ANGE toured extensively in the UK and opened for Genesis in front of 30,000 music fans at the Reading Festival in 1973. The band was originally created in Belfort, in the north-east of France in 1969 by the two Décamps brothers, Christian (vocals, accordian, acoustic guitar and keyboards) and Francis (keyboards), Tristan Décamps, another keys player and vocalist also played in the band after 1997. Jean- Michel Brézovar (guitar and flute), Daniel Haas (bass and acoustic guitar) and Gérard Jelsh (drums) completed the original classic line-up.
Ange was highly rooted in the legends of the country and the tradition of ‘chanson française à texte’ - think for instance of JACQUES BREL, and they performed a fabulous reprise of his famous ‘Ces gens-là’ song on their sophomore album “LE CIMÉTIERE DES ARLEQUINS” (1973). This album also has the intriguing ‘Bivouac (1ère Partie)’, a short musical play with parts, the catchy ‘De temps en temps’, a long symphonic title track which takes a dark turn at the end (even the sleeve is scary!); all the ingredients are there: the theatrical chant, the interplay between organ and wah-wah guitar; the peppering of electric guitar breaks; the romantic balladry, etc.
On AU-DELA DU DÉLIRE (1974) Ange do sound like GENESIS on ‘Ballade pour une orgie’ and ‘La bataille du sucre’, although the Décamps brothers hated being sterotyped as “the French Genesis. But make no mistake this is definitely and distinctively ANGE! ‘Fils de lumiere’, a lovely song with splendid guitar work, could have been as big a hit as ‘I Know What I Like’ in a different time and place. The exhilarating axe break on ‘Exode’ is another visceral moment. Mostly sung, but part spoken there are no really long pieces apart from the 9-minute title track.
ÉMILE JACOUTEY (1975): Whilst in England, Christian read an article in L’est Republicain’ about a farrier in his seventies from Saulnot in Haute Saône. Christian met Émile at his house and recorded their conversation; the character of Émile Jacoutey inspired some of the songs. Christian, Francis (who adds a hunting horn to ‘Les noces’) and Jean-Michel (who adds mandolin) were joined by Daniel Haas on bass and acoustic guitar and Guénole Biger on drums, percussion, marimba and vibes. The first side is arguably the best Ange made. I love to hear the old man’s voice on ‘Sur la trace des fées’ (the B-side to the minor hit ‘Ode à Émile’) and the powerful and visceral synth/ choral lines on ‘Le nain de Stanislas’. ‘Jour après jour’ was only released as a ‘demo’, but was one of Ange’s catchiest songs, and surely should have been a big hit. The album earned Ange a Gold disc for over 100,000 sales.
If familiar with ANGE, or if not, I urge you to check them out: their 1970s prog rock albums are amongst the best.
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