DIONNE - BRÉGENT

I have to agree with Hugues that this is one of the best albums to come out of Quebec. Released in 1976 it's hard to believe that this was on Capital Records. This is Electronic soundscape music for the most part but man I'm blown away at the compositions and ideas here. I actually listened to "Deux" first which is their second album but just wasn't that into it and seeing just about everyone rates it higher than this the debut I didn't even give this a spin until just recently and was promptly putting it into my rotation. This is my music. A duo of drums and electronics but these two play almost everything conceivable when it comes to percussions and keyboards. A guest 6 member choir is on a couple of tracks along with a female soprano singer who is amazing.

Each side is a suite broken down into tracks with side one being composed in June of 1975 while side two was created in February of '75. Two very different pieces with the second side going into darker territories including the longest song on here "Possession/Destination" at almost 11 minutes being a great example of this. So much atmosphere on this record and side two gets haunting at times. Love the choir and female vocals on "Chant d'Espoir" which is divided into two parts on the cd but is one track on vinyl.

When I do my Electronic list this will be right up there with the greats. A must-have for fans of adventerous music out there.

Canada may not have been recognized as an important figure in the 70's Progressive Electronic rock scene in its beginnings. Easy to understand considering its then lack of instant communication from this styling's craddle and the lesser quantity (not quality) of P/E's musicians up there. Nevertheless I have found an unique musical translation and freedom that sets it apart from those monster European acts' musical idiom (The famous "Berlin" and "Cosmic" schools).

Dionne - Brégent's 1976 "Et le Troiseme Jour" is no exception to that. Divided in two parts, side "A" & "B", this release shows 2 different approaches in electronic music composition. So more than a single composer's effort we are offered two separate ones, which I myself find quiet amusing instead of feeling insulted.

Side "A" is close in spirit to P/E's craddle but adding a twist by using gamelan drums and other fast paced acoustic percussive instruments counterpointing the synths' atmospherics and mainly by avoiding the pulse sequences that everybody used to and still abuse.

Side "B" on the other side (literally) is close in spirit to electronic experimentation or Avant Garde and Rock in Opposition stylings, so as to "classic electronic" music composers. Blending free musical cacophonic structures with all kind of weird electronic sounds and traditional percussions this piece is quiet "unfriendly" in comparison to its side "A" sister but still unpretentious and quiet well achieved.

As far as the rating goes, side "A" merits 4 PA stars, side "B" is good but that solely (3 PA stars), therefore using some kind of "unbiased" arithmetics>

***3.5 PA stars.

Of the two albums Vincent Dionne and Michel Georges Brégent made together, it's clear that their debut together, ...Et le Troisième Jour (I guess that translates as "On the Third Day", but you can be sure they probably didn't get that title from ELO, but from the Bible) is a more difficult listen. I can't believe the kind of albums that Capitol once had on their roster, but I'm willing to believe the unbelievable mega success the label had with the Beatles in North America afforded them to take a few risks and take a chance on some artists that might have artistic merit but even they knew would never receive much commercial success (until the late '70s, that is). I don't know how well-known this duo is known in Quebec, but I can guarantee you that Capitol really took a big gamble. This is basically a fascinating combination of electronic, gamelan, opera and avant garde. I could imagine Joel Vandroogenbroeck of Brainticket liking this album, in fact it features a lot of the same kinds of percussion as early '80s Brainticket (Adventure, Voyage) even if there's a totally different approach here. The first side of the LP emphasizes the electronic side , "Chant D'espoir", for example has this theme played on synth from Brégent, with gamelan-like percussion from Dionne, and a male/female choir and the second half features operatic voice from opera singer Pauline Vallaincourt. The avant garde stared rearing its face with "Résurrection". Side two of the album emphasizes the avant garde side of things. A good portion of this side really has a scary and ominous feel, and for those put off by that, it's little wonder some prefer the more prog rock leaning second album called Deux. In Quebec, these two LPs don't seem to be particularly expensive, and if you collect vinyl, you should be able to get a copy for a reasonable price. It's quite a far cry from the more folk-dominated groups like Harmonium, Le Temps, Beau Dommage, Lougarou (Garalou), and I noticed Quebec didn't have a whole lot of electronic acts (but nether did the rest of Canada). Dionne/Brégent might not be for electronic purists, that's for sure. I really can't say which of the two I like better despite their very different approach, if you can't take Et le Troisième Jour you might like Deux. If you thought Deux seems a "bit generic" then go for this one instead.

When I felt I was scrapping the bottom of the barrel when it comes for prog rock, a few years back I started looking towards the prog scene in Quebec and unearthed a bunch of gems. Harmonium is a bit obvious, perhaps, because even mainstream Quebec society knows who they are. They're that well-known and famous there. Enough for a made for TV movie on them in 2003 (although Serge Fiori was less than happy with the movie and how he and the band was presented, from my understanding). I know Beau Dommage was also very big. Through the years I discovered great stuff from Pollen, Et Cetera, Sloche, Opus 5, and Morse Code. Some of these groups come from folk backgrounds (Harmonium most noted), some of them Gentle Giant influenced (Et Cetera most notable), and others taking from either fusion or the British and French scenes (Morse Code, for example). But there hadn't been a whole lot of electronic acts, and Vincent Dionne and Michel-Georges Brégent is an example, and I'm so glad I discovered them. I started with Deux, which is their second album, which is no surprise, given the title (in cause you didn't know, "deux" is French for "two"). The avant garde leanings of their debut was absent here, going for a more symphonic approach, most particularly on "Le Prophète". They did not sell out in any way, shape or form. This is nothing short of amazing, this album is full of Moog, Orchestron, clavinet, Farfisa organ, and tons of drums and percussion done in that nice '70s fashion I so love. There's even a little Mellotron, some tron flute towards the end of "Le Prophète", but for some strange reason Michel-George Brégent preferred the Orchestron (the Vako Orchestron is a professional grade version of Mattel's Optigan, which runs on flimsy optical discs). It's easy to tell you're hearing an Orchestron because it has a more muddy, scratchy sound to it, and you can hold a note indefinitely. "Campus" has a bit more of a fusion oriented feel to it, I really love how Vincent Dionne's drumming catches up to the pace of the synth sequencer pattern. "Transit Express" has a bit of a Tangerine Dream thing going on with a synth pattern (the synth also sounds like how Cameron Hawkins of FM might have sounded had he recorded an album of electronic music around this time period, rather than the crossover prog FM were doing around this time). As far as I'm concerned, this is rather original electronic music, and I highly recommend this to fans of electronic and prog. I really can't seem to find any fault from this album.

In 1975 keyboardist Michel-Georges Bregent, known for his work on Brégent with his brother Jacques, teamed up with the experienced percussionist Vincent Dionne, a hard worker, who had been colaborating with several ensembles and artists since 1968, forming the Dionne/Bregent duo.With a contract under the support of Capitol they recorded their debut ''...Et le troisieme jour'' in 1976.The whole album is based on Bregent's keyboards and Dionne's percussion with the only help coming in the choir parts from a list of guest singers, among them operatic soprano Pauline Vaillancourt and Judi Richards, who was a singer for the Disco band Toulouse around the time.

Dionne/Bregent's debut release unleashes two different faces, each connected with the two sides of the LP.The opening one is haunting and slightly experimental keyboard-based Electronic Music with strong TANGERINE DREAM hints.Performed on analog synthesizers, organ, percussion and vibraphone this is trully floating and cosmic music, becoming more tasteful with the presence of someking of Gregorian-type chants and the operatic voice of Vaillancourt.The best piece is propably the very atmospheric ''Resurrection'', evolving from a Mellotron-drenched prelude to a CYBORTON-type of spacey Electronic Music with repetitive percussions supporting.The flipside is as if it has been recorded by another act.The long 11-min. ''Possession / Destination'' tends to Avant-Garde experimentalism, being a boring piece of abstract industrial noises akin to FRANCO BATTIATO's minimalistic works, where the duo reputedly experimented with the sound of glass jugs and metal sheets.From this point on the album looses totally its direction and never fully recovers.The remaining cuts are full of sound effects, loops and experimental sounds with no evident cohesion and almost total absence of natural instruments, apart from some sporadic organ and synths performed by Bregent.

An album that starts as a decent effort of Electronic Music with both dark and ethereal movements, ends up to be a hard experimental listening even for the mystified fans of the genre.Recommended only to fans of dissonant and industrial Experimental/Electronic Music.

Ambitious work from this Canadian progressive electronic collective. They propose beautiful, melodic, cosmic electronic inventions with lot of synth scales, gorgeously orchestrated epic ambiences. For my part I think that it sounds a bit dated and mainstream. Their style is really classical & cheesy but reveals some interesting mysterious, spaced out variations. All compositions have this special harmonised atmosphere thanks to grandiose keyboards and heroics passages. "Prologue" is a semi-medieval ambience dominated by organic continuous sound forms, bucolic flute lines. "Le prophete" is a massive, melodic and emotional electronic epic, containing really distinctive synthesiser lines (reminding some Goblins' dark hymns). After 8 minutes the sound becomes more symphonic with middle age intonations. "Campus" is a ridiculous mainstream electronic composition with accessible, really kitsch & exotic melodies. However a good mention to the second half of the composition with its furious improvised, really proggy keyboard / drum duet. No super exciting and the synth combinations are always in the same tone (really linear for the ears). Recommended for fans of new agey synth essays and mysterious symphonic epics.

A compilation from Dionne's two albums around the turn of the 80's (Destinations from 88 and Parade from 91), this compilation is not an anthology. Having never heard either of those albums, I can't possibly tell you if the choices made are judicious or not, but we shall let Vincent be the judge. Both albums were ethnic fusion albums with a slight new-age twist that could be easily confused as an ECM label release. Coming with its own separate ethnic artwork, the compilation shuffles tracks from both albums without much sense (at least not apparent to this writer), not even respecting the movement order of the mini-suite Transalpine (from Destination), or including it in its entirety.

The over half of the tracks come from Parade, which appears to be the better albums of the two, at least the more acoustic and instrumental (as opposed to Destinations' programmed and synthesized production). Indeed the lead-off title track (of this compilation) is a very new-agey piece as is the solemn Jardins De Roc are from Destinations and Oregon's Paul McCandless's wind instruments won't change much to the overall feel. A minor surprise in Parade, where Dionne recycles one of the riffs from Dionne- Brégent's Troisième Jour, remaining unclear whether by design or accident. Much less by accident and much more by design (and not quite as subtly either) is Ocean Tears' riff-in- seven also coming from the same album, and maybe being my fave track from the album.

One of those hundreds of album of the ethnic fusion genre, none better or worse than this one, but not really essential (and a far cry from the superb D-B duo's essential works), unless a die-hard fan of this genre.

After the demise of the brilliant DIONNE-BREGENT duo, Michel-Georges Brégent reformed with his brother Jacques their eponymous group and issued their second album, which was based on the same principle, the interpretation of poems/lyrics and the adaptation to music. The group assembled for the recording includes Vincent Dionne (but he will not tour) and Lasting Weep's bassist Claude Chapleau, but they will not have the double sax attack of their debut. Actually most of these tracks were written prior to the formation of DIONNE-BREGENT, but they were never recorded before 78 for this album. Graced with an intriguing face/eye artwork, the music is much rocker, but presents the same kind of adventurous forays into avant-garde music that Poussière Des Regrets.

After the horrible adaptation of Ferré's play on word of Rococo (including the communist allusion of "coco"), it is clear that they were much less inspired (this is the only track where the music is signed/adapted by Jacques, instead of Michel-Georges) than with Dieu Est Nègre on their debut album; but they quickly make up for it by the superb adaptation of Leclerc's Mes Longs Voyages, where they show the best of themselves. Indeed over the almost 10 minutes, Brégent will develop a stupendous spectrum of ambiances, dark, angst-filled improvs bordering free jazz. There will be another three Leclerc-inspired tracks, including lugubrious and gloomy Les Mouillures (the wettings), En Muet (in mute) on a cool jazz guitar, and much later in the album, the short Qu'Ont Vus Tes Yeux? (what saw your eyes) with its folk theme turning into a nightmarish circus music. Thopughout the album, the musicians are regularly at the forefront, amongst which Dionne's percussions and Chapleau's excellent bass playing, but also Brégent's Orchestron (a modern version of the mellotron I gather) and guitarist Monpetit's rare flute.

The up-tempo but tense Charles Trenet-inspired (of all people) La Folle Complainte is clearly another highlight, where singer Jacques can really show the wide mood ranges he is capable of, but the whole group jazzes meanly. L'Intersection (coupled with a short Couvre-Feu (curfew) is a stunning full-out 100MPH jazz-rock foraying into avant- prog with some wild female scats, and is yet another nail into your coffin, especially when reaching the martial Couvre-Feu part. Liberté is the only track of the album that was composed expressly for this album and it sticks out a bit: coming with an extended vocal section (often closing on operatic feels), the piece could be coming from a Zappa album, had it the slightest hint of humour. Excellent but not easy. The closing and menacing Sur Le Balcon (on the loggia) with Dionne's vibraphone is yet another highlight.

The ProgQuebec reissue comes with a bonus live recording of the group prior to this album's recording (thus showing that most of these tracks were indeed much anterior to the album's release) in June 77 at UQAM University. Almost all of these tracks will be presented on Pour Partir Ailleurs, which in a bit deceiving, but it is interesting to compare the work-in-progress versions, where Longs Voyages and Intersection are the best, but cannot compete with the later studio versions. Only a short version of Dieu Est Nègre belongs to the debut album, but fails to show the insanity of the piece that was the cornerstone of the concerts in the first half of the decade. Not really bringing that much of added value, these live tracks (as well as the album per se) will be of interest to those that have a good mastery of French, but it is not absolutely essential, either as the music is stunning enough to be worth the investing price alone.

This ProgQuebec-assisted release is one of the best releases of this year, and certainly one of the best deserved one to. The duo's two albums reunited on the single release (with a few excellent bonus tracks) is celebrating one of La Belle Province's most surprising acts (along with the crazy Michel Madore) and gives the new world answer to Krautrock. Coming with a rather informative (French-only) booklet reproducing the artwork, but also going over the full re-issue adventure and a few impressive live pictures.

With the integrality of both albums remastered (read the respective reviews on the album page), this re-issue also has a pair of unreleased tracks, one of which is a Stockhausen percussive piece (recorded pre-D-B time in 74) and the other a very Tangerine and Jarresque fusion. Quite a stunning close to this double set.

This "anthology" is simply one of the moments' best reissues and is absolutely necessity for all Krautrock fans and especially those into electronic music. I cannot stress this enough that such works are re-discovered imperatively by all type of progressive music-lovers.

One of the weirder things of this Quebecois duo is that their two albums are completely different, yet just as stunningly beautiful. With this album, the duo is definitely more inclined between TD and Mike Oldfield or Vangelis or even in some ways Jean Michel Jarre. One could also think of some of The Enid's most symphonic works too. Although not nearly as adventurous s the first album (as the rather bland artwork will tell you right away) the album is nonetheless extremely interesting in the way that that the album is an Vangelico- Oldfield-Froesian masterpiece and more than just a heavily influenced album, a great album, period.

Much more interesting than the rather empty Tubular Bells or Incantations, much more enthralling and Froese's Aqua or Ash Ra's later 70's music and much more convincing than Vangelis' Earth, this album is an altogether more accessible album than their debut collaboration, but just as stupendous (even grandiose, but never cheesy) in its own way. As you might guess, the multi-movement suite of Le Prophète is the centrepiece, but the twoi tracks on side 2 are also worth their weight, even if Campus has a not too-lengthy drum/percussion solo (not a fan of those).

Well this second album is greatly different from its debut, but in its own way, is just as essential. A third album was foreseen and partly written, but apparently not really recorded except for one great track (in the same genre as Deux) for a soundtrack, and is presented as a bonus on the re-issue.