check. Do they sport mullets and the shorter guy has a moustache like Hall and Oates? yup. Are they banging on drums in shiny robotic outfits a la Devo? you betcha. Setting aside the photography though we can admit there is still quite a bit to enjoy on this record, which was essential to complete the discography of this unusual band, as mentioned earlier, consisting of the brilliant duo of Emmanuel Séjourné and Philippe Geiss.

If you listen to the two samples below, you can almost believe you are back in the late seventies in the heyday of prog, when the future looked bright for complex, classical-influenced, intelligent, virtuoso-played, melded-with-jazz music, before punk and new wave turned the clock back to simple music for everyone, a clock that currently is still turning backwards so fast it's breaking the reverse speed of sound. Whatever that might be.

La descente du Rhin


Procession

13 comments:

Tristan Stefan said...

http://www.filejumbo.com/Download/D5E7599310B247BB
http://www.filejumbo.com/Download/07A99D5A67502D07

Tristan Stefan said...

BB is the mp3, D07 is the flac

frank-oliver said...

Thank you very much for this rare LP.
This was the last Noco Music LP, but Philippe Geiss and Emmanuel Sejourne are still very active. From 1987 till today they work together
with German guitar player Friedemann Witecka. They appear on many Friedemann CD`s as performers and and also composers. In 1995 they appear again as Noco Music on the Biber records compilation "Rhythm and Time".

http://www.vollton.com/de/music/biber-records/friedemann.html

http://www.vollton.com/de/music/biber-records/biber-records-compilations/rhythm-and-time-(cd).html

Is it possible to post also the Noco Music LP "Evasion"? This was issued in France and in Germany with a different cover.

Tristan Stefan said...

This explains the dedication of the last song to Friedemann...thanks for infos, frank-oliver
http://www.sendspace.com/file/xoki2a
for evasion

frank-oliver said...

Tristan, thank you very much for the link of "Evasion". This is a very clean rip!

Unknown said...

Excellent!

Vielen Dank Tristan! =)

Viewmaster said...

Tristan - there's A LOT of great complicated and creative music made in the last few decades and lately, it's ramping up as people are finding that blaring rock music is boring to watch - don't despair!
Proof? Get these records just from last year, alone!

Fly From Here by Yes (2011)
Glass Drops by Battles (2011)
Last by the Unthanks (2011)
Eläinten Fanfaari by Kahukakara (2011)
Ravederath 1972 by Tim Hecker (2011)
Take Care, Take Care, Take Care by Explosions in the Sky (2011)

and 2010 had some great records, too:

Pixieled by Sproatley Smith (2010)
Kollaps Tradixionales by A Silver Mt Zion (2010)
Dream Attic by Richard Thompson (2010)
Pikapika TeArt by Moonberry (2010)
Marnie Stern by Marnie Stern (2010)
Our Inventions by Lali Puna (2010)
Junior by Kaki King (2010)
Cerulean by Baths (2010)
The Arboreal Quartet by The Arboreal Quartet (2010)

So don't despair - it's EVERYWHERE. It's just different. Remember - Prog isn't dead. It just bloats up in the sun and smells *really weird these days*.

looping said...

"Service Unavailable"

Is a reup possible? BTW, great blog/post, with amazing (quality, of course) choice. Thanks for the great work.

looping said...

"Service Unavailable" for filejumbo.com. Is a reup possible? It should be nice! Many thanks for the great quality in the choice of your post and what a great work you do, as well!

Anonymous said...

pleeease re-up on another hoster...I love what I`m hearing in your samples. props for the great work !

isabelbc said...

new link http://netkups.com/?d=03345bcdc3a8a

Tristan Stefan said...

here:http://narod.ru/disk/65340161001.987fb479e79dd22c31ae7ced07659dd9/Noco%20Music%20-%201987%20%5BLP%5D.rar.html
NEW RIP oct 3 2013

Anonymous said...

Hi, it will be great to repost this album…
I've a Noco Music album (1983) classical pieces (Ibert, Satie, Milhaud,…)
Thanks a lot

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