In a similar situation to The Netherlands, it seems that around the '68-'74 period, a large proportion of heavy French bands with the sounds we like at TDATS, never made full albums, and there are many excellent singles to return to one day. I originally intended this to be a selection of album tracks only, but one single has crept in. The previous French volume was largely a thick lysergic soup of fuzz, and there's still some of that here, but this one also represents mid & late '70s hard rock, and even some of France's early metal sounds. I've decided to do another french comp later on: France really came into its own in the late '70s during the punk years, so I'm considering making a comp of that period.
This brings together 13 acts that are totally new to the blog, and two that I have already used, Alice and Zoo. We have a varied mix of styles from the heavy prog of Alice & Visitors, to the proto-metal sounds of Hybride, Silvertrain & Volcania, on to the extreme fuzz of Rob Jo Star Band, while encountering various nuggets of unexpected heaviness from pop stars, private-press records and celtic folk. So, another adventure into the weighty, weird and wonderful, as usual...
Alice - Le Roseau (1972)
We open the set with a great guitar riff, which to me sounds like it could be from a band much more recent than 1972. The album this is from has expansive production and is mostly made up of accessible melodic progressive rock, so 'Le Roseau' isn't indicative of the whole album, but I had to use it as I really dig the juxtaposition of the intro riff, which surfaces a few more times in the song, with the other instrumentation of piano, hammond and even some horns. Alice was certainly one of the country's premiere progressive acts in 1972, which was early days for scene there.
Claude Harvey says: Thanks Rich for this amazing French compilation, Part Deux! Alice "Le Roseau" is one of the only heavy tracks on their second album Arrêtez le Monde (which have also been published in English under the name 'All Ice'). The rest of the album is more brass-rock/prog-rock oriented. For more Alice heavy tunes, please check their first album Alice (1970)
(Joël) Daydé - Can I Live My Life? (1971)
Here's a slice of heavy blues with Hendrixy guitar. Joël Daydé was in the early lineup of Zoo, who have appeared in the blog before and will again in this comp. He made a series of solo albums in the '70s and this track is taken from 1971's "Daydé". His albums traverse many styles of electric & acoustic blues. with progressive and hard rock touches. According to FR wikipedia (link) he had his biggest early success with a single called Mamy Blue (yt) and his singing has been compared to other gravel-voiced front men like Joe Cocker and Roger Chapman of Family.
Peinture Fraiche - Urbains Matins (1979)
Unfortunately I cannot tell you anything about the band 'Peinture Fraiche' {eng: 'Fresh Paint'} as this seems to be the only time they ever had any music published, so far I have been unable to find any web presence for them at all, I can't even find a good enough back cover scan to read the band member's names.
Incidentally, the Oxygène label, which existed from 1977 to '81, has a good catalogue to find some heavy French singles of the period, and certainly punk bands too.
Visitors - Visitors (1974)
I saw this album mentioned frequently while looking up French prog, and how could you not want to hear a "heavy" 1974 space rock prog album called Visitors, with that cover?! Well, the LP didn't quite match my expectations, but don't let my opinion put you off checking it out, as many people like this record, and good condition Decca originals sell for hefty prices. It does indeed have plenty of theatrical, ominous space rock pomp, and some heavy parts, but for me it never quite manages to reach escape velocity. I still elected to include a cut from this for the fun of it, and this mainly instrumental track makes a fitting segue in a collection of '70s rock.
Claude Harvey says: Visitors is a great Space-Rock album which can be considered as France's answer to Hawkwind. Other heavy rock songs on this album are "Dies Irae" and the amazing "Le Retour Des Dieux"
Hybride - Mon Pegaze (1977)
Aside from a few exceptions like Les Variations and Chico's Magnetic Band (neither of which were started by French natives), it's not easy finding full albums of '70s French hard rock which had evolved beyond standard boogie RnR.
The music itself is good, hard jam-rock with hints of prog, metal, even punk, and the music is enjoyable all the way through. The downside is the song-writing, which definitely takes a back seat to the technical ability, and I genuinely think Hybride could have come up with something exceptional, with a bit more sculpting.
Claude Harvey says: "Hybride LP "Ca n'a pas d'importance" was released as an independent LP in 1977 and re-released officially a few years later in 1980 by the FLVM label..."
Johnny Hallyday - Réclamation (1969)
Volcania - Les Cris de la Nuit (1977)
Volcania was a starting point for guys that would go on to be in better-known bands including Shakin' Street (a favourite of Lemmy no less), Trash, and one of France's best-known heavy bands, Trust, so they were a small but important part in the country's evolution of hard rock. l'Agression is a consistent album so if you like what you hear, it's certainly worth checking this one out.
Claude Harvey says: Volcania is a great French Hard Rock band labeled as "The Leading French Punk Group" by their label company... sure it didn't help if people were expecting a punk band on their shows! 😉
Claude Harvey says: Sorry "Boogie With the Law" is a fantastic song I was supposed to post on the facebook group next week haha, I really love this song which is a great well produced boogie-rock song with a really catchy chorus!
Jacky Chalard - Coupe d'Europe À G. Guichard (1977)
Here we have a bass player who was at one time in Dynastie Crisis (used in previous french volume) and other bands such as Trust (the '60s prog band, not the hard rock band) and Magnum, both of which I have checked out. He was a producer and session player for a scattering of bands and singles also, but in 1977 he made a solo album, which is mostly some solid if unremarkable boogie / RnR type stuff, except for one mystifying track, which is included here.
'Coupe d'Europe À G. Guichard' does not sound like anything else on the record, and it has fantastic drumming from Jean-Pierre Prévotat, who was in Triangle and Magnum. Maybe it just came out of the band during some studio down-time, when they had just sparked-up a fat one and turned on the television, as it's a groovy stoner jam which bizarrely has what sounds like TV football commentary over the top.
The clue is in the name of the track of course, so maybe Jacky and friends were celebrating the '77 European Cup 1-0 victory for Saint-Etienne over the UK's Liverpool, at the Geoffroy Guichard stadium (link), with a doobie? Probably, and who can blame them?
Rob Jo Star Band - Le Démon du Rythme (1975)
The track I used here wasn't even included on the original album, and was added as a bonus track when Frenchies "Born Bad Records" (link) re-issued the record in 2013, with help from the band themselves.
So, "Le Démon du Rythme" starts inauspiciously, but when it gets going, it's a wild trip which just about manages to keep itself together. Just be careful with your speakers, as this baby comes complete with some cone-shredding distortion / clipping.
Silvertrain - Disappointment Time (1979)
Michel Maillard + Grandes Vacances - Le Satyre Du Métro (1979)
Here's an excellent slab of hard rock from an obscure album. The production is top notch and you would never guess it's a privately-pressed LP from the sounds.
I have taken some information from the excellent French rock resource francerock70.centerblog.net (link). "Originally from the Paris region, Michel Maillard studied in Rennes where he met the future members of Grandes Vacances, and recorded this unique self-produced album in 1979: "Enfla Grand Délire". With Michel Maillard (Vocals, Acoustic Guitar), Hervé Brault and Jean Pol Colin (Electric Guitars), Robert Le Gall (Bass), Gilbert Sonna (Drums) and guest Daniel Paboeuf (Saxophone)."
I have only been able to source two tracks from the record so far but on the strength of 'Le Satyre Du Métro' i'd certainly like to hear more, although I don't know how much more hard rock is contained as the album is described as a mixture of rock, reggae and spoken-word humour.
Alan Stivell - Brezhoneg' Raok (1973)
Trust - Prends Pas Ton Flingue (1978)
To a French person, using Trust in an obscure rock compilation probably makes about as much sense as including AC/DC.
Also, Iron Maiden fans will probably be aware of them as they counted Nicko McBrain and Clive Burr briefly in their ranks, and thrash fans too, as Anthrax covered Trust's "Anti-social" on their State Of Euphoria album, but I think there's probably a lot of listeners who won't know them.
Here's a great track from their their first ever single, which also wasn't on an original studio album, so maybe even a few French people have never heard this one. The quality of this single shows that they were a fully fledged heavy band right out of the gate, and the album that came a year after this contains some tracks which are still live standards, as they reform from time to time to play live and make new records.
Zoo - Hard Times, Good Times (1972)
Further listening:
TRACKS01. Alice - Le Roseau (1972)from album "Arrêtez le Monde"02. Joël Daydé - Can I Live My Life? (1971)from album "Daydé"03. Peinture Fraiche - Urbains Matins (1979)from album "125 Grammes de 33 1/3 Tours"04. Visitors - Visitors (1974)from album "Visitors"05. Hybride - Mon Pegaze (1977)from album "Ça n'a Pas d'Importance"06. Johnny Hallyday - Réclamation (1969)from album "Rivière... Ouvre Ton Lit"07. Volcania - Les Cris de la Nuit (1977)from album "l'Agression"08. Sorry - Boogie With the Law (1978)from album "Sorry"09. Jacky Chalard - Coupe d'Europe À G. Guichard (1977)from album "Avec un Pied Dans le Rock 'n Roll"10. Rob Jo Star Band - Le Démon du Rythme (1975)from album "Rob Jo Star Band"11. Silvertrain - Disappointment Time (1979)from album "Which Platform Please?"12. Michel Maillard + Grandes Vacances - Le Satyre Du Métro (1979)from album "Enfla Grand Délire"13. Alan Stivell - Brezhoneg' Raok (1973)from album "Chemins de Terre"14. Trust - Prends Pas Ton Flingue (1978)single15. Zoo - Hard Times, Good Times (1972)from album "Hard Times, Good Times"
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| Alice - "Arrêtez le Monde" LP |
We open the set with a great guitar riff, which to me sounds like it could be from a band much more recent than 1972. The album this is from has expansive production and is mostly made up of accessible melodic progressive rock, so 'Le Roseau' isn't indicative of the whole album, but I had to use it as I really dig the juxtaposition of the intro riff, which surfaces a few more times in the song, with the other instrumentation of piano, hammond and even some horns. Alice was certainly one of the country's premiere progressive acts in 1972, which was early days for scene there.
Claude Harvey says: Thanks Rich for this amazing French compilation, Part Deux! Alice "Le Roseau" is one of the only heavy tracks on their second album Arrêtez le Monde (which have also been published in English under the name 'All Ice'). The rest of the album is more brass-rock/prog-rock oriented. For more Alice heavy tunes, please check their first album Alice (1970)
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| "Daydé" LP |
Here's a slice of heavy blues with Hendrixy guitar. Joël Daydé was in the early lineup of Zoo, who have appeared in the blog before and will again in this comp. He made a series of solo albums in the '70s and this track is taken from 1971's "Daydé". His albums traverse many styles of electric & acoustic blues. with progressive and hard rock touches. According to FR wikipedia (link) he had his biggest early success with a single called Mamy Blue (yt) and his singing has been compared to other gravel-voiced front men like Joe Cocker and Roger Chapman of Family.
Claude Harvey says: Joël Daydé's first solo album is an honest blues/psychedelic rock album with lots of soul! If you liked "Can I live my life?", be sure to check his amazing cover of Paperback Writer on his "Only a Man" single (1971)
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| 125 Grammes de 33 1/3 Tours Punk rock sampler |
This is a track that doesn't sound anything like punk, I found on a punk rock sampler. It's a great blues riff all the way. The 12" sampler of bands on the Paris "Ile De France" region record label 'Oxygène', was possibly the first French example of such a thing, and has some good tracks which I have filed away for more potential TDATS volumes.
Unfortunately I cannot tell you anything about the band 'Peinture Fraiche' {eng: 'Fresh Paint'} as this seems to be the only time they ever had any music published, so far I have been unable to find any web presence for them at all, I can't even find a good enough back cover scan to read the band member's names.
Incidentally, the Oxygène label, which existed from 1977 to '81, has a good catalogue to find some heavy French singles of the period, and certainly punk bands too.
Claude Harvey says: Peinture Fraiche "Urbains Matins" is a hard-rock oriented song by a punk band in the same vein than Cible, which great single "L'homme a la moto" can be found on the same label "Oxygene". Also on this label, you can find amazing heavy rock singles by Olaf (Rue du Désespoir) and Zeugma (Témoignage)
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| Visitors - Visitors (1974) |
I saw this album mentioned frequently while looking up French prog, and how could you not want to hear a "heavy" 1974 space rock prog album called Visitors, with that cover?! Well, the LP didn't quite match my expectations, but don't let my opinion put you off checking it out, as many people like this record, and good condition Decca originals sell for hefty prices. It does indeed have plenty of theatrical, ominous space rock pomp, and some heavy parts, but for me it never quite manages to reach escape velocity. I still elected to include a cut from this for the fun of it, and this mainly instrumental track makes a fitting segue in a collection of '70s rock.
Visitors was the creation of prolific musician and producer Jean-Pierre Massiera, who masterminded countless one-off albums ranging from symphonic prog to electronica & disco funk. He has been called "the French Joe Meek". The Guardian news paper called his work "a fetid miasma of sick humour, sound effects and unexpectedly first-rate musicianship", and reviewer William Rauscher described him as "a freewheeling auteur whose outrageous forays in trashy pop culture mix low-brow sensuality with oddball experimentation".
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| Hybride - "Ça n'a Pas d'Importance" LP |
Aside from a few exceptions like Les Variations and Chico's Magnetic Band (neither of which were started by French natives), it's not easy finding full albums of '70s French hard rock which had evolved beyond standard boogie RnR.
Those who have looked will have encountered many Zeuhl, fusion, experimental and symphonic prog acts, but when it comes to decent, meat & potatoes hard rock, it was rare in France until the end of the decade. Those more knowledgeable than me will have opinions on why this is (or may even disagree with me entirely), but I can say with certainty that it's much easier to find early hard rock in other major European countries like Germany, and even in more exotic places like South America.
That elevates finds like this record in importance. If this was a private-press EP by some midwest US band in the late '70s, it would be one of many similar things, but the fact this is French makes it stand out.
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| Hybride |
When I first listened to the LP, I made the mistake of judging it on the quality and variety of each individual track, and I thought it didn't quite meet the grade to be included in this comp. I have now reconsidered, and the way to look at this record is as one long jam of heavy rock. In that respect it works a lot better, and as I mentioned before, this is still quite a unique record to come from France at the time, so for that reason alone it's worth checking out.
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| Johnny Hallyday - "Rivière... Ouvre Ton Lit" 1969 |
He's a well-known rock'n'roll and pop star in France. As is the case with these pop stars who made a ton of singles, jumping on many styles and using a lot of different backing musicians, Johnny appears to have sung on the occasional heavy nugget. In this case, his 1969 album "Rivière... Ouvre Ton Lit" offers four rocking tracks, the best of which is this absolute belter, 'Réclamation'.
Who knows if Johnny himself actually wanted to make a hard rocker that's about as heavy as anything you can expect to hear from 1969? Often in these cases I think the contracted session musicians may have just felt like injecting some of what they were listening to at the time, and I don't know about this particular album, but it's mentioned on Discogs that Jimmy Page was one of those session players on some of Johnny's records....
Claude Harvey says: Johnny Hallyday is THE French rock legend and "Riviere Ouvre Ton Lit" is his first incursion on heavy rock territories, my favorite album which has been released on a 4 CD box set in 2020 under the title "Johnny 69".
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| Volcania - "l'Agression" LP |
This track has a crunchy, grinding, head-nodding groove going on, which is something I always like straight away. Like Hybride, we have another rough 'n ready album of early French hard rock from a short-lived band, this time it's less prog and more blues. Export copies of this LP had a punxploitation sticker saying "The Leading French Punk Group", but punk this most certainly is not. Bluesy hard rock with a soupçon of metal is the order of the day, and that's fine with TDATS!
Volcania was a starting point for guys that would go on to be in better-known bands including Shakin' Street (a favourite of Lemmy no less), Trash, and one of France's best-known heavy bands, Trust, so they were a small but important part in the country's evolution of hard rock. l'Agression is a consistent album so if you like what you hear, it's certainly worth checking this one out.
Claude Harvey says: Volcania is a great French Hard Rock band labeled as "The Leading French Punk Group" by their label company... sure it didn't help if people were expecting a punk band on their shows! 😉
Sorry - Boogie With the Law (1978)
Sorry - back cover
This track is carried by the dexterous guitar of Dominique Ruiz. Ruiz is French and previously played in Mammouth, and Stratagème. Paul Ives is credited as singer, keys-man, producer and other main guy of Sorry. He was born in London UK, and after performing in bands and musicals like Hair (according to Discogs), relocated to France where he worked as a writer and producer, and recorded three solo albums. He wrote film scores and lyrics for bands like Century, who had a french number 1 hit in 1985. Other players on the LP included names from Alice (in this comp) and fusion band, Surya.
Sorry's self-titled LP is a well-produced FM rock affair, the sound is at odds with the new-wave / post-punk stylings of the album cover, with at least three heavy tracks which are all worth hearing, the others being "Too Fast To Know" and "One Eyed Can". Track A3 "Moonshine" is missing from my album files, so I'd like to see if that's a rocker too, if I can find it! [EDIT 2023: I found Moonshine! It's now on my youtube channel (link)] More on Sorry can be read at rockmadeinfrance.com (link).
Sorry's self-titled LP is a well-produced FM rock affair, the sound is at odds with the new-wave / post-punk stylings of the album cover, with at least three heavy tracks which are all worth hearing, the others being "Too Fast To Know" and "One Eyed Can". Track A3 "Moonshine" is missing from my album files, so I'd like to see if that's a rocker too, if I can find it! [EDIT 2023: I found Moonshine! It's now on my youtube channel (link)] More on Sorry can be read at rockmadeinfrance.com (link).
Claude Harvey says: Sorry "Boogie With the Law" is a fantastic song I was supposed to post on the facebook group next week haha, I really love this song which is a great well produced boogie-rock song with a really catchy chorus!
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| Jacky Chalard - Avec Un Pied Dans Le Rock 'N Roll |
Here we have a bass player who was at one time in Dynastie Crisis (used in previous french volume) and other bands such as Trust (the '60s prog band, not the hard rock band) and Magnum, both of which I have checked out. He was a producer and session player for a scattering of bands and singles also, but in 1977 he made a solo album, which is mostly some solid if unremarkable boogie / RnR type stuff, except for one mystifying track, which is included here.
'Coupe d'Europe À G. Guichard' does not sound like anything else on the record, and it has fantastic drumming from Jean-Pierre Prévotat, who was in Triangle and Magnum. Maybe it just came out of the band during some studio down-time, when they had just sparked-up a fat one and turned on the television, as it's a groovy stoner jam which bizarrely has what sounds like TV football commentary over the top.
The clue is in the name of the track of course, so maybe Jacky and friends were celebrating the '77 European Cup 1-0 victory for Saint-Etienne over the UK's Liverpool, at the Geoffroy Guichard stadium (link), with a doobie? Probably, and who can blame them?
Claude Harvey says: Jacky Chalard's Coupe D'Europe is a really groovy song, the only heavy inclusion on the pop-rock oriented album Avec Un Pied Dans Le Rock'n Roll...
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| Rob Jo Star Band |
Here's another rare find, a french record which sounds like nothing else from the country in 1975. Now i'll be honest and admit that the majority of this album is not in TDATS territory. Even though there's quite a lot of fuzz employed, it's got more in common with a private-press loner-psych record you might read about in the Acid Archives. The random, unconnected encounters with electronic knob-twiddling also make it sound like some very lost, very early demo that Dave Brock might have made after coming home from high school.
The track I used here wasn't even included on the original album, and was added as a bonus track when Frenchies "Born Bad Records" (link) re-issued the record in 2013, with help from the band themselves.
So, "Le Démon du Rythme" starts inauspiciously, but when it gets going, it's a wild trip which just about manages to keep itself together. Just be careful with your speakers, as this baby comes complete with some cone-shredding distortion / clipping.
Claude Harvey says: Rob Jo Star Band "Le Démon du Rythme" is a great song with lots of fuzz, and is also one of their only songs recorded in French (the other being "La Cigale" both released on a single)
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| Silvertrain - "Which Platform Please?" album |
This is a mid-paced grinder that has elements of hard rock and metal. Strasbourg's Silvertrain made an album and a unique single in 1979 and they were one of France's earliest bands to make records aimed at the metal scene, although their sound is equal parts melodic hard rock, Sabbath, and later-'70s metal, which fits in well to any set of '70s rock. This actually makes for a good album that's worth hearing in entirety!
According to some useful info over at france.metal.museum.free.fr (link) they even opened for acts like Motörhead and Rose Tattoo at the time. I first discovered this band a few years ago when there was very scant information but i'm pleased to see at least one original member is playing again and has made at least three new Silvertrain CDs.
Claude Harvey says: Silvertrain is a fantastic Hard Rock band, their first album Which Platform Please? is highly recommended!
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| Michel Maillard + Grandes Vacances |
Here's an excellent slab of hard rock from an obscure album. The production is top notch and you would never guess it's a privately-pressed LP from the sounds.
I have taken some information from the excellent French rock resource francerock70.centerblog.net (link). "Originally from the Paris region, Michel Maillard studied in Rennes where he met the future members of Grandes Vacances, and recorded this unique self-produced album in 1979: "Enfla Grand Délire". With Michel Maillard (Vocals, Acoustic Guitar), Hervé Brault and Jean Pol Colin (Electric Guitars), Robert Le Gall (Bass), Gilbert Sonna (Drums) and guest Daniel Paboeuf (Saxophone)."
I have only been able to source two tracks from the record so far but on the strength of 'Le Satyre Du Métro' i'd certainly like to hear more, although I don't know how much more hard rock is contained as the album is described as a mixture of rock, reggae and spoken-word humour.
Claude Harvey says: Le satyre du Métro by Michel Maillaire et Grandes Vacances is a really fun heavy rock song, I would really like to hear the rest of the album... hope some songs are as good as that one! I heard "HLM Rock" is pretty good too...
Here's a unique track which mixes traditional Celtic music sung in the Breton language, with psych guitars, and it works because the musicianship is superb. Since discovering Alan Stivell for this comp, i've found his music to be very refreshing, especially this track's album 'Chemins de Terre', and the track 'Pop Plinn' from his live at Olympia 1972 LP (yt).
Stivell's father built a Celtic harp, something which had not been seen or used for so long that he had to research history books to work out how to make it. Then Alan (Stivell jr) grew up learning to play it, and many other medieval instruments into the bargain. Stivell has for a long time since been a famous name in Celtic folk music.
Stivell's father built a Celtic harp, something which had not been seen or used for so long that he had to research history books to work out how to make it. Then Alan (Stivell jr) grew up learning to play it, and many other medieval instruments into the bargain. Stivell has for a long time since been a famous name in Celtic folk music.
Claude Harvey says: Alan Stivell's "Brezhoneg' Raok" is a nice heavy rock song, and also the only heavy rock inclusion on the celtic-folk oriented album Chemins de Terre.
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| Trust - Prends Pas Ton Flingue 45 |
To a French person, using Trust in an obscure rock compilation probably makes about as much sense as including AC/DC.
Also, Iron Maiden fans will probably be aware of them as they counted Nicko McBrain and Clive Burr briefly in their ranks, and thrash fans too, as Anthrax covered Trust's "Anti-social" on their State Of Euphoria album, but I think there's probably a lot of listeners who won't know them.
Here's a great track from their their first ever single, which also wasn't on an original studio album, so maybe even a few French people have never heard this one. The quality of this single shows that they were a fully fledged heavy band right out of the gate, and the album that came a year after this contains some tracks which are still live standards, as they reform from time to time to play live and make new records.
Claude Harvey says: Trust's first single "Prends Pas Ton Flingue" (1978) also contains a French cover of an AC/DC song "Love at First Feel", renamed "Paris by Night" for the occasion...
Zoo have appeared before in volume 99, the violin special (link). They were a quirky band that had elements of psych, soul, prog and jazz but are not easy to describe, having a unique sound over all. They mixed violins and a brass section in with some-times hard rock, but at all times there was a sense of fun and unpredictability. Original vocalist Joël Daydé (also in this volume) had left to start a solo career by the time of the album from which I have taken the track here, the title track from their 1972 album. By now they had taken on English singer Ian Bellamy, to compete in a scene where they were sharing stages with the likes of Pink Floyd and The Nice.
By 1975, due to a lack of the success they had worked hard for, Zoo were finished. Brothers André Hervé (keyboards) and Michel Hervé (bass) started Z.O.U. with two further brothers Joel Hervé, Stephan Hervé, along with singer Maria Popkiewicz. After this André, Michel and Maria all had a spell in Magma.
Claude Harvey says: Zoo "Hard Times Good Times" is one of their best and heaviest albums. If you liked the eponymous track, check out the explosive opening heavy track "Captain"!
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Merci pour l'écoute!
Rich
Rich
Further listening:
The Day After The Sabbath 113: Portugal special
The Day After The Sabbath 107: Austria special
The Day After The Sabbath 61: Belgium special
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