LE GONG DU BALAYEUR

Early-80's completely obscure French band from Pau, in which Michel Puyau and Sylvain Richardot, later to be found in the line-up of Chanson Plus Bifluoree, were involved.However in their sole 1981 album ''Pas important'' Puyau appears only as the creator of the layout and Richardot's name is absent.The line-up consisted of John Leglidu on acoustic guitar/vocals, Captain Latortue on bass, Samuel Noise on guitar, Billy Boy on keyboards/vocals and Bernard Lubat on drums, the last one had played previously next to Pascal Duffard.Propably most of them were pseudonyms and Puyau and Richardot were hidden behind these fake names.

Musically Le Gong du balayeur were as weird as their name, they played something close to satirical/theatrical Rock with ANGE cross-references, albeit less symphonic and more on the humurous side of Art Rock music.They were definitely quite progressive, especially considering the time of the album's release, and their music contained a vast palette of instrumental colors, mainly performed with psychedelic, poppy, progressive and jazzy influences, over a horizon of expressive, theatrical vocals.But, while voices played a major role in their execution, Le Gong du balayeur had also a nice instrumental depth with complex themes and lots of twists, including laid-back keyboard/guitar battles, symphonic synthesizers, ZAPPA-esque turns from Blues to Jazz to Pop, while the atmosphere ranges from funny moods to dramatic/romantic passages.As aforementioned they had a unique vocal handling with poetic, satirical and humouristic edges and the amalgam of music and singing parts was definitely genuine.''Le vieil homme'', the 12-min. epic track of the album, comes a bit closer to the standard lines of French Prog, a bit like LAURA, SYNOPSIS and OPALE, with inventive guitar runs and strong keyboard moves over an atmosphere of melodramatic and quirky singing, very good piece.

Their history is rather mysterious until year 1985, when they united forces with another group, Le Mecanophone, and gave birth to Chanson Plus Bifluoree, which followed more or less a similar style with a more thunderous tendency towards humor music.

Rare but pretty nice French Prog, a bit different than the bulk of French bands, having a satirical mood but also containing some lovely instrumental performances.Recommended.

Let's face it, Prog is usually serious business (same as internet as some say). This is not. And not in a bad way, where this would be completely rubbish-type of work, but rather in "let's make good music, while having some fun" way.

Whimsical, that's perfect word to describe it. Quirky and Zappa-esque can also work. It also reminds me band that emerges 2 decades later, Cartoon (from Brazil). Except track Le Soleil, which is quite normal, symphonic ballad.

French language works perfectly here, making deserved theatrical effect. Changing of styles, from wild folk ballad to pure Symphonic Prog makes it fine Crossover addition (if you don't embrace consistency that much).

But if works for me, it works very well, so

4(+) from me, for original approach and for enjoyability.