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Sean Trane View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Belgian Chamber Prog scene
    Posted: March 14 2006 at 09:41

Belgian Chamber Prog Rock Scene

 

 

Unlike all its neighbouring countries, Belgium never had a hugely successful prog group, (a lot of progheads will remember light-prog Machiavel and know of borderline prog dEUS).  Belgium, however, has had a very vivid scene ever since the very early 70’s, but the least we can say is that it stayed very confidential and is linked partly with the French groups like Magma and Art Zoyd. Many progressive music fans into more adventurous, experimental music will know a few groups of which the best known is Univers Zero and its offshoot Present.  But they were hardly the only ones, their genesis was a long time coming and they had many predecessors. You will find most of the bands I will discuss in the Avant/prog, Zeuhl, Fusion, Canterbury, and RIO, some would even classify as Les Musiques Nouvelles. This should give a solid hint why those groups are not widely known.

 

A quick overview of the more symphonic Belgian scene.

The first Belgian group to reach international success was Wallace Collection who were followed nationally by Waterloo, The Pebbles and Mad Curry, but this was over for all of them by 1970. A bit later on in the 70’s came Shampoo (ex-members of Pebbles and Mad Curry - 1 Lp), Banzai (one excellent record), Magenta (one Lp).  None had success although Esperanto Rock Orchestra did cut three very strong albums (from 73 to 75) and did hit international fame. If the frontmen of E.R.O were British (and assimilated), the backbone of the band – the musicians - were for the most part Belgians (from Mons). This paved the way for Machiavel and their light and derivative prog rock from 76 onwards. They became one of the better known bands at the time and got thrown in the dubious category of Eurock (with Kayak and  Eloy) but this was a journalistic invention. At their peak in 78 with Mechanical Moonbeams, Machiavel was headlining arenas throughout Europe and causing many other bands to try to duplicate their success. Groups such as Isopoda (2 Lps), Nessie (2 Lps), Phylter (1Lp), Flyte (1Lp), and Dragon (two good albums) have all blossomed, but none have managed any kind of success and folded before the turn of the decade. This  left  Machiavel alone but the drift towards more commercial music was on for them too! By the end of the 80’s, only Now was developing symphonic rock. A new generation has been  on the way up since the turn of the century but all these bands have yet to make an impact.

 

Also worthy of note is the Hard rock group Irish Coffee that recorded a few singles and one good album with the incredibly infectious “The Show” and “Masterpiece”. Jenghiz Khan is also very sought after amongst collectors with a rough-edged hard-prog.

 

The early 70’s Jazzy connection:

One of the most important groups retrospectively is Arkham, even if they never released anything (a compilation does exist at Cuneiform records). This is Daniel Denis’s first group as well as Manderlier and Cogneaux. Both Denis and Manderlier will join Magma soon after disbanding.

 

Some of you will know of Lagger Blues Machine who is now legendary amongst collectors for having done a sombre and impressive album, later labelled Zeuhl, but it is also very Canter-Zappa-Crimson-esque.

 

Also of mega interest is Placebo with its leader keyboardist Marc Moulin (later in Cos and Telex but also a lengthy solo career) that released three excellent brassy jazz-rock fusion albums somewhere between Nucleus and Miles Davis of the era. None of these albums were ever reissued on Cd, but an excellent compilation does exist.

 

This jazzy heritage will be carried over with Cos (starting in 74 from their first name Classroom) will record a string of albums until 1983’s Pasiones (a concept of the Spanish Civil war), their sound gradually evolving from almost pure Canterbury prog of their first two albums – Pascale Son uses her voices like a real instrument in those two albums – to the very funky/new wave/Belew-era-Crimson. Marc Moulin will be active with Cos but this is really Daniel Schell’s project. Viva Boma and the Great Postaelian Train Robbery are a must-hear for any proghead.

Pazop (the lone but excellent Psychillys Of A Lunatic Genius in 72) with Cogneaux as a leader and developing a truly intelligent and original (and funny) sound also best described as Canterbury prog. The second album was never to be, but some tracks are included on the Cd release of their debut and they are of the same calibre.

Recreation (2 albums: 71’s Recreation and 72’s Music Or Not Music) of KB-led instrumental prog trio somewhere between Canterbury and symphonic prog with JP Falaise as a superb leader, Tideline (2 albums in the late 70’s)  and Kandahar (3 albums in the Supersister-style Canterbury), but only Cos will manage a lengthier career into the 80’s. A lot of the albums from these groups have yet to see a Cd release

 

The origins of chamber prog:

But we are forgetting Arkham who broke up after Denis and Manderlier left to join Magma, although one suspects that Denis did not stay because a double drumming team with Christian Vander would’ve been insane to hold on to. Daniel then returned to Belgium to found Univers Zero (they had first named themselves Necronomicon but aware of a German band with the same name, they changed name) as soon as ‘74 although they had to wait until ‘77 to release an astounding debut album 1313 that was to revolutionize experimental rock. One must note that Univers Zero is one of the six founding members (from  different countries) of RIO (Rock In Opposition) with UK’s Henry Cow, Sweden’s Zamla Manna Mamma, France’s Etronfou Leloublan and after Art Zoyd, Germany’s Dzyann, Italy’s Stormy six .

 

Univers Zero has nothing to do with anything previously done in rock before either in Belgium or elsewhere. Their music was a bizarre and very sombre mix of early 20th century classical (Bartok, Stravinsky) with Magma influences and uncommon rock instrumentation (Bassoon and violas) over a red-hot rhythm section reminiscent of Henry Cow. Daniel Denis is justifiably recognized as one of the best experimental drummers and his powerful strike is incredibly inventive. Univers Zero is one of the earliest and most typical examples of Chamber Rock (referring to classical chamber music) and the first group in a long Belgian tradition. They were later joined by Aksak Maboul, where two Henry Cow played soon after their debut then proceeding on with Honeymoon Killers. So much RIO, that it is not exaggerating to say this is the country’s specialty and main contribution to prog rock or progressive music. Univers Zero will record a string of three stunning albums before changing and electrifying their sound.

 

But by that time Present, their offshoot project lead by U Z guitarist Roger Trigaux (but with Denis on drums) had released a macabre debut album “Triskaidekaphobie” (fear of number 13 – probably a wink to U Z’s debut album 1313) that still puts to shame most gothic music 25 years later. U Z will then move on to a more structured and electrified rock music but still with major Bartok influences; two of their most essential albums are 82’s “Ceux Du Dehors” for the first period and 85’s “Uzed” for the second era. To this day both groups (U Z and Present) still exist although they were both put to rest at the end of the 80’s and early 90’s, before soaring to new heights from the mid 90’s!

 

A third band also rose in the late 70’s, and calling themselves after French Sci-fi grandfather Jules Verne: Julverne. Their music is completely acoustic, mostly classical and does not really hold any rock elements but they became a central figure of the scene, so much so that if you were to draw a rock family tree, they have a direct link with almost every branch of the tree. When listening to their bizarre music, most progheads will gladly include them in their sphere of interest. Chamber rock, classical chamber music, Musiques Nouvelles, fusion and RIO, they got it all!

 

Aksak Maboul was yet another stunning ensemble, more inspired by Henry Cow (Chris Cutler and Fred Frith will play on the second album), before the group metamorphosed in two parts: Les Tueurs De La Nuit De Miel and The Honeymoon Killers.  A.M. was the project of multi instrumentalist Marc Hollander, but these records are really for confirmed RIO fans only.

 

The rebirth and the actual scene.

The rest of the 80’s were fairly lean times for Chamber prog, you might want to make an exception for Maximalist who recorded one album, and ex-Cos Daniel Schell and Karo, as well as other prog currents until the early 90’s Aka Moon (harcore jazz-rock if you can believe it ;-) played in the underground and selective Kaaï club, that things started moving again. By the mid-90’s when two bizarre groups appeared on the scene: Cro-Magnon, X-legged Sally, soon followed by Hardscore, but the real news for progheads was mainly the return of firstly Present and then Univers Zero.

Present was the first one to rise from its ashes with a strange Trigaux father/son duo project, before recording a Live album (based on their early records) with US citizen Dave Karman on drums. They have since have produced three excellent if unsettling avant-prog albums sometimes veering into Les Musiques Nouvelles. Of their second career you could try High Infidelity

Daniel Denis who had been working with French group Art Zoyd and had recorded two solo albums in the early 90’s (both highly reminiscent of U Z) before finally zeroing back into his previous universe with his old buddy Michel Berckmans (he had played and recorded over the whole planet with his bassoon) and reforming Univers Zero. The first two albums (99 and 01 respectively brought nothing new to the music that existed before, but since 2003 and the release of Implosion (where the tracks are separated by small sampled electronics themes) which turned out to be their most essential album since Uzed. Since this album, Univers Zero has been a concert group again and a live album is foreseen early in 2006 soon followed by a DVD.

Cro-Magnon is a mostly Flemish band that has recorded three vastly different albums ranging from acoustic chamber prog and classical somewhere between UZ and Julverne (Zap!) to a very energetic and fully electrified avant-prog like Miriodor (Bull) and to a rather ethnic fusion jazz rock (Brosella)..

Hardscore is the only clear-cut Flemish band - most of the chamber-prog groups discussed in this article were either Wallon (French-speaking) or from Brussels (more bilingual French/Dutch). Their albums are also an acquired taste but definitely oriented towards Frank Zappa, they have produced a highly worthy discography so far. Their most recommended album to date is Surf, Wind And Desire

Finnegans Wake is the project of Henry Crutzen (who is a veteran from the late 70’s) and they developed at first a Canterbury-related sound before progressively sliding towards more fusion-based classical music. Their latest album 4th is a double album which is awesome in spectrum and mastery.

Daniel Schell (ex-Cos) has made three albums (86, 90 & 94) with his group Daniel Schell & Karo, which hovers in between Julverne, jazz, world music, using a Chapman Stick and the Halvenhalf string quartet.

In 1992, the French-speaking government sponsored a big band called La Grande Formation, which produced two distinct groups later that year:

-X-legged Sally (X-L S) is the group of Vervloesem and Vermeersch (ex-Maximalist) who recorded seven albums (and another two as collaborations) which could send a lot of prog musicians back to their cribs. Their best albums are The Land Of The Giant Dwarfs and Killed By Charity. Disbanded by 98, (they went on to form the poppier A Group and later the big band (up to 16) The Flat Earth Society), X-L S had recently stopped activities, but was an incredibly complex mix of all kinds of music currents from free jazz to contemporary classical music and some trash ambiances. Their spirit lives on in the solo album of Pierre Vervloesem whose album Grosso Modo is a real stunner.

A bit aside and mostly accented towards jazz is Aka Moon – a sax-led trio with three outstanding masters (heavily into Coltrane at first), all of whom give lessons at the royal academy. They brought together the high-culture and the rock crowd and recorded with widest possible spectrum of artists. You might want to start with their debut Aka Moon album for their love of the great Coltrane and the Ganesh album to see their interest in world music.

Other groups that did not manage to hold for more than one album are Fukkeduk (Ornitozosy in 93) and Louise Avenue (Let’s Take One More from 93). Also of interest is Halvenhalf (Paysage De Carton from 93) and with members of Julverne and the fact that this last group reformed for one album in 99 proves that the Belgian scene is back in full stride.

Conclusion:

This about wraps up the Belgian “serious” prog scene, but most of these groups (U Z and Present excepted) are anything but serious in their music cultivating irony, good-natured fun and you can find many surrealist moments. The best description for the genre they are developing as a whole would be Avant Prog, but their tendency on leaning on acoustic and classical instrumentation makes most of them fall in the Chamber Rock category or as I choose to call it Chamber Prog. There was a relatively similar phenomenon in the late 70’s in Quebec with groups such as Maneige, L’Orchestre Sympathique, Aquarelle, Sloche etc. and it also stayed all too confidential and musically much wiser. Nevertheless experienced progheads that have the impression of stagnating because they have discovered every symphonic prog group around, if they enjoy more challenging music and modern classical music, you might just have hit the jackpot with any of those groups mentioned in this essay.

 

NB: Those groups I have mentioned that are not yet included in our beloved Archives , will be soon or later.

 

 

Proofread by Bob McBeath/Easy Livin, Thanks Bob!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Related poll and further reading:

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7256&a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;PN=2



Edited by Sean Trane - April 21 2006 at 07:51
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 16 2006 at 08:13

I can see myself returning to this article time and again when placing CD orders in the future. Great work, Hugues!

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 17 2006 at 05:27

Thanks TP!

Actually I had been saving up this article for the newsletter

To my knowledge, there was never an article written about this scene (which I arbitrarily call Chamber Prog), especially one linking all of these groups together or making a historical link between them. The Belgian scene was also heavily mixed with the french "Zeuhl-RIO" scene as well, and had a few connections with Dutch bands (Jazz Rock guitarist Philippe Catherine playing in later Focus or Supersister sharing the stage with early Cos).

This article took some four months in the writing, mostly because most of these bands are not well known and in some case, even looking for vinyls, I could not find anything on them: this is the case for Tideline and Kandahar. If anyone can help me out on these, please do!

I also hesitated of talking more in details about highly regarded Jenghis Khan or Irish Coffee. And I wanted to avoid talking in details of lighter symphonic groups: I personally really dislike the so-callede Belgian Prog Ambassador of Machiavel, even if every classic rock fan owes a great deal to drummer Marc Ysaye. Thanks , Marc!!! Sorry I do not like your music, though!

Actually I had to discover some of these groups since, I was in Canada for most of the 70's and therefore had never heard of them before I came back in the old world. I have known of Univers Zero only since 92, and only appreciated them only since 95. So the research was lenghty (I started thinking about this about one year ago) , because of the rarity of the earlier group, butalso the fact that I was discovering more bands as I went along.

My greatest help was finding a sort of Pete Frama-styled rock family tree in a Korean label version of Julverne's En Ballade. Actually, Chris Glesson/SYZYGY was with me on the day I opened this leaflet, and to me this was the first time I had seen something that accurate, and this was like a fist in the face! Do Belgians actually need a Korean label to set the record straight on what happened in this country? I just had to set the record straight, but I am sure there aresome inaccuracies in the text.

___________________________________________

I also wanted to talk of the early festivals that happened in Belgium, Bilzen in Flanders (>> still has a successor in the Pukkelpop festival - which unlike its name is the reference Rock festival nowadays)  and Amougies in Wallonie (as a reaction to French gov't cracking down on possible student or youth uprising afer May 68 in Paris, big events were strongly discouraged), which did not survive long. >>> but this was a side issue to the article

I also wanted to talk about someof those classic UK prog groups such as ELP , Genesis, VDGG, Pentangle coming to Belgium to record shows (this was done by the state TV - the french-speaking side of it - a bit like the BBC was doing in the UK), as it was a team that was obviously well used to working with each other >>>> but this was disgressing also from the subject.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 17 2006 at 11:00

Nice!!!

I only know a small part of the groups mentioned...  TIME TO WORK ON THAT!

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 17 2006 at 14:30

Great work Hugues,

I hope, that your article gets stored in another place soon.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 22 2006 at 06:17
Eggcellent work Mr. Chantraine.
"Art is not imitation, nor is it something manufactured according to the wishes of instinct or good taste. It is a process of expression."

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 22 2006 at 09:58

^^^^^^^^^^

To top it all of,

M@X actually put it up on the definition page

http://www.progarchives.com/Belgian-Chamber-Prog-Rock-Scene. asp

Merci, M@X

 

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 08 2006 at 12:52
I hope this many help a little.

"TIDELINES music fuses elements of jazz, folk, pop, with hints of classicism to come up with their original and unique sound of Jazzy Chamber Rock. The line up consists of Hadi Al Gammal (lead vocals, 12 string acoustic), Christian Gilbert (drums), Didier De Roos (keyboards, acoustic guitar, background vocals) and Sam Mackinney (basses). It is hard to draw any direct comparisons to the band; the sound is close to JOHN GREAVES’ style.

Throughout their long history they only released only two albums. “The Crowed Room” (79) was there first. The sound is driven by the ever-present 12 string guitar and multilayered keys; boasting simple but colourful arrangements with English lyrics. The fragile vocals at times can give hint of Greg Lake. It was to be another 16 years for their (95) album “Siren Songs” to come out. This album was performed by a duet, along side a large line-up (Clarinet, Flute, Saxophone, Trumpet, Flugelhorn, and Violin). In total sixteen musicians played on the album, including Daniel Denis (Univers Zero). Their short songs are fully of complexity, sidled with strong touches of warmth and melody.

I would high recommend this band. If melodic laid back Prog is what you are looking for you should not stray past Tideline."

Just a little bit of a bio I have been trying to put together form information I have gathered. If you have any material to make this more complete please do so. I have their album "The Crowed Room", but am lacking information on the full line up of "Siren Songs"

BTW well done on putting this piece together.. it will be of much help to many people on the site Clap

 


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 09 2006 at 05:27

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 
ThanksWink
 
 
And fior Kandahar , here is the bio I wrote for the group while I included them
 

KANDAHAR

This group, hailing from Ghent (in Western part of Belgium), played some rather adventurous rock music and formed in 73, and were a cross of jazz-rock with Canterbury influences and sometimes a touch of Zeuhl. They released on their own private label Dwarf two albums, which were quite in the avant-garde progressive rock of the time (sounding a bit like a cross of Placebo, Pazop and Cos), before going broke.

In their heydays, Kandahar was often favourably compared with Supersister, but once they folded due to lack of finances again, leader Karel Bogaert, an engineer, returned to his professional acrtivities in the Far-East, but released a few solo albums. This left Jeff Devisscher at the helm of Kandahar, and they will take time to re-group. After a few years, they managed to release an Ep, than another album, but clearly their moment had gone. None of their albums have ever been re-issued on vinyl or on Cd format, making Kandahar records very sought-after.

In the late 80’s the group reformed for one album that will fail to bring back the feel of their early days brilliance. Only this album is available.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 01 2006 at 03:37
A bit out of topic, but here is my review of the actual symphonic scene of the country. I received a sampler that is rather democratically priced.
 
 
 

A Taste Of Belgium

 

Belgium has always been a surreal country and this compilation is yet another proof of it. If the country is about to implode both politically, socially and economically due to the two major communities’ differences, on the artistic level, even when subsidized by the different cultures, the artistes often collaborate with each other and the organizers try to do the same, knowing that their small country could not do without the other “side” and if you read my article on the Belgian Chamber Prog scene, you will see that Flemish and Wallons often collaborate together and produced many stunning oeuvres. 

 

This compilation is focussing on a side of the prog scene I was not encompassing in my essay: the modern symphonic prog groups that are abounding in Belgium.  Right of the bat, I will tell you that Ken’s Novel and Sioban are not represented because of their recording deal with Musea and Labrad’or records. Neither is Foggy Stuff, the latest kid on the block. Funnily enough when seeing the accompanying promotional flyer coming with this sampler, all groups featured here are coming from either Brussels or further west in Belgium, but the main prog prayer temple is in the extreme east of the country in Verviers, the infamous Spirit Of 66 with a good old grumbly Francis Géron (who also promotes the Cd) having hosted some incredible acts (not just prog) for such a small venue. Only the non-featured Ken’s Novel (and arguably the most successful) is counter-balancing the scale. Culturally speaking including the two major absents (both Wallon) the 50-50 is respected, even if this is rather recent. Again similarly the two major associations promoting Belgian prog are equally settled. The French-speaking Prog-resiste (a bunch of buddies of mine) have just celebrated their tenth year of operation and have their own festival, while the Dutch-speaking Prog-nose is probably in its fourth year and was strongly encouraged by their counterparts. So much for the presentations, on with the muze!!!!

 

Panopticum is a resolutely modern band which meanders between Dream Theatre, Riverside , Wolfmother. To say that these guys are made from entirely metal would be exaggerating, as they have strong symphonic influences also. The track is from their first album Reflection that was released in 04 and a second album is on the way for next year.

 

My buddies Madelgaire are an altogether different matter, almost emerging from the old gallic tradition and their 9-min+ Regrets seems to be coming from the forests of Anglagard’s debut album with a slightly more modern sound. Is that a real Mellotron, Bertrand? And Rocteur’s drumming is the motor of the group. Cannot wait for your debut album early next year guys!!!

 

Quantum Fantay is a rather different animal altogether, definitely less earthy and certainly more aerial. No wonder they are definitely more psych and spacey than most of their countrymen. Gong, Hillage and Hawkwind are their major influence with a resolutely modern-sounding crunching guitar leading the way to ecstasy. They were last year’s surprise with their first album and this track comes from their second album out late this year. Superb flute interlude Charles. 

 

Beyond The Labyrinth was Prog-nose’s first baby (if I may speak as such) with Geert Fieeuw being one of the major federator of this project. With their second album due next, year, BTL is one of the neo-prog sounding bands of the lot, but they sound more like the actual neo rather than the 80’s neo. Strongly symphonic with a tad of metallic guitars, Valinor’s Tree and Riverside come to mind, most notably.

 

I must say that Ghibilirizzi was an unknown to me as I was not aware of their first album as early as 01. The track they chose for this sampler is coming from their second album and is has a definite resolute flavour of Marillion and the more traditional neo-prog of the lost decade. However, these guys are doing anything but looking backwards and Dario’s guitars are fighting gloriously against a double KB attack.

 

AmAndA is they only group not singing in English and understandably so, since their music is strongly axed towards the symphonic theatrical rock (they have a really impressive stage show) that ange had pioneered. But AmAndA is so much more than Ange, they have a resolutely modern sound with some rather puzzling twists including some binary beats at times. This track comes from their first album (from 02 already), but having seen them recently, their new album (foreseen next year as well) will be a scorcher.

 

Karma depth was also a discovery for me. I had heard of their album’s release last year, but never had a chance to lay an ear on it before. And I will not again this time, since the track they chose is previously un-released and will maybe appear on their next album. From this track, it could just be that according to their name, the group is the more reflective of the lot. With a definitely neo-prog flavour, and a resolutely modern sound, their heavy symphonic neo-prog is full of luscious ambiances and constant twists. Some of you might have seen them open up for Pain Of Salvation.

 

Last but not least, come my friends of Globalys who had recorded a sublime demo five years ago, but die to personal and collective setbacks and line-up changes, their first real album is about to see the light of day early next year.  The jazzier-influenced (but still strongly symphonic), more complex and maybe the more original of the lot, it was always quite uneasy to describe their sound accurately as simply stating groups will simply not do. Often described as slightly Canterbury-sounding, this is only one of the facet of a group which has many. On this sampler is a pre-mix of a rework of their most played track from the demo renamed Eagle, Eggs & Bacon. While we were hungry for new material, Globalys is holding the suspense for their album by not unveiling what (I know) are stupendous new tracks. For now, this re-work is quite interesting as the infinite details they are known for have been re-arranged. Still my favourite band (and not because they are my friends), their sound is so eclectic embracing dissonance as well as delightful melodies, in a a few words: Globalys is a listener’s group. CriCri, Phil, Dom, Laurent and Olivier, I think it is time for our dose of new marvels and wonder.

 

Overall we can easily see that the new symphonic generation of group is ready to take over from the old symphonic guard and hopefully with more international success than Machiavel, Isopoda, Esperanto, Nessie or later on Now. Yes the future does look bright and the country would do well to take example on this bunch of artistes.



Edited by Sean Trane - September 12 2006 at 04:56
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 06 2008 at 12:26
bump!
 
Never know, it might just interest some newer members
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 06 2008 at 16:48

Thankyou,this is interesting.Clap

Its a whole area I know nothing about,and it all sounds very interesting.Must put a few of the albums mentioned here on my wants list.Thumbs%20Up
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 06 2008 at 23:18

I said it before, but - Fantastic article! Clap

A few more bands which are splendid in my opinion are:
which I added to PA a while back.
 
Also on the jazz-rock front, I recently discovered The Wrong Object (which I'll add to PA).
 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2008 at 07:15
Also, don't forget Nuit Caline a la Villa Mon Reve, who had members who went on to form Julverne.  Not exactly Chamber Prog (except a few elements in places), but rather Prog Folk.

Excellent article by the way and one I missed the first time around.  Most of these bands I have discovered, but a few still remain to be heard that I've never heard of, such as Hardscore, Pierre Vervloesem, Maximilist, Daniel Schell & Karo and Halvenhalf String Quartet..

I've also yet to hear Daniel Denis's solo albums.

By the way, I love both Kandahar albums and I really wish they're get re-issued on CD.

One last band to mention is [bub] who worked with Cro Magnon on one of their albums.

Addendum:

I've just remembered that Catherine Jauniaux is also Belgian and she's put out albums in her own name (Fluvial being one) and with other groups, such as the multi-national avant-prog band The Hat Shoes.


Edited by James - March 07 2008 at 07:21
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2008 at 07:27
I never DAAU was added here
Aranis is an omisssion of mine
 
Wrong Object an excellent additions. I had that in my mind for a while, but please feel free.
 
Nuit Caline a la Villa Mon Reve, we're working on it. Still trying to find the correct artwork
let's just stay above the moral melee
prefer the sink to the gutter
keep our sand-castle virtues
content to be a doer
as well as a thinker,
prefer lifting our pen
rather than un-sheath our sword
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2008 at 07:41
Hugues, they were added by Angelo a while back: http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=3393 Wink

I think Catherine Jauniaux might be added in her own right in the future too.  She's released an album with Japanese vocalist Ikue Mori as well.


Edited by James - March 07 2008 at 07:42
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2008 at 11:03
Kudos Mr Trane. Chamber Prog seems a perfect fit to UZ's music. RIO is better as a grouping than a genre.
PLUS .... UZ will honour FMPM with its' presence this fall in Montreal. How many canucks are socking away their canadian dollars for that September weekend ?
Too bad that Samla wasn't booked for this year's shows. It could have made for a good package on one of the two concert nights.
"Here I am talking to some of the smartest people in the world and I didn't even notice,” Lieutenant Columbo, episode The Bye-Bye Sky-High I.Q. Murder Case.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 08 2008 at 07:29
I have a Waterloo review ready & on hold. I am awaiting the inclusion of this band in the database.

 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 13 2008 at 13:03
Originally posted by toroddfuglesteg toroddfuglesteg wrote:

I have a Waterloo review ready & on hold. I am awaiting the inclusion of this band in the database.

 
 
Actually Waterloo and Pebblesmight have a case at proto prog.
let's just stay above the moral melee
prefer the sink to the gutter
keep our sand-castle virtues
content to be a doer
as well as a thinker,
prefer lifting our pen
rather than un-sheath our sword
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 25 2008 at 16:44
Trane you are my hero!!!!!! good essay!!




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