Thursday, October 4, 2012

News: Acintya now on CD?(!)

I formed it in the phrase of a question (thank you Alex Trebek) because I had no idea it never was on CD. No one ever wrote in to correct me (well, they probably did, but I wasn't paying attention). I bought the Musea LP when it came out in 1989 (the original is from 1978). Over time, I decided it was one I could part with. So I never really thought about the album again. And besides I figured every Musea reissue LP had eventually come out on CD. Right? So when I saw today that this was the "first CD reissue", I said to myself - that can't be correct. Can it? Well... it is. What an oversight on my part.

I'm not sure if maybe the most exciting aspect of this is that Musea may be getting into reissues again? Of course, they already did the LP, so the upfront work would be minimal. But still, we can hope! France has dozens of great albums yet to see a CD issue (that are spread throughout this blog). And Musea, in my mind, remains the Godfather of progressive rock reissues, and set the high standard other labels still aspire to.

I think I'm going to buy this CD. I did like it, it was just getting lost in the weeds of my collection at the time I sold the LP.

Musea says this about the album: "Keyboardist Philippe De CANCK's group recorded one sole album in 1978, "La Cité Des Dieux Oubliés" in 1978. The two long tracks making the vinyl, not to mention the opening-track "Adyane", are enlightened by the use of solemn and majestic keyboards, including the organ of Saint-Nicolas-De-Port's famous basillica. These parts are cleverly completed by an inspired violin, played by Philippe CLEESE. Somewhere in the tradition of the Frence neo-classic Progressive rock, the art of ACINTYA may recall the complex and elaborated themes courtesy of WAPASSOU, for instance. A quarter of a century after having reissued it in vinyl, the Musea label now delivers its digital version. This CD edition ends up with two extra-tracks, captured during one of the first rehearsals by the band in the year 1976. Musea also found a live performance in its treasure vault, captured live at Nancy's Salle Poirel, January 12th, 1979. Here's the only opportunity to listen to two tracks of the album plus three unreleased ones, played with organ, synthesizers, piano and Mellotron. Now reduced to a trio without violin, the band relies on a strong rhythm section. "In Live" is an unique document for a group gone much too soon... Not to be missed !"

8 comments:

Jerry said...

Great to hear it is on CD! I have had the LP since Musea released it in the 1980s, never parted with it. ;)

Purple Peak Records said...

Ha - I probably should have done the same, Jerry. Thanks for the comment!

strawbsfan said...

As for me I know what my next purchase is going to be :)

Thanks Tom, it's good to be reminded of these "lost" albums every now and then

Eddie Lascu said...

Got the CD from Musea, along with the Live one. I am a bit disappointed with the quality of the sound.

Purple Peak Records said...

Hi Eddie - I haven't bought it yet. The sound of the live material or the disc overall?

Eddie Lascu said...

Both, unfortunately.

Anonymous said...

Hi!

I also got these two recently. Sound is ok, I gues one can not improve it much from the source they had. Musea rarely do much remastering, I think. Live sound is a bit muddy (applause sounds a bit artificial, though).

But what is a bit surprising is the scarce booklet. Or, there is no booklet (just two pages with newspaper snippets and/or low quality fotos), actually, not much band-bio and fotos, as comes usually from Musea. Are they short of money?

Purple Peak Records said...

Wow - I think I'm more disappointed in hearing about the lack of care regarding the overall package, than even the sound! That's really too bad. Especially from such a former great reissue label. They've really fallen from their peak it seems.

Thanks for the comment!

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