Saturday, September 11, 2010

POPERA COSMIC-LES ESCLAVES, LP, 1969, FRANCE


One of the first salvos of true otherness from the French underground scene, this mindbomb features the notorious William Sheller, whose 1972 opus Lux Aeterna is a long heralded holy grail of this scene, here collaborating with both eccentric period singer/songwriter and former Alice vocalist Francois Wertheimer and Guy Skornik, who I've previously shared two albums of monster caliber acid folk and kosmniche weirdity by. How promising does *that* sound, eh? And while the orchestrations that frame the acid rock displays here clearly set the stage for the overwhelming sturm und drang of Lux Aeterna, it's absent both the churchiness conveyed by the relentless choral aspect of that album as well as it's shifts into Wakhevitch-like eeriness. Here, the swooning orchestrations creak under the weight of all manner of period psychedelic mad hattery; the spirit here overtly suggestive at times of Jean-Pierre Massiera's Les Maledictus Sound, with its outsized sense of theatricality (at times tipping over into Komintern and Grand Magic Circus territory), overloads of caustic acid guitar flailing and fabulously cooing, sighing, and keening vocals.

Get it via Rapidshare here

14 comments:

øשlqæda said...

stellar drop mang, hot diggity dam! thanks so much, these recent shares are monstrous. incidentally a defintely superior share of 'lux aeterna' lives hear in voluptuously resonant glory, links up in the comments. we've had u linked from jump street over at our spot, for what it's worth. much respekt

Mange said...

Oh, that Lux stuff was incredible, not to mention the wonderful Deltron 3030-version of the main theme.

Sheller is a hero since.

fuzztunnel said...

Just listening to Skornik's "Ils Viennent du Futur" the other day and was about to request this one! Thanks!

Anonymous said...

I found it elsewhere on the net, (a long time ago), but this IS a wonderful little gem, and needs to be widely heard. Good to see you put it up ! Everyone should hear it, certainly.

This record is yet another confirmation of the early dominance of the French underground scene, which is certainly one , if not THEE (IMO), best music scenes ever. It also emerged from one of the most fertile & exploratory periods of musical history.

Anonymous said...

I concur with the insightful comments above. Many thanks for this, much appreciated.

Anonymous said...

Incidentally the tracks' names have been mixed. They don't apply to the tracks they've been linked to.
Does anyone know the conrrect order of the tracks' names?

Anonymous said...

OK, now after several listenings and a better understanding about this musical's theme (it was indeed meant to be a show on stage), I have a little bit clearer idea of the correct names for each tracks of the file. I'm not sure of course for the instrumental tracks, so I figured it out because of their general tone (yet I could of course be wrong on those ones).

Te correct names for the tracks are:

1. Etreinte metronomique
2. L.S.D. (not sure about this one)
3. La chanson du lièvre de mars
4. Poursuite (not sure either)
5. Les esclaves - Mr Noel - Quelle audace
6. Metropolitain
7. Ambiance
8. Indicatif (not sure)
9. Aurore Cosmic (not sure)
10. Philadelphie Story
11. Filmore / Batman

Now that the tracks are rightfully named, you can put them in the order you've initially downloaded them to get the story from start to finish:

A-SIDE:
Filmore / Batman
Aurore Cosmic
LSD
Etreinte Metronomique
Philadelphie Story

B-SIDE:
La Chanson du lievre de mars
Les esclaves - Mr Noel - quelle audace
Poursuite
Metropolitain
Ambiance
Indicatif

Of course any help of someone owning the original disc would be perfect as I probably left some mistakes.

Anonymous said...

thanx frum urkenny

Anonymous said...

Thanx a lot!

PhiPhi said...

Why are all needledrops of "Popera Cosmic" on the net in mono, when the original 1969 LP was released in glorious stereo?

Double F said...

Hello everyone !
Would it be possible to reupload this obscure gem ? Download link is dead and it's the only one I've seen on the net...


Thank you !

Unknown said...

can anyone upload it again somewhere please...link doesent work anymore:((

Unknown said...

can anyone please link me this album, just found it here but link doesent work:((

Delirium said...

hi!

can you reupload please?

best wishes,
Nadi