DELIRED CAMELEON FAMILY [AKA: VISA DE CENSURE N°X (OST)]

Just before the massive « Forever blowing bubbles », Clearlight proved that they are in the « cosmic » course with this « trippy » intersideral/ symph rock album called « Delired Cameleon family ». Released in 1974 as the soundtrack of Pierre Clementi's « visa de censure », the music is the synthesis of piano's technical, epic scales, psychedelic wha wha guitar sounds and electronic « cosmic », molecular machines arrangements. The opening track is an "eastern" journey, starting with a deep rhythmical, trance atmosphere including tabla /sitar combined with spacey rock guitar solos, electronic voices and manipulations. "Weird Caravan" is a sad, melancholic piece for the piano with atmospheric human voices. Very beautiful and ethereal. Unfortunately, the wonderful music which started the album immediately disappears with the sloppy, ridiculous pop, pseudo romantic song "la fin du début". "Le bouf" is a dynamic jazzy tune with technical guitar/soprano sax duets. However the song suffers from a lack of feeling, going on without any directions. There's a good "acid" flavor on this composition. "Ananta" represents the best tune with the opening. A freaky, crazy psychedelic dance mixing piano/ Sax/ guitar solos. This tune slowly grows in you until the end of the album.

If there is one album that can summarize/epitomize France's prog landscape outside the symphonic prog, this album would be close to it. Clearly seen as another Clearlight album, it is much more than that. Thanks to my buddy Olivier for pointing out this album to me, as it was completely unknown to me, and it is part of my regular spin rotation.

Musically, the album hovers around some Gong, with Steve Hillage, there is a pinch of Magma (mostly in the vocals), the rather freer sounds of Lard Free and Pinhas/Heldon, but it has an undeniably Clearlight affiliation. After an eastern Gong-like (mostly due to Blake/Hillage) spacey opening track, Weird Ceremony starts from the same aerial roots and glides back down slowly to earth letting the calm serene winds leading them away to the next song. La Fin Du Début (the end of the beginning) is the first track to boast some delightful plaintive, yet rested, vocals. While the first side of the album closes on a more energetic Gong-like spacey jam, where some of the improvisations come close to atonal and are rather unfocused, even losing the thread before ending with Stella Vander doing one of Zeuhl number. Too bad this tracks lacks rigour, for it has many highlights.

The second side is a slow crescendo that has again Gong roots, and is again jam- induced and dabbles in atonal improvisations that reminds of Lard Free's Unnamed album or even Keith Tippett's free jazz, but just as it gets lenghty and tedious, the track reprises a bit in a Hawkwind fashion. The lengthy closer Ananta, yet another spacey adventure offers too many lengths for its own good and the album's overall performance. Malherbe's sax adventures are a bit undermixed too, and Verdeaux's piano interventions are spellbinding, but overall, while still interesting, the track overstays its welcome.

This album IMHO, is more of Gong lineage musically speaking than a Clearlight album, but remains one of those albums that epitomize France's best contribution to progressive rock. Warmly recommended, even if not really essential but you would regret it if you passed over it.

This one had been their most cosmic sounding effort and actually it's together with FBB one of those Clearlight albums I can find the least pleasure with. At least to my ears this music presented here just sounds inmature, chaotic and completely weird. Moreover it becomes very repetitive, pointless and boring at times. I can imagine that it will appeal to fans of Lard Free and early Gong but I doubt that anyone loving their later releases will find much enjoyable here. Clearly an aquired taste and for sure a freak-out cosmic trip, probably enjoyable with the help of some additives. Still worth 3 stars for its uniqueness but I wouldn't consider it an essential addition to any Prog collection!

An oddity in the Clearlight discography, Delired Camelon Family was originally produced as a movie soundtrack, and this is evident in the multiple personalities the album expresses. Much of the time, the album chugs along in a pleasant mode which resembles a hybrid of New Age music and space rock, with the occasional reference to the band's pals in Gong (such as some female vocals which sound, at points, a lot like the "space whispers" that Gilli Smyth or Miquette Giraudy brought to the Gong sound).

Towards the end of the album this approach is abandoned, with the last two tracks being particular non-sequiteurs. Novavanna degenerates into an overlong hippy rock and roll track, with the vocalist demanding various varieties of drugs which might have been intended as shocking but just comes across as juvenile and stupid. Ananta is some Canterburyish fusion which spends a long time building up to some sort of crescendo but doesn't ultimately go anywhere interesting. Between them, they take up around half the album.

It certainly makes a chance from the debut, but not in a good way. Save this for if you find yourself getting seriously into the Clearlight discography.

In 1974 the film ''Visa de Censure n# X'' by Pierre Clementi was published.It was supported by a soundtrack entitled ''Delired Cameleon Family'' and released on EMI, behind which we find Clearlight's mastermind Cyrille Verdeaux, who composed the entire filmscore along with guitarist Ivan Coaquette.The album features notable appearances by Ariel Kalman (sax), Joel Dugrenot (vocals), Gilbert Artman (drums),Tim Blake (percussion) and Christian Boule (guitars) among others, all were past and future Clearlight members, thus this soundtrack is considered by many as the second actual Clearlight work.

A really unique, hard and cosmic listening experience, ''Delired Cameleon Family'' explores the world of long spacey synthesizer passages, weird jazzy improvisations, fiery Fusion guitar workouts and trippy, psychedelic soundscapes, almost like a cross between the cosmic Kraut madness of ASH RA TEMPEL and AMON DUUL and the more Fusion side of GONG.From its start to the very end the album swirls around outlandish and loose arrangements, which have a cosmic or jazzy feel, depending on the track, but the result is not very succesful, though the album rather serves the needs of the movie than comes as a typical music effort.From the several spacey parts I definitely give credit to the nice guitar work of Boule, Agostini and Coaquette with some sort of OLDFIELD-ian vibe, though much more jazzy in nature.The sax solos of Francois Jeaneau and Ariel Kalman are also passionate and dynamic, adding another dimension to this unique experience.But the majority of the arrangements are characterized by bizzarre abstract sections and stretched cosmic synths, that at the end prevent these nice parts to be fully appreciated.

This is an album for specific listenings, just when you need something very trippy to relax upon it.Musically though I would only recommend it to fans of GONG and Electronic/Kraut Rock...2.5 stars.