HARMONIUM EN TOURNÉE

En Tournée has developed a bit of a reputation with it being the only known testament of the legendary Quebec band Harmonium's live prowess. The album itself has a rather odd history, in that it was originally released but quickly withdrawn due to it not being approved by the band. It only recently saw the light of day again in 2002, as a rather reluctant response to the (at the time) recent emergence of bootlegged versions on CD. Even still it's not the easiest album to get a hold of, especially due to it not being available digitally.

The audio quality in this release is absolutely fantastic, and I wouldn't expect any less from a show professionally recorded by Radio-Canada. The show itself only covered the band's 3rd album, L'Heptade an album which I have been quite into at the time of writing this.

Its always interesting to see a live version of an album you've become so familiar with, as you never quite know what to expect. En Tournée provides a rather unique take on L'Heptade, while not as polished as the album itself, the variation presented in the performance is enough to keep anyone familiar with the source material interested. Most songs are faithful to the original recording with some slight variation. For example, the track Le Premier Ciel features a good deal of saxophone work not heard on the album version.

I would have wished that it had covered material from all three of their albums rather than just L'Heptade, but I should be grateful there is even as fantastic a live recording as this available at all. I'm feeling a strong four stars, maybe 4 1/2, it's pretty darn close to perfect and should definitely be owned by anyone who considers them-self a fan of Harmonium's work.