RAOUL DUGUAY-L'ENVOL, LP, 1976, CANADA
Lovely though it was, the debut solo outing from former L'Infonie front man that I posted just recently cannot begin to prepare you for his sophomore effort; an epic of unfettered imagination with the kind of spiritual/emotional gravitas of a Franco Battiato or Lucio Battisti. Beginning on a quiveringly profound note, "Alllo" is a shower of Robert Wyatt-style multi-tracked vocal love from the deepest caverns of Duguay's consciousness. plangent acid folk cedes to pungent brass rock and back again over the rest of side A before going out with a side ending bang, as Duguay whips out his most salaciously foul and greasily leering delivery on "Le Krrrash A" and inserts unguent in mouth again for a reprise on side B's opener "El Hsarrrk". The reminder of side B continues apace, trawling through a similar expanse of humanity-steeped higher key conjurations.
& yuh-all just know how we-all need more o` them "humanity-steeped higher key conjurations".
ReplyDeleteTo be honest I enjoyed the first album much more; the occasional elements of mainstreamy mawkishness on the first are much more present on the second, and it's those bits that really put me off. I usually agree with you on music, but in this case I can't detect more than a trace of the kind of magic you've described for this second album! Sorry!
ReplyDeleteMy wife loves Battiatio, Claudio Rocchi etc but kept complaining all the way through these two albums, and I was embarassed because i couldn't really claim to like all of it either - just the occasional track or part of a track that was really quite good.
Thanks for posting, though, I love L'Infonie and am curious about related stuff.
regards
Chris