Sloche: J’un Oeil (1975)
Canada is not the first country people look at for prog rock. Many people associate the country with groups like Rush, FM and Saga. Many of these groups don’t always endear to all the proggers out there, mainly because of elements like New Wave, AOR, or (in the case of Rush) hard rock and heavy metal. But there are tons of lesser known groups there, and the French speaking province of Quebec had a nice prog scene going on in the mid to late ’70s independent of the English speaking provinces.
That province had its share of great bands like Harmonium, Maneige, Pollen, Et Cetera, Opus 5, Conventum, and this particular band Sloche.
If you’re to ask a kid these days in Quebec about Sloche, they’ll likely tell you about these gummy candies with gruesome packaging and icy slush drunks sold at Couche Tard convenience stores. Ask a diehard proghead in Quebec about Sloche and they’ll tell you they were simply one of the great prog bands to come out of the province, and they are right! The band managed only two albums, but in my opinion, it’s often nicer to see a band give us only a couple of albums, than embarass us many albums down the road with downright mediocre to embarassing stuff (many major prog acts are guilty of this).
Sloche was formed in 1971 with a completely different lineup than the one that recorded in the mid 1970s. It was when the band acquired keyboardist Réjean Yacoula that one by one, the band started acquiring members that would eventually record.
By 1975, the band consisted of two keyboardists, Réjean Yacoula and Martin Murray, with guitarist Carroll Bérard, bassist Pierre Hébert, and drummer Gilles Chiasson, all credited to vocal duty, although their music was largely instrumental. This was the lineup that recorded J’un Oeil, which was released on RCA Victor! This band combined fusion with symphonic prog, but with restraint where the band knew what mattered most: the music. Symphonic prog rock fans who might not necessarily like fusion would like this album because the music has a strong symphonic feel, but fusion fans will like it for the heavy use of electric pianos, Minimoogs and clavinets.
The album opens with the wonderful “C’Pas Fin du Monde”. I really love those spacy synthesizers that open this piece, with spacy sound effects and string synths, before things settle down with electric piano. There’s some nice worldless voices and some jamming on guitar and keyboards, before the string synths kick in again, then the band gets funky at the end with Hohner clavinet and electric piano. The next piece, “Le Karême D’Eros” is a three movement piece. First is strictly piano, with strong jazz and classical influences, before the second part kicks in, which the whole band participates. Here is actual singing, in French, but what’s really interesting is how guitarist Carroll Bérard would play his thing on lead guitar, then one of the keyboardists would copy what he played on his Mini Moog! The next, and final movement sounds almost like ELP with the electric piano in place of Hammond organ. The title track is by far the most vocal-dominated track on this album, with great use of vocal harmonies, almost Yes-like but without the high pitched voice of Jon Anderson. And while French vocals are often criticized for not going down too well in a prog setting, in the case of Sloche, it works great. But then this is not standard French, but Quebecois French (I am not the one to be able to tell the difference as I don’t speak French). “Algébrique” finds the band more or less in Gentle Giant territory. One thing that must be pointed out was Gentle Giant was apparently quite popular in Quebec, and several groups like Pollen, Maneige, Opus 5, and this group show their GG influences to some degree (although Et Cetera was by far the most GG influenced of the bands), and this piece is a good example. “Potage Aux Herbes Douteuses” is a great piece that closes the album. Carroll Bérard gives some nice rhythms on his guitar, and then the band gets jamming with nice use of string synths, then some great use of wordless voices, before things settle down with Hammond organ and Moog. Then the band kicks in with guitar, before the music ends with a string synth.
I have to admit the cover to this album is a bit silly, the “S” on the “Sloche” logo looks like a green swan to me, and the band photos on the back cover shows the band members in silly poses, like Carroll Bérard with his guitar strapped on, his arms waved out, and the fact he was grinning at his guitar like it was some sort of prized possession. Then there’s Pierre Hébert playing his bass guitar with a solemn expression.
By the way, Sloche, to prove they were no slouches went and released the followup to J’un Oeil, called Stadacone in 1976 and that one, while a little harder to warm up to (because of more complex arrangements), is just as essential. If you ran out of British, German, and Italian prog albums because you acquired all the essentials and then some, dive in the Canada’s Quebecois prog scene, and make Sloche’s J’un Oeil one of your top priorities!
– Réjean Yacoula: piano, Fender Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric pianos, Hohner clavinet, celesta, Mini Moog, percussion, vocals
– Martin Murray: Hammond B3 organ, Mini Moog, Wurlitzer electric piano, Solina String Ensemble, sax, percussion, vocals
– Carroll Bérard: electric and acoustic guitars, percussion, vocals
– Gilles Chiasson: drums, percussion, vocals