Going into the world of Popera Cosmic is like going into a strange foreign neighborhood without a proper map. I want to say Popera Cosmic is a band, but it feels more like a theatrical experience than a rock band. What I do know is that the music is arranged by William Sheller, a noted musician/songwriter in France, but unknown outside of French-speaking countries. The producer (or 'artistic direction') is Jean Eckian, and the rock band is the French progressive rock group, Alice. Beyond that, it's still a mystery to me. Still, there is something wonderful about French psychedelic rock, in that when it's trippy, it's really a trip.
The opening track "Les Esclaves" sounds like a free-form version of The Doors' "Hello, I love You." "Batman" is what you think it is, but again, approached in a trippy manner that's all nuances and of course, like every song or piece on this album, a groover in the ultimate groove sense of the word. In such a manner, it reminds me of Gil Evans working with Miles Davis, that there are two separates thinking patterns at work. Alice is doing what they are doing, but working in a conceptual model. I keep thinking that this is a musical like "Hair" but somehow failed to make it big. Still, if one is into French arrangement music, for instance, Jean-Claude Vannier, or admire the conceptual albums of Serge Gainsbourg, one is going to find "Les Esclaves" a fascinating album.
"Philadelphie Story" is a remarkable and haunting ballad that comes out of nowhere on this album. They don't make songs like this in the 21st-century. It's lush but goes with this gorgeous orchestration with the lone female backup vocal that brings everything back to Earth. "La Chanson du Liévre de Mars" is a mixture of Love era "Forever Changes" mixed with a slow build up of the chorus which is "Whee." Recorded in 1969, this is very much an album of that era, but that's a great thing. Listening to Popera Cosmic (they only made this one album) is to marvel the skills and visions of the arranger William Sheller. It goes from camp to sweet melodies, and it's a bizarre mixture of what can be a soundtrack to a soft-porn film, or a big budgeted counter-cultural (French-style of course) musical. My favorite album of the year.
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