Au début des années 60, à cause de la pollution atmosphérique et, surtout, à la campagne, à cause de la pollution des eaux (fleuves d’azur et canaux transparents), les lucioles ont commencé à disparaître.
Le phénomène a été fulminant, foudroyant. Au bout de quelques années, c’en était fini des lucioles. (Elles sont aujourd’hui un souvenir quelque peu poignant du passé : qu’un vieil homme s’en souvienne, il ne peut se retrouver tel qu’en sa jeunesse dans les jeunes d’aujourd’hui, et ne peut donc plus avoir les beaux regrets d’autrefois).
“Ramses debut album borrows a great deal from classic early 70s groups like IRON BUTTERFLY, DEEP PURPLE and URIAH HEEP in their liberal use of organ and hard rock and bluesy stylings, but this is tempered with a German symphonic influence a la ELOY, so the result is pretty high on the listenability index, even if the lyrics are generally low on the poetic index.” (via Progarchives.com)
RAMSES La Leyla 1 Devil Inside 2 La Leyla (par sabucatuloco)
This is Steve’s first studio album. Many styles are involved: there are many spacy moods clearly reminding Gong. Miquette Giraudy’s unique keyboards are often spacy, and the electric guitars constantly consist in visceral & weird solos. Actually the unique spacy atmospheres often consist in a combination of repeated electric guitar and keyboards brief notes treated with a strong echo and a band pass change of electronic filters, which can be noticed on Steve’s “Green” album: For 1975, those atmospheres were a breakthrough! (via Progarchives.com)
“Upon my first listening I was hooked! I loved this sound which was jazzy,but not too laid back. And also so powerful and beat driven,without being overpowering. Crisp,clean guitar riffs excuted perfectly are the order of the day with KRAAN. Minimal vocals are also present,but as with all KRAAN releases,the music is the main focus.” (via SilvertrainTR)
Saffran were five musicians from Munich, whose sole album was recorded in 1975. “Blue in Ashes” was never released at its time, having been rejected by the Brain label. (via sakalli.info)
National Health was a progressive rock band associated with the Canterbury Scene. Founded in 1975 by keyboardists Dave Stewart (from Hatfield and the North) and Alan Gowen (from Gilgamesh), the band also included guitarists Phil Miller and Phil Lee and bassist Mont Campbell as original members. Bill Bruford was the initial drummer but was soon replaced by Pip Pyle. Campbell was replaced by Neil Murray and then John Greaves.
Sur l’album Sabotage en 1975 (sans doute l’une des pochettes d’album les plus ridicules au monde), le morceau “Symptom of the Universe” est très illustratif de la composition façon Black Sabbath. Les “yeahhhh” languissants d’Ozzy Osbourne sont annonciateurs du style hard rock / heavy metal qui fleurira au début des années 1980, mais surtout, ce qui frappe dans cette composition c’est le mélange entre deux univers, deux atmosphères très différentes, avec en guise de transition ce pont avec solo de batterie puis de guitare entre 3:30 et 4:30. Ce petit passage joue à peu près le rôle d’un ruban de scotch pour associer ensemble ce qui aurait pu sinon tout à fait fonctionner comme deux morceaux différents, le premier en tant qu’hymne “heavy rock”, avec ce riff à coupant et agressif typique de Tony Iommi et des paroles désespérantes au possible (“The symptom of the universe is written in your eyes”), le deuxième beaucoup plus folk et tout en rondeur, avec guitare acoustique et paroles enfin apaisées (“In your eyes I see no sadness, you are all that loving means”).
La musique de Black Sabbath est peut-être une musique brute, qui prend aux tripes, mais elle est beaucoup moins simpliste qu’on ne le croit généralement. La comparaison avec les compositions élaborées de Led Zeppelin est évidemment tentante. Le jeu de guitare de Tony Iommi est loin d’être aussi fin et alambiqué que celui de Jimmy Page, mais le caractère d’urgence et la spontanéité de son jeu en font un guitariste peut-être plus authentique, plus instinctif. C’est moins expérimental, mais c’est violemment neuf (pour l’époque) et tout aussi addictif. Quant à Osbourne, dans la deuxième partie de ce morceau, les similitudes avec Robert Plant sont pour le moins épatantes.
Take me through the centuries to supersonic years Electrifying enemy is drowning in his tears All I have to give you is a love that never dies The symptom of the universe is written in your eyes
Mother goose is calling me back to her silver womb Father of creation takes me from my stolen tomb Seventh hundredth unicorn is waiting in the sky A symptom of the universe is a love that never dies
Take my hand my child of love come step inside my tears Swim the magic ocean I’ve been crying all these years With our love we’ll ride away into eternal skies A symptom of the universe is a love that never dies
Oh my child of love’s creation, come and step inside my dreams In your eyes I see no sadness, you are all that loving means Take my hand and we’ll go riding through the sunshine from above We’ll find happiness together in the summer skies of love
Le plus Ledzeppelinesque des morceaux de Black Sabbath, aussi bien dans la compo que dans les paroles (“Lovely lady make love all night long/Lovely lady never do me wrong/I don’t wanna leave ya/I never wanna leave ya/ anymore, no more”)
Maxophone are an ItalianProgressive rock band formed in Milan in 1973. They released one self-titled album in 1975. The group was one of the few rock artists signed by the Produttori Associati record label, which focused mostly on film soundtracks and Jazz.
Maxophone have since acquired a minor cult following that has endured for over three decades, long after their short career had ended.The music of Maxophone has features typical of the best Symphonic rock, including a very high level of musical skill, shifting time signatures, and highly complex arrangements inspired by both Classical and Jazz. Half the members were classically trained, the rest had years of experience in other rock bands. Their music has a wide variety of textures, often in the same song. Horns and flute are equally balanced with piano, organs, synthesizers, and electric and acoustic guitars. They also include choral arrangements and instruments rarely heard in rock, such as clarinet, vibraphone and even harp. (via wikipedia)
Fusioon - Minorisa Suite, 1975, live. This is a Spanish quartet from Barcelona featuring Manuel Camp (piano and keyboards), Jordi Camp (bass), Santi Arisa (drums) and Marti Brunet (electric guitars and synthesizers). In the first half of the Seventies FUSIOON released three albums entitled “Fusioon I” (1972), “Fusioon II” (1974) and “Minorisa” (1975). (via PalepoliChild)
