Customer Reviews

Et Cetera

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

American prog rock had been frequently accused of being pale copycats of their English counterparts. It's worse in Canada: a better portion of their prog rock scene is ignored outright. The big exception being Rush, who made it big even in the States. They were also very popular with the hard rock/heavy metal crowd thanks to the band's music heavily influenced by such. And then you have bands like FM and Saga, who most of their albums are easily available, but then they have their detractors as being too influenced by the mainstream and of AOR.

What I found out was the province of Quebec had a prog rock scene all their own independant of the English speaking provinces. Many years ago I bought an album from Claude Léveillée called Black Sun (1978), which was a decent, but not essential prog album in my book. Far more recently I bought the self-entitled 1976 album from Pollen, both albums from Sloche, J'un Oeil (1975) and Stadacone (1976), and now Et. Cetera. I've been really impressed by these albums, and it proves that Quebec's prog rock scene was fully capable of holding their own to their European counterparts.

It's apparent that Gentle Giant had a big impact on the Quebec prog scene of the '70s. Pollen, Maneige, and Sloche all show their GG influences to some degree, but none more so than Et. Cetera. This group released their one and only album in 1976 on the Apostrophe label, apparently a label ran by the band, since their only instrumental composition was entitled "Apostrophe" (which means it has absolutely nothing to do with the instrumental Zappa song). What separates this group from Gentle Giant, is they feature female vocals from Marie Bernard Pagé, not to mention all vocals are in French. She tends to do the high-pitched vocals that Kerry Minnear would do in GG. She also handles keyboards (with the help of a second keyboardist), she even handles something called an Ondes Martenot, a prototype synthesizer invented in the 1920s. This is the only prog rock band I know of to use one, this instrument was more commonly used in avant garde classical and in sci-fi (including none other than the female chorus you hear on the original 1960s Star Trek TV theme song). The rest of the keyboards are typical of prog rock: Minimoog, string synths, clavinet, electric piano. Well, the music is just as complex and elaborate as GG, with lots of vocal harmonies that are undeniably GG-like. This album came out in 1976, just as Gentle Giant, as a prog rock band was coming to an end (Interview was their last prog album, they went for a much more straightforward pop route in the late '70s with The Missing Piece, Giant For a Day and Civilian). There's the occasional folk influence that might bring to mind Harmonium, or the more acoustic moments of Pollen. Maneige (which I am not familiar with yet) is another band Et. Cetera is compared with, and perhaps a little Sloche (particularly when that band showed their GG-influence the most like on "Algébrique" or "Isacaaron").

Apparently keyboardist Denis Chartrand later sacrificed his credibility at the altar by playing for Celine Dion, much like what happened to Pollen's Claude Lemay. What's up with Quebec proggers later playing for Celine Dion? Probably the money. Drummer Pierre Dragon ended up in a band called Trick of the Tail, which, unsurprisingly (given the name) was a Genesis tribute band, at least keeping his credibility as far as prog rock goes. Not to mention Marie Bernard Pagé had went on to other musical ventures, including being in other bands.

Clone bands often get a bad reputation. Everyone knows about Triumvirat and Starcastle, how both bands get a lot of negative attention of being ELP and Yes copycats respectively (even rock critics were never kind to either band), but in my opinion as long as a band copies another band's sound, that they do it well, and Et. Cetera did a great job sounding like Gentle Giant, with their own touches (like female vocals in French). A great album and highly recommended to all GG fans!

I bought this cd on a whim because I heard they sounded like a female fronted Gentle Giant. While I hear some similarities, they most remind me of one of my favorite Canadian bands: Maneige
They have that folk/fusion sound that I like so much in Canadian bands. Too bad they broke up after only 1 album.

Originally released in 1976, as this was the Montreal progressive band's only album. Not to be confused with another band from Germany with the same name. Tunes here that I sort of liked include "Eclaircie", the seven-minute "Entre Chien Et Loup", "L'Age Dort" and maybe "Tandem". I tried to get into the feel of this CD reissue but I simply could not. Oh, the music here is okay and all - just didn't do much for me. If you're heavily into bands like Gentle Giant, King Crimson and Maneige then you would likely get more from this title than I did. Line-up: Robert Marchabd - guitar & vocals, Alain-Yves Pigeon - bass, cello & vocals, Denis Chartrand - flute, sax, clavier & vocals and Pierre Dragon - drums. Enjoy.

It took some time and more than a few listens before I fully warmed up to this 1976 release - the heavy Gentle Giant influence struck me as being completely unoriginal. However, after putting the album back on the shelf for a while and coming back to it, I realize now that it is a fairly original sounding piece of music. It just took me a few listens to appreciate it.

With respect to the music, it sounds a great deal like any Gentle Giant album released during the 1971-1976 timeframe (dense counterpoint, asymmetric time signatures, complex vocal harmonies) and features shorter pieces. Overall though, the music is warmer and more accessible - that is, there is very little in the way of spasmodic rhythms. The group also uses different instrumentation including early electronic instruments such as the ondes Martenot. There is also greater emphasis on warm sounding synthesizers, and most significantly, the vocalist (an alto I think) is female. She is an excellent vocalist and sings in French. The musicians are all first chair players and the ensemble work is fairly intricate.

The recording quality of this album is excellent and the liner notes feature the recording credits and a few photos of the group.

All in all, this is yet another fine album of progressive rock from the Quebec progressive rock scene that should appeal to Gentle Giant fans.

Well, the book on Et Cetera is "Gentle Giant clone band with female vocals in French".
Aw, but there is so much more...

Yes, this five-piece from the province of Quebec had that classic GG sound from the "Free Hand" era down pat, complete with flute, vibraphone, top-notch musicianship and labyrinthine vocals. But there was also a nice warm and lush tone that permeates this cd that set them apart from other pretenders to the GG throne. It's a shame that the only album this group ever made only covered 36 minutes, but I'll cut them some slack for the 1976 time frame. All 7 songs on this cd are fantastic, exciting and original in a way that even the venerable GG could not have achieved. (I mean, they weren't French, you know?... ;-)

If you haven't started to explore the prog and jazz fusion from Quebec, you better get started because NONE of it disappoints folks. I may place the somewhat jazzier band Sloche at the top of the heap, but this band may be the best pure prog band I've heard from that area of Canada. Primo shtuff. Essential. Worthy. Etc...

I value interesting music that is played and recorded well. This cd's rating was based on:
Music quality = 8.7/10; Performance = 9.5/10; Production = 9.0/10; CD length = 7/10.
Overall score weighted on my proprietary scale = 8.8 ("4-1/2 stars")