TOUS DANS L'MEME BATEAU

''Coopérative des Artistes du Nouvel-Ontario'' was a French-Canadian artistic community based in Ontario,Canada,which included not only musicians,but also sculptors,actors,painters and other people,who devoted themselves to the language of art.Regarding the bunch of musicians around CANO,they were lead by singer/guitarist Andre Paiement,who was also member of New Ontario's Theatre,and wrote most of the material of the band's debut.No less than eight musicians participated on this first effort of CANO,supported by various guest musicians on different traditioonal instruments.Actually the band owned a farm near Sturgeon Falls,where most of the recordings took place.

''Tous Dans L'Meme Bateau'',released in 1976,was a mix of pleasant Folk tunes with more intricate pieces of Folk Rock music,like the dark opener ''Viens nous voir'',featuring beautiful violins and acoustic guitars accompanied by the poetic performance of Paiement.The four short followers are nothing more than Pop-Folk tracks with somekind of a rural edge,based mostly on pleasant harmonica and violin passages along with joyful voices,where I notice the sensitive voice of Paiement's sister Rachel (listen to the nice piano-ballad Les rues d'Ottawa).

Placing side B,I was really a bit dissapointed,expecting musically much more from the almost 10-min. long ''En plein hiver''.About half of the track is covered by intense lyrical music with strong acoustic content and ethereal choirs and you'll have to wait for the middle-section for some fine instrumental music with electric piano battling with bass,congas and even some electric guitar sounds.''Chanson pour Suzie'',sung by Rachel Paiement, functions as a bridge between the previous track and the closer ''Baie St. Marie''.Here the traditional folk side of CANO blends with their Art Rock nature.Wasyl Kohut mixes seagulls' effects with violin solos supported by David C. Burt's mellow electric guitar,before the vocal section introduces the listener to the jazzy side of CANO with some good instrumental playing and a horn section delivering deep funky sounds until the end.

As for the rating this is a hard decision.The truth is that the pure Folk tracks hold no particular interest for the prog fans.Regarding the three longer ones,the opener and closer of the album will leave every prog fan rather satisfied,while ''En plein hiver'' holds some interest for the half of its duration.So my true rating is close to 2.5 stars,but I will have to go with the 2 stars here,as my final taste is that the album heads mainly to fans/collectors of Folk-Rock.Admirers of Classic Prog or more adventuruous listenings will propably be dissapointed by ''Tous Dans L'Meme Bateau''.