ODYSSEE

Thanks is due in great part to Mr. Dereck Higgins. He is a great (and regular) source of Prog Obscura and so much more. His YouTube channel is simply called 'dereckvon', for those unfamiliar.

Released 1977, Artcane's sole album, Odyssee [No, ye other ignorant English speakers, this is not a play on words. Just French haha], was released, in my view, squarely in the second-wave of Progressive Rock. And it strikes as an incredibly long album for the vinyl medium, at a whopping 57 minutes! Nearly an hour long and consisting of, to me, a happy mere 6 tracks.

The title track, "Odyssee", starts us right off, heavy and interesting enough to immediately ready your attention for what's to come. The keys and guitar, for the most part, ride right alongside one another and the soloing is wonderful. The middle is quieted in stark contrast, with acoustic guitar and very nice vocals in their native French. The synthesizers are awesome! The drumming should also not go unmentioned. Great opener.

I'm not so perturbed as certain other past reviewers (haha, sorry, my goyim) by the blatant KC lifts (sure, they copied or made heavy reference) [at least somewhat] on "Le chant d'Orphee" and [supposedly] more-so on "Novembre". What about the 'greatest form of flattery', guys?... And anyways, these are otherwise great songs (especially the former, in my opinion) that don't necessarily sound like anyone else (certainly not like KC wholly). Still worth your time. Masters of dynamics and use of space. To reiterate, "Le chant..." is certainly where it's at for me.

A futuristic synthesis is embraced 100%, turning things around, on the lengthy "25eme anniversaire" (at 16-minutes' length). [And this is the "25th anniversary" of what exactly (glancing back to 1952)? Queen Elizabeth II's inauguration as Queen of the UK?... Are they fans of the Oslo Winter Olympics haha? Or perhaps it's the first British nuclear weapon detonated? Or even the first US detonation of a hydrogen bomb?! A higher likelihood haha. The only super major event involving France is their cofounding of what would become the EU. Who knows? Does anyone care?] To the track at hand, though, nothing will really happen for anyone who's not a fan of Ambient or 'Progressive Electronic' music for its first 5 minutes. The first bits of interest for me began around minute 7. The guitar solo at minute 10 felt like a 'Finally!' The track does only get better, yet it didn't reach the coveted 'very good' category for me. I wasn't much happier, really, to be hearing "Artcane 1" thereafter... Until the very end, it's pretty but offers little. So, the ending: great groove, great melodic guitar solo. It's very cool, at least...

And so finally, we have "Nostalgie". A live recording, it has a rougher production than the rest, but it does go to show their abilities as band. It's the second longest track at over 15 minutes. The verse(s) are fine enough, but the best is the bass and the synth. A lot of tension here. It's near the 5 minute mark where it seems they may have spliced two performances together, as the audience enters and fades away. Overall, very impressed by this composition, despite its frankly-not-totally-horrible production. A surefire highlight.

Share this ARTCANE review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to DangHeck
• Report this review (#2674412)
• Buy ARTCANE music online with PA partners
• Show all ARTCANE MP3/Stream
• Go to ARTCANE page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Odyssee page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for ARTCANE related discussions