LA CHAMBRE NUPTIALE

An Obscure Gem

As crazy and wild was Madore's debut Komuso album, as much as this one is completely different, to even think that both albums were made by the same man at all. But here Madore is alone (no group) and plays out everything himself. And given this fact, you shall not be surprised that the album is more personal and looks in the Oldfield direction, but with a Jarre-Vangelis twist as well and even a touch of early Krautrock (Zeit-era Tangerine Dream). Just two tracks (two merged into one on the first side) on this disc, each taking up one side; both sides are also dramatically different even if on the whole they are a bit complementary. In this regard, this album is not far from Dionne-Brégent's two albums, as if the first side of this disc was reminiscent of their debut album and the second side of Chambre Nuptiale was dedicated to D-B's second album.

The first side of the album is definitely more electronic spacey-ambient that most Krautrock fans should love. Clearly this side has my favours and it is building up such an excellent feeling that your expectations are enormous for the second side. Alas, the first few minutes are disastrous (as the dodgy artwork and title had warned you of) and we are plunged in a third-rate Mendelssohn Wedding March reworking, which is not only tacky, but corny as well. Thankfully Madore does not expand this idea too long and the music comes back to a more normal Madore-level even if it never reaches the first side's intensity.

If it was not for the second's disastrous intro, this album would be as good as Madore's debut album and as good as Dionne-Brégent's overall works. Hopefully ProgQuebec will one day have the time and money to re-issue Madore's two albums which are yet another fascinating chapter in Quebec's late 70's prog rock that is in danger of being forgotten.

This is Michel Madore's second (and final album) and it's a very different thing from his debut Le Komuso à Cordes. This album, from what I can tell, first appeared in Canada in 1978 in Kebec Disc (the album was completed in March 1978, but the Kebec Disc version does not give a year of copyright, but it could have been still easily released in 1978 given it was completed early in the year), and in 1979 on EGG in France, as that LP clearly gives a 1979 copyright. I own the Kebec Disc pressing, which has a gatefold. The back cover features Michel Madore with such wild hair that it puts Giorgio Tsoukalos (of the TV serious Ancient Aliens) completely to shame (his previous album shows him with even wilder hair, but it looks more like an artists' illustration). The recording of this album started in July 1975 so that meant parts of this album was recorded during the same sessions that gave us his debut, although unlike his debut, this features completely no outside help, all instruments played by Michel Madore. La Chambre Nuptiale (The Wedding Chamber) was the name of some strange avant garde exhibit by Francine Larivée that premiered at the opening of the Complexe Dejardins in Montreal (combination shopping mall, hotel, and apartments) in 1976, so I'm under the impression the album was inspired by the exhibit. It had to be, the LP included liner notes from Francine Larivée, so there's a big change Michel Madore was so inspired by this exhibit that he befriended Larivée and recorded an album inspired by it.

While Le Komuso à Cordes finds him in the space rock vein (hence the inclusion in Prog Archives under "Psychedelic/Space Rock"), Le Chambre Nuptiale is very firmly in the Progressive Electronic vein. Much more similar to Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, solo Edgar Froese circa Aqua. "Cycle 1" consists of lots of droning string synths (looks like every type of string synth available at the time, ARP Solina String Ensemble, Ekla Rhapsody, Eminent 310 are being used here) and spacy electronic effects. Ominous sounds of what seems to me suburban housewives laughing. "Dialogue" is played all on pipe organ, but done in such a way you can't mistake it for anything other than progressive electronic, in face I swore synthesizers were used, but give it a closer listen and I noticed it's all pipe organ. This is an amazing piece, I love that ominous vibe that goes with it. OK the big mistake is starting the side-length "La Chambre, Une Visione" with Felix Mendolssohn's "The Wedding March" (given how overplayed that song is during weddings, alongside "Here Comes the Bride"). It looks like he simply took an old classical recording of it, and electronically modify it, so it sounds more like a galactic wedding (like on the 1978 version of Battlestar Galactica, which I imagined it for). But then it goes back into his own original stuff, more tons of droning synths, a short acoustic passage that gives you the only reminder what his previous album was like, lots of spacy synth effects from a VCS-3. This electronic music certainly doesn't play it straight. Given it's a lot less accessible than his predecessor, it's little wonder if doesn't get the same praise. So those into space rock/prog will enjoy Le Komuso à Cordes, but I recommend Le Chambre Nuptiale to those into progressive electronic music. This was never reissued, so you'll have to find the LP (be it Kebec-Disc or EGG).