Malicorne - Almanach (1976)
01 - Salut la Compagnie
02 - Quand j'étais chez mon père
03 - Margot
04 - Les tristes noces
05 - Voici venir le joli mai
06 - Voici la Saint Jean
07 - Le luneux
08 - Branle de la haie
09 - Quand je menai mes chevaux boire
10 - La fille au cresson
11 - L'écolier assassin
12 - Noël est arrivé
13 - La fiancée du timbalier
Some really nice French 70's folk for all to hear (esp. Demilich I guess
).Malicorne was actually a full ensemble of itinerant musicians who spent most of the year on the road and their studio time re-arranging and recording olde French tunes from the 16-18th centuries. At first sight nothing that distinguishes them from hundreds such bands across the country, but their main assets are:
1° stand-out musicianship, including amazing fiddle work, especially the independent background parts counterbalancing the main melody.
2° the subtle integration of "modern" techniques and instruments (electric dulcimer, electric guitar, some mellotron), all adding up to building a "progressive" tag, even though the traditional spirit and basic harmonies are never tampered with. The band has been dubbed as the "French Steeleye Span" by many critics, which is accurate in a way, even if Malicorne's repertoire is more obscure and popular where Steeleye Span resort to "mainstream" Renaissance songwriters.
3° the choice of songs: unlike most latter-day minstrels who rehash the same old dozen standards, Malicorne unearthed some fairly unknown, yet beautiful pieces - at least all but one on this album were unknown to me. The clever switching between light-hearted jigs, medieval-styled interludes and sad songs with really harsh lyrics is also to be pointed out and does much to enhance the album's flow. The three songs I put in the d/l file deal respectively with two young peasants due to wed and ending up dead (Les Tristes Noces), the frame of mind of a young blind beggar who seems happy with her condition and wishes for her son to be blind as well (Le Luneux) and a schoolboy who slays his girlfriend on request of his mother (L'Ecolier assassin).
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1WXBJQLT
More on request, of course
