Monday 8 August 2016

Images - Le Jeu de Robinson, from 1977... recommended





Now here's a huge huge one, a monster, as they say.

Not to be confused with the Henri Roger album Images which is also amazing, this is famous thanks to Tom and his list, so I'll quote from him first up as usual:

The first side is pleasant folk, with acoustic guitars and flute, and sparse vocals sung in a soft French tone. Side 2 rocks out with the addition of electric guitar, bass, keys and drums. Plenty of progressive meter changes, and comparisons to bands like Memoriance or Pentacle wouldn't be out of place. A splendid little album that very few know about, but is not to be missed! Comes in a plain white cover with an Images sticker as seen here. Also has a nice insert with baby pictures of all 5 band members.

Looks like someone has added a title here and called it 'Le Jeu de Robinson'. This is a mistake. The album doesn't have a title. It's not listed on the label or the cover. The title that was proposed is actually the name of the side long suite on Side 1, which contains the 8 songs presented here (A1-A8)

Again, I believe he gave it a priority 2.  As with the Tangle Edge, I would lower that by an integer or two.

Please notice the prices people are asking for here.  In a moment, you can be the judge(s) of whether or not these are appropriate.

As sample, the Robinson storm is part of what makes this is a progressive delight, with the classic, absolutely inimitable French style of digital keyboards (a la Ange), minor second dissonances (a la Shylock), overall dark and spectral tone (a la Pulsar), and the fuzzy sustained guitar reminds me meanwhile of Carpe Diem's style (which they often accompanied in unison with a soprano sax):





The instrumental La Femme en Rouge instead has a folky do-it-yourself proggy sound that reminds me of the other Tom discovery, Demon and Wizard (which I can post later if there's interest):





To me, the second side is much less progressive and interesting.  It really tends to drag on with little to hang your attention on.
No comparison to what I consider the masterpiece of mixed folk-prog:  Joxifications.


3 comments:

  1. http://www48.zippyshare.com/v/68ZJrDeK/file.html

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  2. Great album, thanks for sharing. I'm interested in hearing Demon & Wizard too.

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