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CARDEILHAC

Heavy Prog • Switzerland


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Cardeilhac biography
Taking their name from a French commune in Haute-Garonne, this Swiss five-piece, heavy progressive band comprised of Rinaldo Häusier (guitars), Denis Angelini (vocals), J-C. Balsinger (bass), Andrö Locher (organ/keyboards) and Gaston Balmer (drums).

Their brief early 70's existence resulted in only one studio album; their poorly produced 1971 eponymous debut, which clearly demonstrated a combined influence of heavy UK proto-prog bands such as Deep Purple with the typically Teutonic 70's hard rock sound, with progressive, and occasionally bluesy touches.

Locher's abilities in bringing the keyboards to the fore, will please fans of ELP, while the chunkier, heavy guitar will bring bands such as The Nice and even Uriah Heep to mind. Ultimately however, their music is considered to have produced little in the way of originality, and nothing is known of the musician's careers after the break up of the band.

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3.15 | 27 ratings
Cardeilhac
1971

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CARDEILHAC Reviews


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 Cardeilhac by CARDEILHAC album cover Studio Album, 1971
3.15 | 27 ratings

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Cardeilhac
Cardeilhac Heavy Prog

Review by maryes

5 stars All the time that I come across disks as this only album of the band CARDEILHAC, I am thinking about how many bands "dissolved" for support lack (production) and as we lost as regards to musical creativity due to this fact. In this work this band shows clearly that it could have followed a promising career (if it had gone straight ahead), because the disk is of the year of 1971, year in that some bands that would go becoming icons of the progressive were still been in "mature process" as for instance: YES "The Yes Albun" & "Fragile", GENTLE GIANT "Acquiring the Taste" (a suggestive title, that it illustrates that I want to say very well ) and URIAH HEEP "Look attn Yourself", Unhappily was not this the case of the band in it analyzes. Talking about the disk (and for extension for the band) it is treated well of a "rough diamond" a mixture of hard-rock & progressive, his music is filled of unexpected passages with scales done sometimes for duets of bass/guitar and sometimes for guitar/keyboards. Besides I can mention countless moments of the disk in that one can hear "echoes" of the search for the virtuosity and creativity that it would characterize the progressive during the whole 70's. I mention the track 2 "Everybody" that seems part of a rockabilly concert "after the ingestion of a lot of LSD", with a final passage totally different from the initial theme but that is perfectly fit in in the context. The track 3 with an brief introduction that reminded me YES (for the combination of guitar chords "a lá" Steve Howe, added the bass/drums line), ending in a rock'n'roll to the "fashion" of CREAM and THE WHO. The track 4 that begins with a Hammond-Organ theme in Jonh Lord's "vein" (Child in Time) and it presents a theme with guitar?bass scales with a "killer" battery reminding some moments of URIAH HEEP. The track 6 with a theme inspired in E L & PALMER!!! I could write about all of the trackss and their wonderful variations, but it would be tedious. Therefore accept my of advice and hear that lost pearl of the progressive. After writing so much, I think my quotation is obvious.... 5 stars!!!
 Cardeilhac by CARDEILHAC album cover Studio Album, 1971
3.15 | 27 ratings

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Cardeilhac
Cardeilhac Heavy Prog

Review by Sean Trane
Special Collaborator Prog Folk

2 stars 2.5 stars really!!

Sole album from this proto-prog Swiss group, which came with a standard prog quartet plus a singer. Along with the bluesier Krokodil, Cardeilhac was one of the first Swiss progressive groups. From the looks of their names, they seem to be from the Latin part of the country but the group's name would hint a more Alemanic Swiss origin.

If you can picture The Nice or ELP with a heavy guitar (but not like The Nice's debut with O'List), you might get a good idea of what they sound like (and their drummer is called Balmer ;-), even if the strange alien B&W artwork is a bit misleading about the album's content. You can also think of Quartemass with a guitar (or for that matter many organ- driven hr'ad rock of the era), but in the end, it is keyboardist André Locher that gets the most exposure, and he's clearly the better musician in this group. Although the album is off to a poor start (the hard Pick Up Your Gun), it reaches fairly quickly cruising speed with a bunch of good tracks (but with perfectible vocals), but always remain fairly unrefined production-wise.

Not always fascinating (especially in the Emersonian moments), and with a few weaker tracks (the opening track and Nightmare come to mind), Cardeilhac remains acceptable for discerning fans to the two afore-mentioned groups. But I doubt you will be spinning this album often.

 Cardeilhac by CARDEILHAC album cover Studio Album, 1971
3.15 | 27 ratings

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Cardeilhac
Cardeilhac Heavy Prog

Review by Gatot
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

3 stars This is one of lost bands who only produced one album and after the album was released no one knew where the band or its members were going. The music is more on straight classic rock style in the vein of Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Grand Funk Railroad or Leslie Wes's Mountain. I'm sure that my friends who like rock oldies would favor this band.

The opening track "Pick Up Your Gun" is a straight rocker with a lot of Hammond organ work and it would definitely favor those classic rock lovers. "Everybody" is in similar vein but the music is much more dynamic with excellent electric guitar rhythm work. Vocal quality is excellent. The structure is not like straight rock music as it has many curved melodies with nice breaks demonstrating guitar and guitar solos. "Pushers Dwell" reminds me to Grand Funk Railroad's music with stunning electric guitar fills and solo.

The band tries to touch the prog style through attractive Hammond organ and guitar opening of "Sadness". The style is much mellower than previous tracks but it has a great classic rock nuance. "She Don't Care" continues the style of oldies rock music with a good combination of bass playing, guitar and organ. "Neutral" is probably the most proggy tune with excellent combination of organ and guitar fills in some bluesy and jazzy styles. The guitar fills are really good.

Overall, it's a good album of vintage straight hard rock with some prog touches. Recording quality is not good, however, it represents the 70's sound and it could be a plus point. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

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