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LAGGER BLUES MACHINE [AKA: TANIT]

Lagger Blues Machine

Zeuhl


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Lagger Blues Machine Lagger Blues Machine [Aka: Tanit] album cover
3.74 | 33 ratings | 6 reviews | 18% 5 stars

Excellent addition to any
prog rock music collection

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Studio Album, released in 1972

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Symphonie - Part 1 (13:57)
2. Darknessly (6:58)
3. Tanit (1:03)
4. Symphonie - Part 2 (13:23)
5. Born to be alone on a white desert island (8:59)

Total Time: 44:20

Bonus tracks on CD reissues - Tanit Live :
6. Test About A Rehabilitating Personality (8:00)
7. Ode (7:05)
8. Mistake (9:05)
9. Firedance (8:00)

Total time 76:20

Line-up / Musicians

- Jose Cuisset / guitar
- Christian Duponcheel / organ
- Michel Maes / bass
- Jean-Luc Duponcheel / drums

With:
- Vincent Mottouille / organ
- Carmelo Pilotta / flute, saxophone

Releases information

LP CBS ‎- S 65230 (1972, Belgium)
LP VEALS & GEEKS records ‎- VAG002 (2012, Belgium)

CD Mellow records - MMP 217 (1994, Italy) Together with "Tanit Live" in a single disc, re-titled "The Complete Works"
CD VEALS & GEEKS records ‎- VAG002 (2012, Belgium) Together with "Tanit Live" in a single disc

Digital album

Thanks to ProgLucky for the addition
and to projeKct for the last updates
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LAGGER BLUES MACHINE Lagger Blues Machine [Aka: Tanit] ratings distribution


3.74
(33 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(18%)
18%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(52%)
52%
Good, but non-essential (27%)
27%
Collectors/fans only (3%)
3%
Poor. Only for completionists (0%)
0%

LAGGER BLUES MACHINE Lagger Blues Machine [Aka: Tanit] reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by Sean Trane
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Prog Folk
4 stars This album gets one half star just for my chauvinism so it reaches four star up from 3.5 . One of my acquaintainces played bass on these albums and I offered him the CD copy as it got re-released and he had no idea. Michel Maes is flabbergasted that his albums got such attention as he had put away all thoughts about music a long time ago. Don't tell him the following review , if you come across him: but I never thought that this album was that great. But believe me, for Belgium in those years to release such an album was quite a feat in itself (plenty of band never got that chance such as Arkham) and they managed a live one on top of it. I think that this music is not as sinister as Mr. Debot say it is , and if one thinks a bit of the bands in his review, LBM gets inspired by them but do not come to their waste musically speaking. But this is well worth a spin but before you buy it. I would not call this Zheul music , though.
Review by Mellotron Storm
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars I have heard their live album from 1970 which was recorded two years before this studio album came out. Lets just say I like the style of music here much better.The live album was very much a hard / psyche / jam affair, while here it more laid back but more adventerous with a jazzy / psyche flavour. I enjoy the sax and flute here a lot. Why are these guys listed under Zeuhl ? I haven't heard anything that even hints at it, either on their live album or this studio record.

"Symphonie-Part 1" opens with flute, piano and guitar before the drums join in quickly. Great sound here. Very relaxed. A change 1 1/2 minutes in as the guitar comes to the fore. Organ joins in too. It settles back with flute and organ .It picks back up before 5 minutes with organ. Drums and guitar 6 minutes in. A change before 7 minutes as sax and an upbeat rhythm takes over, then vocals arrive for the first time a minute later. I don't mind them here. They're a huge improvement over the vocals on the live album. Heavy guitar and organ come and go. A calm 13 minutes in with piano to end it. Fantastic track.

"Darknessly" opens with the drums and pulsating organ standing out. Some raw guitar joins in and it sounds great. Some vocal melodies follow and It sounds a little haunting.Then it kicks back in. It picks up before 3 1/2 minutes before settling again with another haunting section with vocal melodies. I like when the electric piano joins the guitar and drums before 5 minutes. Sax follows. Nice. "Tanit" is a short piece that opens with acoustic guitar as flute joins in. "Symphonie-Part 2" opens with keyboards only to be joined by a full sound rather quickly.The tempo shifts back and forth on this one. Sounds are a little dissonant here. Flute after 3 minutes. Vocal expressions 5 minutes in. Great sound 7 1/2 minutes in when it kicks in. Some flute here. It settles with flute and electric piano 9 minutes in. A short drum solo after 10 minutes then the vocal melodies and guitar join in. It settles again with flute. Raw guitar and drums end it.

Man I like this album. I read on the Gnosis site where the reviewer compared this album to a MOVING GELATINE PLATES record.That's a good reference point for those wondering what these guys sound like. A solid 4 stars.

Review by Warthur
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars A fascinating slice of proto-Zeuhl combining the influences of Zappa-inspired fusion a la Hot Rats, Canterbury as practised by the Soft Machine (and in particular electric organ as played by Mike Ratledge), and of course early Magma to form a unique blend. The album unfortunately (at least in the version I own) has fairly poor production values and a murky mix, which lessens the impact of the music but does at least emphasise its angular, aggressive aspects. Whilst I can't in good conscious give full marks to an album with such a mediocre sound quality, the Lagger Blues experiment certainly seems to have been a worthwhile and interesting one - it's just a shame the results weren't captured more clearly.
Review by siLLy puPPy
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR PSIKE, JRF/Canterbury, P Metal, Eclectic
4 stars One of the harder to categorize bands of the early 70s was the interesting Belgium based LAGGER BLUES MACHINE from Brussels which was founded in 1970 by brothers Christian Duponchell (organ) and Jean-Luc Duponcheel (drums) along with Jose Cuisset (guitars) and Michael Maes (bass). This early lineup was firmly rooted in the heavy psych world of the 60s with some proto-prog touches but was basically a raw free-form jam band that toured extensively with its most famous gig having been a Brussels festival in October 1970 where they played with Warhorse and Wishbone Ash. This was also the gig which was recorded and later released as an archival live album.

In 1971 when Vincent Mottoulle (organs) and Carmelo Pilotta (flute, saxophone) joined the band, the focus shifted to a richer progressive rock sound borrowing not only from the jazz-rock fusion of Soft Machine's "Third" and guitar angularity of King Crimson but also on the strong emphasis of instrumental interplay much like that of Moving Gelatine Plates or Eiliff but in the rhythm department displayed much from the sensual bubbling zeuhl bass driven marches of Christian Vander's Magma. Despite the uptick in compositional interplay, LAGGER BLUES MACHINE still maintained a rather jam oriented romp through their instrumental gymnastics that carried through some of the heavy psych guitar and 60s hypnotic organs.

After several years of intensive touring the band was noticed by CBS records as they became one of Belgium's most important bands and finally in the year of 1972 they recorded and released their sole studio album which was eponymously titled. While brevity wasn't their goal with four of the five tracks near the seven minute mark all the way to the fourteen, in the nonchalant stroll through the progosphere, LAGGER BLUES MACHINE managed to take many detours into various strains of not only prog but heavier rock, blues, pure jazz and more detached psychedelia.

The opening "Symphonie - Part 1" doesn't waste any time with the band's progressive romp through the almost entirely instrumental album, a wise decision considering the few vocal appearances displayed represent a weak spot that shouldn't have been included. Where vocals do occur they are merely supplemental instruments to the greater musical drive. Described as symphonic jazz-rock, LAGGER BLUES MACHINE opens with a unique mix of twin hypnotic organ attacks enhanced by spooky flute sounds, avant-jazz sax runs and well adapted percussive accompaniments. The instrumental interplay is the strongest feature of this band where no musician steals the show but rather contributes to a greater sum of the parts.

A tad more art rock oriented than many of early prog's contemporaries, LAGGER BLUES MACHINE eschewed easy pigeon-holing and the seemingly aimless drifting through the challenging instrumental workouts meanders through symphonic, jazz-rock, hard rock and organ dominated heavy psych. The beauty of the album is the sophistication of the compositions, all of which will please the most hardened progheads out there. The weaknesses include the aforementioned weak vocals although they are quite sparse as well as the lackluster production which according to a review by Ashratom is much better on the original 1972 vinyl release than on the 21st century reissues. And to be honest, the vocals aren't always that bad, there are just some awkward moments.

Personally the sophistication of the music trumps any of the weaknesses. Despite the admittedly weak production job, the album exudes a raw underground sound straight from the heart and that actually appeals to me. This was a talented group of musicians that in some strange ways reminds me of an Anglagard type approach before the 90s prog revival would relaunch the prog revolution twenty years in the future. While this may not be the most essential of prog albums from the 1972 year when too many to count albums rank high on the must have list, if you are seeking extremely intricately designed obscurities that has amazingly instrumental workouts then you can't go wrong with this sole studio release from LAGGER BLUES MACHINE.

Latest members reviews

2 stars Lagger Blues Machine are quite hard to categorise - while they are clearly not out and out Zeuhl, it appears they at the very least have similar influences to Christian Vander's early works with Magma, and do exhibit some of the darker drum-driven tropes that at least give them a tenuous link to ... (read more)

Report this review (#2509880) | Posted by bartymj | Monday, March 1, 2021 | Review Permanlink

5 stars The very best album coming out in Belgium.Music is influenced by the Soft Machine in their 3 first albums,with Ratledge distorted organ sound.Has several similarities with the French group Moving Gelatine plates,slight Magma influences,some Zappa-esque moves,but above all their music has a much dark ... (read more)

Report this review (#27816) | Posted by | Sunday, February 8, 2004 | Review Permanlink

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