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Octobre - Survivance CD (album) cover

SURVIVANCE

Octobre

Crossover Prog


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Sean Trane
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Prog Folk
4 stars Third album from the Flynn-lead Octobre, named after a made-up word (survivance would mean ability or aptitude at survival), and by now Octobre is at the top of its game, as was starting Quebec's progressive rock boom. Offenbach, Maneige and Octobre will found a short-lived partnership to play more gigs, then play with Harmonium (who was to become huge in their home province) and Beau Domage. This lead to recording Survivance, recorded again at Studio Six at the end of the summer of 75, with another non- committing artwork sleeve.

Starting out on the superb (and relatively lengthy) almost-instrumental Tendre Torture (sweet/soft torture), Octobre shows that Flynn's songs were not their only strength, and the ever-changing track is a small tour de force. Christiane Robichaud's choirs are to be heard on both instrumental, each starting the vinyl sides. In this regard, Baptême De L'Air (aerial christening) is another stunning instrumental that shines like the sun. At the time, Quebec's political conscience was in full bloom, and the artistic/cultural revolution in full prime, and En Famille celebrates a festival where 100 000 partied on the Mont Royal and celebrated like a family feast, but something is brewing in Flynn's mood as not right. La Valse à 11 Temps is definitely one of Octobre more "prog" tracks, sounding like Crimson would had Fripp been from La Belle Province. Of course, you understood that the track is in 11/4, no doubt a remnant of their concert with King Crimson headlining.

L'Oiseau Rouge (red bird) is one of the best-produced tracks where the group's full dynamic range is emphasized, and they sound like Supertramp (Asylum) meeting Mahavishnu Orchestra, if you can picture that. The closing title track is Flynn's more personal text on the album about his feeling in the music industry, and Hebert's excellent drum rolls save the track from sinking in cheesyland. Another filler is Encore Ce Soir, no doubt inspired by the whining of Flynn's girlfriend.

Report this review (#129119)
Posted Wednesday, July 18, 2007 | Review Permalink
4 stars Once upon a time... A Canadian prog band lead by Pierre Flynn, Octobre were one of the major progressive bands in Quebec more precisely. Despite a rather chaotic career and production, they released a pure gem, "Survivance" in 1975 which is still not available on the CD form. I'm still wondering why because French speaking fans will enjoy the gorgeous lyrics of 'Suvivance', close to Atoll's fabulous 'Le Cerf volant' (in "Tertio" 1977) or 'L'oiseau rouge'. The other fans will like a very personal kind of prog in the 'French tradition' (theatrical and poetic chansons with instrumental developments in the way of Ange) showing influences such as King Crimson in awesome instrumental tracks which supports this superb melancholy singer.
Report this review (#260839)
Posted Thursday, January 14, 2010 | Review Permalink
4 stars In my opinion, this third album of the Canadian band OCTOBRE entitled "Survivance" is his r best work, and t that is more to the level of the best and more significant disks of the progressive of that country. Unlike their previous works, this disk presents music with much more complex themes and instrumental passages in the "height" of the great names of the progressive. Besides, there is the most pronounced presence of instruments as the mellotron and the synthesizer (practically absentees in the previous disks). My highlights are the track 1 "Tendre Tortures", track 5 "Baptême Of L'air" (including of a feminine choir ) and the track 7 " L`Oiseau Rouge ". My rate is 4 stars!!!!
Report this review (#308605)
Posted Saturday, November 6, 2010 | Review Permalink
Mellotron Storm
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars OCTOBRE were a four piece out of Quebec who had a pretty good run in the seventies releasing four studio albums including this one their third in 1975. The singer/keyboardist dominates here as this is very much a piano/vocal led record. I like the drums and bass on here more than the piano and the guitar is almost an after-thought much of the time. This is a nice record though and I find it interesting that Quebec seems to have it's own sound during this 70's period. And I certainly am a fan of many of the records that were birthed from this era but this one overall is not a 4 star record in my music world.

The vocals are warm and he sings in different styles with confidence. And this is a proggy album and the one track that I kind of took to first was "La Valse A Onze Temps" with the drums and urgent sound early on. Some intensity here and I keep waiting for the breakout but instead they change the second half of the song to a light and silly sound with vocals which I'm not into.

I like "L'oiseau Rouge" a lot and it's these tracks where we get some heat that I'm drawn to. Mostly a piano/vocal start but after 3 minutes they turn it up with vocal melodies too. There's a jazzy vibe on "En Familie" that would come out more on their next album apparently. Clavinet too which is also on the opener which is very much a feel good piece and a great way to open the album. It's also the longest track by far at 6 1/2 minutes.

So my rating reflects my opinion that this is an inconsistent record despite some real highs but almost every track has it's ups and downs.

Report this review (#2924779)
Posted Monday, May 15, 2023 | Review Permalink

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