When Tiemko's Ocean and Minimum Vital's Sarabandes were released, I was still an LP-first buyer and the only CDs I was considering were the stray reissue of (usually) impossible to find rarities. The label (Musea) said that had no intent of issuing either on LP. So I needed to make a very important decision: Was I going to maintain that stance and miss out on the new CDs? Or get with the program and join the CD revolution? I chose the latter, a decision I do not regret for a second some 33 years later, as a good portion of my collection remains full of CD-only albums. And interestingly enough, Musea stayed true to their word. Both of these albums remain without an LP release, even though they are single album length. I believe they might be the oldest albums in my entire collection that are in that state (i.e. CD only).
Regardless of the media format, how has the music of Ocean held up? It's been forever and a day since I last heard it, certainly not in the last 20 years. Happy to say it has aged very well for me, and I recognized most of it immediately, indicating I had heard the album quite a bit when I first received it. While collectors continue to mine the 1960s, 70s, and early 80s, it appears no one cares about this era of progressive rock today. But for me and a few others it was an exciting time when bands from around the world suddenly woke up to a style that barely had a heartbeat only a few years prior. I already owned their debut Espace Fini, so I had an idea of what to expect. In those days we weren't so obsessed with hoping that bands would recreate the past with analog only instrumentation. As long as the music was of a high quality. It's not easy to maintain interest for close to 50 minutes with an all instrumental release performed by a trio. But they're a talented bunch and both the guitar and keyboards are well played. And yes, even some vintage Mini Moog can be heard. Veteran drummer Eric Delaunay keeps things hopping to ensure boredom never sits in. Strong melodies, well crafted compositions, some good jamming with undertones of fusion and electronic. A time proven recipe for a good prog album. Music like this receives mucho nostalgia points from me.
Ownership: 1990 Musea (CD)
The album itself is all instrumental, built upon complex structures and themes. There's some fantastic guitar and keyboards here, along with Eric Delaunay's driving rhythms. Special kudos go to bassist Paul Amar who plays a major role throughout. Other than a couple of short keyboard atmospheric pieces, Antagonisme! is an energetic, well produced, instrumental progressive rock album. Well worth pursuing.
After this album, none of the other members resurfaced again, beyond Delaunay himself. He later formed Tiemko and one can easily hear his songwriting and approach being applied. Especially on their debut Espace Fini, but with more modern equipment (for better or worse).
Ownership: 1980 Vogue (LP)
Sadly Eric Delaunay passed away in a deadly car crash in 1996. No reissues exist as I update this post on 3/9/25.
Hello, I react because, according to Jean-Jacques Toussaint and Aymeric Leroy, Delaunay died from illness. Calyx in https://www.progressiveears.org/forum/showthread.php/21007-Tiemko "I remember one of his fingers looked really bad, partly black - I believe it was some sort of tumor, as I understand he died (the following year - 1996) as a result of something brought about by this infection/cancerous "thing".
ReplyDeleteAnyway thanks for honouring this treasurable album !