TOP 10 70's French Prog

pantacruelgruel wrote: Nice to see my France favourite "Ange" starting to show up in these lists   And now back to reality (TV) ... Des siecles & des siecles passees un messie est venu ... et ILS L'ONT TUER !

Whew, sone time has passed, & I've not attracted "hate email".

Par Mephisto, par Jupiter;
et tout les saints en enfer !

 

DallasBryan wrote:     we are all learning here and feeling and misunderstandings will always be a part of it.   but I think we are ALL creating a better world the more we focus on the inner man and not follow what others use to try to lead us down deadend roads.   I am one of the few old proggers here still left to share with younger members the thoughts and idealogies that was 70's progressive rock and has been tempered by recording industry greed and governmental control.   we get better as time goes by....   PM to ya avestin, bet we get it worked out.........

Rocktopus wrote: DallasBryan wrote: 46and2 wrote: what about magma? MDK     hmmm, well they dont represent what I would call intelligently stimulating music, though MDK is probably their best. IMO. if one is looking for a band that is avant garde or awkward or radical in their ideas, Magma would be great choice. personally I find some of the musicians associated with the band solo albums to be much better than Christian Vanders collage of ideas that pretty much goes nowhere. Vander along with Robert Fripp seems to be two of the most overrated artists enshrined into todays idea of what progressive rock was in the 70's, but had little signifigance in their production years, only that they seemed to show signs of mental instibility and lack of balance in their muscial output. seemly this is an appeal to todays progressive rock youth, which is understood when media today seems to feed this element of the human psyche.   Play them with women in the room and see how long it is before they say what the hell is that and leave the room. thats not what I call good music!   You're good fun most of the time Dallas, but not when you're dissing everything not melodic and pleasant enough for your own ears. This side of french prog, (that I have only known about ca. as long as Avestin has) is to me along with most of the french bands you too actually enjoy, the most sensational music I've heard in years. Maybe I sometimes want it less pleasant, more demanding and twisted because I don't smoke anything, but work in in my studio all day while listening to music. I do know its not because I want to bereally special or anything pathetic like that. I got a woman, she doesn't like the music you enjoy, or Magma (she does like Vortex, though). Most of the time when any random women puts on some music she likes, I want to leave the room. If I had to think of what women would potentially like before I decided if the music's good enough, I'd have to reconsider the quality of 90% of my collection. While you'd maybe get away with giving up something like 80%. Hey, a lot more women like AC/DC than cosmishe. So what?

Edited by DallasBryan - February 14 2007 at 11:31

Oh. Here's ten from me:

Archaïa: Archaïa
Shylock: Il De Fievres
Flamen Dialis: Symptome Dei
Magma: Kobaïa
Vortex: Les Cycles de Thanatos
Igor Wakhevitch. Hathor
Heldon: Stand By
Eskaton: 4 Visions
Jean Cohen-Solal: Captain Tarthopom
Ange: Au Delà du Délire

What? No Catherine Ribeiro, Pataphonie, Komintern, Kha-Ym, Zao... and on and on..  

DallasBryan wrote: Mission Control, we are back to normal operations!

Oh Oh, I wonder if you're ever heard Bruce Cockburn's song.
The chorus goes like this :\
The trouble with normal is it always gets worse ....

P.S. I think we should all limit ourselves to discussing bands that we all know already. That way we can save brain space to store more meaningful information like, ahhh, lyrics, yeah, lyrics & liner notes; ahhh, lyrics, liner notes & star trek trivia, I mean history; and ahhh, I forget the rest, but there is something out there, even if there's not much in here ( my mind, I mean; or I mean my mind, oh don't mind me)

Or to quote Kim Mitchell who was once asked at a party why his jacket was on the floor -  "gravity"

Having been "flamed" once for claiming one french band reigned above the rest of France's prog scene, I must say that I've yet to see Avestin "force" his opinion or wide variety of groups on anyone. Yes, I find some contributors' lists sometimes overwhelming, but as long as they are not claiming divine guidance or commanding the rest of us to get a clue & believe as they do, I'm grateful for the free info. I can chose not to read it, eh (like some people who find my posts waaaaay too long). If I have some spare time, these lists might give me something to read up on. & if I happen to find one of those groups interesting, what are the chances that I may find other bands on those lists that may also appeal to me. While Avestin & I did have a misunderstanding about a minor matter outside of musical tastes, I must say this for the man - when I was dismissed as being "clueless" because I didn't include a lengthy list of artists to display my knowledge of a specific prog scene, he did join in & explain that he didn't see the point of arguing about one's tastes or preferences or even knowledge. And he also added , to dismiss comments from others who may be a bit too caught up in trying to prove they know best, especially without having any knowledge of the other person. .
Do I find his lists extensive, yes; but as an example, once I got into PFM, I started to read this site & other Prog web pages, & was surprised to learn the extent of Italy's 70s prog scene, with many groups now part of my collection.
So unless you're insecure, or you feel pressured to accept a stranger's word as the absolute truth just because you're read it here, relax, it's just music. It's meant to enjoy, to entertain.

And as per Pye ...
Bonjour les amis de mania, nous sommes fous !
Ne cherchez pas pourquoi,
Pas de chat, pas de deux, nous sommes fous !
Put down a little life from a morning cosmic.

 

Edited by DallasBryan - February 10 2007 at 11:57

amazing how many of these are still not in the archives! I fear avestin may be flooding the category also with too many meaningless bands as he tries to make up for the lack of knowledge of the french scene in the past, which could be counter productive.

Edited by DallasBryan - February 10 2007 at 08:45

BLuntly showing my bias,
I say
Ange - Emile Jacotey
Ange - Au dela du Delire
Ange - Guet Apens
Ange - Par les Fils de Mandrin
Ange - CImetiere des Arlequins
Atoll - L'Araignee-mal
Atoll - Musiciens Magiciens
Arachnoid - Arachnoid
Jean - Michel Jarre - Oxygene
Jean - Michel Jarre - Equinoxe

ANd I do admit that these just about cover all the bands that I actually know well. I have started listening to Pulsar, Magma, Carpe Diem, Malicorne,Pentacle, Saens, am finding something to keep me getting into their music in depth, but is is a lengthy process. I have also heard Tai Phong, Sandrose, & found nothing outstanding in their music.
Now mind you, if the list was for french speaking groups, there are a few Quebec groups that would knock off 5 or 6 of the above.