100.000 RAISONS

This single has two songs from the eponymous debut album (1974) of the legendary folk prog band Harmonium from Quebec, the French-language part of Canada. I bought the cd a decade ago and haven't much listened to it, but it's better than I remembered it to be. It admittedly totally pales in comparison to its highly appreciated and notably more progressive follower Si On Avait Besoin d'une Cinquieme Saison (1975) which has gained a place in Top100 of all prog albums.

Still, the debut does have its own merit as a work of folk chanson with jazzy and progressive nuances. Think of singer-songwriters like Nick Drake, Donovan or early Tim Buckley. The group at this point was only a trio of Serge Fiori (who has decades later made well received solo albums), Michel Normandieu and Louis Valois, the writing credits shared by Fiori and Normandieu.

These songs are not necessarily representing the best of what the album has to offer. '100.000 raisons' is very vocal oriented in a poignant way; sadly its lyrics are missing on the cd leaflet so I don't have an idea what's it about. Something political perhaps? The arrangement is dominated by acoustic guitars mostly played in a monotonous rhythmic manner. Some brighter chords here and there and a little bit of electric piano save the song from being a bit of a bore. The vocals strongly remind me of Anthony Phillips, whom I don't consider a good vocalist. If this was Ant's song (pretty imaginable, except for French), it would be among his less interesting ones.

'Pour un instant' is in my opinion notably more pleasant as it's more delicate and feels less emphasized on lyrics. The only detail I don't like is the "yihaa!" yell just before the brief instrumental section. Again, I could imagine this was Anthony Phillips playing his acoustic guitar and singing in French. Nice, small scale folk rock with a sincere feeling.