Friday, December 28, 2018

Dionne-Bregent - Deux. 1977 Canada

One year later from the debut, Dionne et Bregent provides us with a completely different outlook on Deux, one considerably more positive. Not to mention the material is much more of a complex nature, verse the entirely atmospheric debut. The first side, broken into 7 parts, may recall for the listener other keyboard/drum progressive rock duos such as Rusticelli & Bordini, Eden (France), or Kashmir. There’s quite a bit of variation among the seven themes presented here, from quiet harpsichord passages to raging Moog solos.

The backside of Deux positions Dionne and Bregent firmly in the high energy, but melodic, fusion category – quite a ways from the dark, alien sounds of 'L’Eveil du Lieu' from the debut! Two tracks are presented here 'Campus' and 'Transit Express' (could have they known about the excellent French fusion group of the same name?). Tangerine Dream circa Force Majeure would be another reference. Plenty of great soloing (Moog, Mellotron, Clavinet, vibes, xylophone), time signature changes, and complex songwriting.

Not surprisingly, the two bonus tracks (from the 2 CD release) are, once again, very different from anything else on display. Dionne performs a 13 minute solo percussion version of a 1959 Stockhausen composition, which has an academic "serious" modern classical feel about it. The final track is the 10.5 minute 'Fil de Terre', which apparently was recorded for a soundtrack. It’s a rock based affair, not too distant from the material on 'Campus', but again there's a twist, as this is considerably darker in tone with some nice violin soloing. No date is given, but sounds a bit earlier than the 2 albums proper. The duo themselves called their music Rock-Classico-Cosmique. That’s more accurate than anything I could think of!

Sadly Michel-Georges Bregent died in 1993. Bregent has other albums, most notably with his brother Jacques in the band with their surname, but his work with Vincent Dionne is unparalleled in its creativity.

Personal collection
CD: 2006 XXI-21 Productions
LP: 1977 Capitol

The above is a 2 CD set that also includes ...Et Le Troisième Jour in its entirety + 2 bonus tracks.

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