Toubabou - Le Ble et Le Mil (1974 Canada).
Toubabou - Attente (1975 Canada). Pre-dating Embryo by a few years, Toubabou were a Quebec-African-Haitian ensemble, mixing indigenous tribal rhythms and themes with Canadian French rock / folk / blues. The Quebec portion were made up of members of the Contraction / Ville Emard Blues Band clan, and some would move on from here to the more folky Harmonium. The Embryo metaphor can be taken further as guitarist Robert Stanley proves he could go toe to toe with Roman Bunka. Lise Cousineau adds anguished wordless voice, somehow predicting the arrival of those French wackos Gutura and Noa a few years later. I suppose with all the percussion and guitar soloing, one must think of Santana, though Toubabou are not Latin in any way. This is true world fusion, played at a time when rocking your ass off was still cool.
— While the above covers “Attente” pretty well, it should be realized that the debut album, which was recorded live, is an entirely different affair. Here the African percussion ensemble dominate, and there’s little of the fusion found on the followup. That’s not to say there isn’t any mix of rock and indigenous, just a lot less. A great job by ProgQuebec to include both in one package (and charge only for one CD). Nice liner notes and photos, as well as a bonus video from 1974. Essential pickup, for “Attente” of course, but the debut is of interest as well.
Maneige - s/t (1975 Canada).
Maneige - Les Porches (1976 Canada). While on the topic of ProgQuebec releases, the first two Maneige albums may be the label’s most important reissues to date. In the LP record collecting days, if one was so inclined to discover the worldwide progressive rock phenomena of the 1970s, Maneige would be an early gold strike. A couple of shovels full of dirt down, and a Maneige album would be waiting. In my case, I first heard all of the Maneige’s sometime in the 1980s, and probably took them for granted. As with any treasure quest, the early finds tend to be the best, and after that it takes much harder work and more expensive equipment to gain the same thrill. Maneige aren’t flashy, can even be a little difficult in places. When held up against the - also new for me at the time - Italian, French, Spanish and German scenes, Maneige seemed “good, but nothing special”. Not to mention that Maneige’s 3rd and 4th albums were much more accessible, as they had adopted the popular fusion phase and added their unique blend of Quebecois to the proceeedings. And for many others who were discovering the progressive movement in the 1990s via CD, the 3rd and 4th albums managed a reissue from the now defunct Kozak label, re-introducing the world to Maneige at their most easy to digest time. Which takes us back to the first 2 abums, originally released on Harvest, and finally rescued by ProgQuebec in 2007. Here they mix the avant garde, jazz, classical and rock in ways no other band had done before or since. They were on the cutting edge of the Quebec movement, paralleling the Contraction / Franck Dervieux / Ville Emard Blues Band / Toubabou collectives, with a distinctive yet familiar regional sound. In hearing these albums for the first time in many years, despite still owning the LPs, I found myself amazed at how well these records have aged. Maneige are amongst the royalty of the Quebec innovative rock scene, and both of these are essential pickups.