Hydravion's second album is probably one of the most misunderstood albums one can find. Of course, the cover art contributes greatly to buyer confusion. On first glance, one can be forgiven to think this to be yet another late 70s Parisian coke filled disco party extravaganza.
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir? And then the opening misspelled 'Passadena Airport', with its repetitive beat, seems to feed the bias, leaving only the most dedicated listener to persevere. Once 'Telecom' begins though, suddenly the party is over, and the nightmarish world of Philippe Besombes begins. The French narration of 'Ligne Equateur' takes you further down the dark tunnel where it lands at the album's high water mark: The one-two punch of 'Carolyn Sud' and 'Santander'. Here we're as close to Heldon's Interface as any mere mortal will ever get. The positively haunting closer, with its biting psychedelic guitar, leaves a lasting mark on a truly great piece of art.
Perhaps had they named the album Stratospherique, with a Hipgnosis cover similar to the first, would the album be held in higher esteem today. Blame the marketing department.
Ownership: LP: 1979 Carrere. Single sleeve. Purchased at Waterloo Records in Austin (1988).
CD: 2016 Purple Pyramid (USA) As part of the 4xCD Original Album Series (Philippe Besombes).
3//88; 5/25/09; 11/12/16 (new entry)
It's a complete hit & miss album for me. When the guitar prevails we are into excellent status (Singaraja, L'amour charter) but the tracks that feature this atrocious Carrere/discoid very mellow synth sound (in the 2nd half of Telecom f.e.) are a complete disaster to what could have been a classic album i.m.o.
ReplyDeleteGood comment Spyros. I think I may be drawn into the ethos of the era. Such a strange time and place it was in late 1970s France.
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