VOS VOISINS

3.75 stars really!!

This group made a huge scandal with the releases of their debut (and sole album) with its artwork depicting the scandal paper Allo Police (one of the trashiest ever "newspaper" to ever exist on Earth) and their album had to be taken away from the record shelves after a week or so, after lawsuits... Well the group survived it by changing their artwork and album name, as soon as they could, but failing to capitalize on their "coup", even though one titmle Monstre De La Main got quite a bit of radio airplay. Needless this original artwork album is worth a small fortune. Musically the standard prog quartet developed an organ-driven hard prog laced in with plenty other influences, with drummer Ringuet and keyboardist Perron writing all the music, but getting extra help for the lyrics. Historically important for Quebec's scene, their hard rock (sometimes Crimsonic)

Starting right with the rockiest Voisins (Mon Chum), the group basks away in musical delire (not the way Zappa would've, but still), while the following Sous La Lune is a very quiet but vocal affair, slowly developing into a mid-tempo track, before heading back to ground zero and starting all over. Cool work on voices. The hard rocking organ-drenched Instrumental is an excellent first peak in the album, where the band show their chops and let's face it, we're between an early Uriah Heep and keyboardist Perron easily surpassing Hensley, but not Jon Lord. The side-closing Tania is a slow piano crescendo that leads to a regular song, certainly not the album's highlight.

The flipside opens on the terrifying Monstre De La Main (playfully mistranslated into Main Monster) draws on some sinister King Crimson (including a mellotron) including tricky time sigs, and other noodlings and almost yelled vocals , VV then sounding abit like their fellow compatriots Octobre. Next up is Ya Juste De T'ça (more than dat) which shows some interesting songwriting with a dominating organ.. The album closes on the instrumental Le 3/4 De L'Archevèque (the ¾ of the Archbishop), which takes it time to develop but ends up in a grandiose finale with all the tralala and choirs to fit.

Although there is no way this writer would call VV's sole album anything close to essential, it would still remain a good addition to your collection and certainly more so if you're into Quebecois early prog.

VOS VOISINS released their lone album back in 1971. The band was from Quebec and the music can be quite heavy although we get some variety here. The vocals are in French and can be theatrical bringing to mind Emmanuel Booz and other theatrical bands from France. I can't get over how fertile the music scene was in Quebec when compared to the rest of Canada back in the seventies.

"Voisins (Mon Chum)" has a catchy rhythm with spoken vocals then the guitar starts to solo before the vocals return. Some essential cow bell too then another guitar solo. A top three track for me. "Sous La Lune" features piano and fragile vocals early but it does get fuller around 2 minutes. This is my least favourite tune on here but it's okay. "L'instrumental" kicks in right away, organ too. A bombastic instrumental and the guitar comes to the fore 1 1/2 minutes in. A change 2 minutes in as it settles some as the guitar leads with drums. Nice.This is a top three tune. "Tania" opens with piano only as soft vocal melodies join in. The vocals get louder then it settles again. It does kick in heavily after 3 minutes.

"Le Monstre De La Main" is heavy with organ to start then it calms down with spoken but theatrical vocals. A heavy rhythm after 2 1/2 minutes as it builds. All hell then breaks loose. Vocals are back to end it. My final top three track. "Ya Just De T'ca" is a catchy vocal track. An instrumental calm after 2 minutes then the vocals return. Great sounding track. "Le 3/4 De L'archeveque" opens with piano. Vocal melodies come in before 2 minutes. It turns fuller. Cool song.

This is an excellent release that i'm sure will satisfy most Prog fans out there.

As I heard about this band a few years ago, my interest only grew when I discovered the story behind their sole album. Apparently this album raised quite a commotion when it was released in 1971. Originally released as "Holocauste a Montreal" with a different LP cover imitating the front page of a local newspaper tabloid "Allo Police" with mug shot photos of the band's members, which goes well with the album's title Montreal Holocaust and the band's name "Your Neighbours". The album was pulled out of the market soon after and released with a simpler cover art and a self titled name, of course now the original album is quite a collector's item.

The album is definitely good but I wouldn't consider it essential, it fits nicely in its category as heavy progressive but also wrapped with a more symphonic sound and approach . The music is not complex but often heavily drenched with guitars and keys, nothing viruosic to be amazed by but still always pretty good. The album contains 7 tracks and falls in the category of "very short LPs clocking at only 33 minutes". It is well balanced between mellow and heavy and goes through different moments, from upbeat rockers to laid back symph tunes and pure progressive rock attempts. One thing that I'm very pleased with are the vocals handled by Perron and ringuet, very reminicent of Christian Descamps from Ange, sometimes calm and beautiful and other times rawer and theatrical, apparently full of humoristic lyrics too.

"Mon Chum" is simply a fun opener, a rocky tune with good eclectic guitars and amusing wild vocals, good start. It then goes to "Sous La Lune" which is a melodic ballade done with piano and vocals, nothing progy about it but nice overall. "L'Instrumental" is of course an instrumental where the band is showing their ability to jam, nothing too complex or mind blowing but still very entertaining including good guitar solos. "Tania" is soft and quiet at first but gets more intense half way through, it opens up with a beautiful piano intro and later on with some beautiful soulful vocals. I love how he starts singing this one, reminds me (if I dare) of Billie Holiday. "Le Monstre De La Main" is the highlight here and apparently got some radio airplay at the time. This is very Ange influenced pretty much in every aspect, disturbing atmosphere, manic vocals. Half way through the tension is built and released with delicious keyboard solo on top of a heavy sound. Yep this this one cooks!! "Ya Just De T'ca" is quite a simple rocker but also have a symphonic touch which makes the song a little more special. "Le 3/4 De L'Archevèque" is an adequate closing track, it has every thing a grand symphonic song should have. Aside from the beautiful piano there are no vocals here but there's a great melody line which the band is following. Here again they use the build and release tension half way through, and it works perfectly. The two bonus tracks added in the 2011 reissue are definitely not essential but not bad either.

In conclusion Vos Voisins's sole album is a product of its time, it's not breaking any new grounds nor is it among the best albums to come out in 71', but it is a good part of the fertile quebec scene of progressive rock. Overall it's a good album and I'm happy to say I like each and every song, there isn't a bad song or even a bad moment on it. The songs are complete and well written and there is much for progers to enjoy. This would definitely appeal to all you collectors out there interested in that heavy genre of prog.

3.5 stars.

Vos Voisins (Your Neighbours) was an early prog rock band from Québec, Canada that released a single album in 1971 while much of the Rock Progressif Québécois was still caught up in the heavy psychedelic haze period and had yet to blossom. Though their album reflects the heavy guitar rock and organ of the day, there are gentler piano songs, too.

The first track, "Voisins (Mon Chum)" is a humorous hard and grooving track with vocalist J Perron gradually getting more theatrical (and comical) in his vocal antics. Any song that opens with the line (in French) "Two thousand beavers" can't be a serious song. Easily a favourite of mine for entertainment value!

"Sous la lune" is a surprising song to follow because it's a beautiful piano ballad sung as a duet with a female vocalist. Then "L'Instrumental" (no translation necessary) is guitar and organ rock split between an uplifting and early prog instrumental and a more standard heavy psychedelic instrumental.

The tracks appear to alternate between hard and soft as track four, "Tania", is another delicate piano number with a female vocalist joining. Partway through the songs brings in rock guitar, organ and Mellotron and wraps up rather powerfully.

The theatrics and humour return for the suspenseful "La monstre de la Main / The Main Monster", another heavy psych song but with a theatrical bent. Along with the opening track, I have to say these guys are good at this kind of music. The instrumental section is pretty heavy with a keyboard solo.

Side two continues after the monster with a surprisingly not quite as heavy but progressively leaning song "Y'a juste de t'ca" with some Beatle-esque moments as well as classical piano. Then the album closes with "Le 3/4 de l'archveque" which is a piano led instrumental with a vocal chorus. It is a pretty and uplifting piece of music.

One should note that the original cover was actually a spoof of the Montreal magazine Âllo Police! but because of the likeness, they band had to hastily come up with a new cover which is the one here on PA. The ProgQuebec reissue restores the original cover and includes two bonus tracks of which "Le couer su l'cant" is a folksy piano and clean electric guitar piece with Mellotron and a backing vocal chorus and "Dou-ra-ra-dou", an upbeat rock number carrying over from the flower power days.

It's an interesting album but might not appeal to some because for a prog album it still carries a lot of heavy psych with it and some humour that, along with the original cover, could almost make the band seem early punk. It's emerging prog and an early start for the Québec prog scene which wouldn't come to full fruition until around 1975/76. My take is that it's a fun album with some enjoyable music nonetheless.