Hmmm.. Seems like my taste and listening habits changed a lot in last 20 years, as I had absolutley no Problem
to digest the debut LP now. I can appreciate the compositions as such, but I don't like the instrumentation
on this album very much.
I was encouraged enough to sample some track from Armes & Cycles which I really loved. I really needed that more rock Setting. I also sampled some more recent stuff and although less Rock I liked that too.
So thank you and Mr. Scroty for encouraging me to give him a Chance.
Now I have the problem that almost all his stuff seems to be OOP.
I also think his vocals are very pleasant. He might not be perfect but I like his
singing style in a similar way I like Battiato for example.
Last edited by TheH; 01-23-2015 at 03:17 PM.
I may be in the minority on this, but for my ears Marcoeur is one of the few artists who got progressively better and better over time at least up until the mid-1990s. Early stuff is a little too eccentric even for me, though there were moments of sublimity to be found on each record. Then came the wonderful "Armes & Cycles", and then a couple of masterpieces in the 1980s and 1990s such as "Celui Ou Y'A Joseph" and "Ma Vie Avec Elles".Originally Posted by TheH
I love the Battiato comparison BTW. Both seminal musical personalities, creating sound worlds uniquely theirs with little or no resemblance to anything else that was (or is) around.
Last edited by Levgan; 01-23-2015 at 06:56 PM.
Glad to hear it man - that's progress! Interesting comment regarding the instrumentation on the s/t album - what exactly isn't doin' it for you? He has a great ear (obviously) for percussion and he uses it brilliantly IMO.
If you do downloads, CD Baby has all of his albums available as FLACS for $10 US each. I might order the two albums I don't own, even though I would much rather have the actual discs.
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/AlbertMarcoeur
"Plusieurs" is full of great melodies. It is possibly the most melodic album in his career, IMO, but in a way that only Marcoeur is able to deliver. If you read French, the texts are also very clever and funny. As a self-declared fan, you should definitely give it a try.
Not exactly true. You can order everything he released (except for Sports et Percussions, which hasn't been re-released on cd) directly from his website www.marcoeur.com
Thirded, though honestly- I love them all!
Somehow I do tend to return to Plusiers the most-
On the one hand it is probably his most accessible,
On the other hand it still is very Marcoeurian in style, witty and playfull, minimal and complex at the same time.
I even managed to turn on some "normal" people on Marcoeur with this album
This is one of the few albums that I haven't heard - don't think Moscow stores used to carry it, though I have bought 6 or 7 titles right here, without having to order online. Reading praises in this thread, I'm now fully convinced that I need to get it somehow.Originally Posted by flytomars
Does anybody have the skinny on "Sports Et Percussions"?
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
Any time any one speaks to me about any musical project, the one absolute given is "it will not make big money". [tip of the hat to HK]
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
Sorry - I mean there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of info on what this album is all about, or at least I can't find much. Never heard a whole lot of discussion on it, either. Not that Prog Archives is the "Bible" of prague by any stretch, but it's oddly missing from his discography there as well. Weird.
Any info is greatly appreciated Mr. F, plus I would LOVE to hear what this gig was like! Danka sir.
OK, now I understand.
So, I went to the Victoriaville Festival in something like 1994 or so specifically to see him. I felt it was going to be my only chance (this is a decade before I actually went to France) and I took it.
He did the entire album plus other stuff. What you have to understand is that in addition to the great music, really, Albert is all about the language. If you aren't a French speaker (I'm not), you can't catch a big part of what is going on, as I saw as I watched all the Francophones around me laughing uproariously at things that were sung or said, and leaving me half unclear what exactly was going on.
The basic idea if I understood it correctly, is drawing parallels between competitive sports and music. It was quite witty, and even if I missed the point of a lot of it, I was able to get some of the 'material' via pantomime. There was a great bit with him and his 2 brothers all on drums, as racing car sounds played, and they were 'racing each other' on the drumkits, racing past each other, trying to bump each other off of the racing track (the stage), etc. All done solely by pantomime and by drumming. It was quite funny and quite fucking brilliant.
I think it's one of his best 'post the 1st four' albums, so I was very happy to see the show, to meet Albert and to have breakfast with him the next day [My Breakfast With Albert].
The thing that was the biggest revelation to me, which shows you what a dim bulb I can be, was seeing how he got that trademarked 'Albert Marcouer drumkit sound', which consisted of 3 guys all playing drum kits and all playing simple, complementary patterns, which made the whole sound not hyper-complex, but wonderful and HUGE.
Frankie, hope this helps.
Last edited by Steve F.; 01-24-2015 at 10:14 AM.
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
Any time any one speaks to me about any musical project, the one absolute given is "it will not make big money". [tip of the hat to HK]
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
Last edited by Steve F.; 01-24-2015 at 10:13 AM.
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
Any time any one speaks to me about any musical project, the one absolute given is "it will not make big money". [tip of the hat to HK]
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
Thank you Steve for that great review, it was fun reading it,
I wish I could see him in rock settings (these days he is touring with a strings quartet) and also I could relate to the feeling of the french audience laughing out loud while the joke goes over my head and bumps on the language barrier...
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
Any time any one speaks to me about any musical project, the one absolute given is "it will not make big money". [tip of the hat to HK]
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
Some "Sports Et Percussions" and you can order this CD on his Website (also shown in the Video)
Great Steve....that is the skinny and a half! Thanks man, much appreciated. Great story with the drumkits....I wonder if this stuff exists on video somewhere? Looks like I'm gonna D/L that album from CD baby. And having breakfast with the man - too cool.
Does anybody know if there exists a list of live gigs through the years with a list of musicians in each band? I tried searching but came up empty. Thx.
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