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Thread: FEATURED CD: Ere G - Au-delà des Ombres

  1. #1
    Moderator Poisoned Youth's Avatar
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    FEATURED CD: Ere G - Au-delà des Ombres




    Today's feature suggestion comes from bill g. This is a one off band that created some buzz a decade ago with their only release. It's gained a bit of cult status among its fans.


    Review from ProgArchives (bill g):
    A lovely blend of guitars, often 12-string, flutes and mellotron, and great bass playing, reminds of Anthony Phillips' 'Geese & The Ghost' and early PFM a bit. Definitely of the pastoral, symphonic mind, Robin produces layers of lushness that recall gardens and lovely morning sunshine. This album makes me long for a vacation, at least for a day. Very nice stuff, occasionally themes are repeated a bit more often than I would like, but the melodies are consistantly strong, especially the instrumental sections. I eagerly await his follow up.






    WANTED: Sig-worthy quote.

  2. #2
    Member Just Eric's Avatar
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    I had this CD for a brief while based on a PE recommendation. Soon discovered that while it was quality music done well, it didn't come close to my wheelhouse. What I remember is it being "cutesy."
    Duncan's going to make a Horns Emoticon!!!

  3. #3
    Member hippypants's Avatar
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    I wondered about this album so thanks for spotlighting. I looked around for reviews YT vids when I read a few post on PE, but couldn't find much on it and had forgotten about it.

  4. #4
    Oh, this is a great album, one of the better progressive records of the last 15 or so years. Very nice record. Some gorgeous melodies on this record!

  5. #5
    There are perhaps only some ten-to-fifteen - 10-15 - bands/projects in the "symphonic" rock genre that I - as a long time admirer and collector of anything "prog" - have truly appreciated this past decade, and this is most certainly one of them.

    I've listened this to bits, year in year out.
    Last edited by Scrotum Scissor; 09-13-2013 at 03:27 PM.
    "Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
    "[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM

  6. #6
    Member bill g's Avatar
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    Yeah, this is still a favorite of mine. With so much out, I listen maybe once a year, so I choose my time pretty carefully. Pretty much has to be a sunny day. My favorites are the opening song and the last song, especially the very, very end, which has a unique, haunting feel. I guess the follow up is to be called 'Beyond Shadows'

  7. #7
    That's Mr. to you, Sir!! Trane's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Just Eric View Post
    I had this CD for a brief while based on a PE recommendation. Soon discovered that while it was quality music done well, it didn't come close to my wheelhouse. What I remember is it being "cutesy."
    Ditto, I kept it for thre or four years and got rid of it. Never really warmed to it and keep wondering what people see or hear in it.
    my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Trane View Post
    Never really warmed to it and keep wondering what people see or hear in it.
    Ah, I've been wanting to answer such a question with this kind of stupidly cliched explanation; "[...] the deepness of melody!"

    Seriously. That deepness truly is there. The longing, the closeness of an intimate passion which actually succeeds in never passing on into pure bombast. Alright, so Serge Fiori did this sorta thing way better - the singer/songwriter's "symphonic" rock/folk-pop affair. But no one would expect many others to reach that level of height. I enjoy the Ere G not for what it could have foolishly aspired to be - like so much overblown "symph" progressive - but for the charmingly direct piece of songwriting it eventually becomes.
    "Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
    "[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM

  9. #9
    Member bill g's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Scrotum Scissor View Post
    Ah, I've been wanting to answer such a question with this kind of stupidly cliched explanation; "[...] the deepness of melody!"

    Seriously. That deepness truly is there. The longing, the closeness of an intimate passion which actually succeeds in never passing on into pure bombast. Alright, so Serge Fiori did this sorta thing way better - the singer/songwriter's "symphonic" rock/folk-pop affair. But no one would expect many others to reach that level of height. I enjoy the Ere G not for what it could have foolishly aspired to be - like so much overblown "symph" progressive - but for the charmingly direct piece of songwriting it eventually becomes.
    As Count Roogna (six-fingered man) once said, 'Well spoken, sir.'

  10. #10
    Member ashratom's Avatar
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    Well, I bought this not long after it came out, and I still think it's great. For me, it captures the essence and the brilliance of the 1970s Quebec progressive rock masters. It's a much missed genre, and I wouldn't mind seeing more of a revival myself. I know there are newer bands from Quebec (and excellent in their own right), but they don't look back as Ere G did.

  11. #11
    That's Mr. to you, Sir!! Trane's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ashratom View Post
    Well, I bought this not long after it came out, and I still think it's great. For me, it captures the essence and the brilliance of the 1970s Quebec progressive rock masters. It's a much missed genre, and I wouldn't mind seeing more of a revival myself. I know there are newer bands from Quebec (and excellent in their own right), but they don't look back as Ere G did.

    Not even close to my ears. sorry, but they sound thin and derivative to me.


    But in some ways, yes.... Quebec's 70's prog still has to find its way back in many mainstream Québécois' hearts... For some reasons, it's almost as if they're ashamed of it (Harmonium and Beau Dommage excepted)
    my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.

  12. #12
    Member bill g's Avatar
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    So one man's 'looking back with fondness', is another's 'derivative'? I suppose that is always inevitable, and why bands like Unifaun and The Watch are loved by some, disliked by others, although those bands purposely sound like Genesis, whereas Ere G has just hints of 70s Quebec, as well as some hints of Hackett, Ant Phillips, and perhaps Pink Floyd (A Pillow of Winds?). Thin? Don't get that, (not sure if you mean the voice or what-the production is too lush to be 'thin' - but that's just me.)

    I guess my favorite thing about this album is that it is beautiful, which works for me when accompanied by genuineness and a heartfelt longing. I hear this in some of Ant Phillips' music too, and why I equate this album much more to a fully symphonic version of Anthony Phillips than to Harmonium.

  13. #13
    Great album indeed. What I like in ERE G is the exquisite blend of two rather dinstinct styles. The uniquely french chanson driven folk of the Quebec style with the more pastoral dreamlike nostalgia of early Anthony Phillips music. And all offered in a discreet symphonic prog setting. This is excellently displayed in the track "Au-delà des ombres". In other places (for example "Ardeur ternie") one witnesses a more Harmonium meets Pollen cross. And it never gets pompous.
    Last edited by spacefreak; 09-15-2013 at 06:11 AM.
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