Sloche: Stadacone (1976)

Before reviewing this album, I want to point out how the Canadian province of Quebec had their own prog scene separate of the English speaking provinces. There’s this website called ProgQuébec which includes a big listing of artists and descriptions of these bands, their history, and discographies, in both French and English (so not to alienate the rest of Canada, and the rest of the English speaking world, if they too happened to like Quebecois prog rock). Apparently they are also reissuing a few albums on CD as well. By the way, Sloche is one of many bands ProgQuébec listed.

From my understanding the band Sloche got their name from the slush or sleet that appears on Quebec streets (I’m not familiar with French, or the French-Canadian version, but I’m pretty sure “Sloche” is French-Canadian for slush, something everyone who lives in Quebec is all too familiar with when winter comes in). I found that out at progarchives.com, which had a description of the band, and even a full audio clip (works only on Internet Explorer, so if you usually use Mozilla Firefox, Netscape, or something else, it might not work) to “C’pas Fin du Monde” off J’un Oeil (which will give you a clue how the band is like, and if you like that clip, get their albums). Just be sure to type “Sloche” in the site’s search engine!

Now on with the review, between J’un Oeil and Stadacone, Sloche witnessed a minor lineup change. Drummer Gilles Chiasson was replaced by André Roberge and percussionist Gilles Ouellet. No matter, it hardly hurt the band. For this album, Stadacone, the band recorded a more ambitious album, as the music gets more complex as the album progresses. The title track was apparently a piece that originated before the band started recording anything, but it wasn’t until this album they actually got to record a proper studio version. This piece shows a stronger fusion influence, with extended guitar solos from Carroll Bérard and Moog solos from one of the two keyboardists (Réjean Yacoula, Martin Murray), but then the music suddenly makes some unexpected changes, including a passage with a chorus, and a few nice surprises. “Le Cosmophile” starts off with some great Moog and string synths, with some great use of electric piano. This is the only time on the album that had any singing, and as usual, it was in French (J’un Oeil had more vocals, but still largely instrumental). Out of nowhere, a saxophone appears (courtesy of Martin Murray), this part reminds me a whole lot of the German fusion group Passport (circa Cross-Collateral, from 1975), even the sax work reminds me of Klaus Doldinger. I really like the Hammond organ that came next. “Il Faut Sauver Barbara” find the band doing even more complex stuff, where the band plays a nice theme, then suddenly does something different. I really love that juicy Moog that you find in one passage. The Gentle Giant influence of the band was showing up on this piece. “Ad Hoc” finds guitarist Carroll Bérard using a talk box, much the same thing Peter Frampton used on “Do You Feel Like I Do” off his infamous Frampton Comes Alive, not to mention Joe Walsh (like on “Rocky Mountain Way”). It’s not like Sloche decided to sound like Frampton, far from it, as it’s still squarely prog rock. “La ‘Baloune’ de Varenkurtel au Zythogala” is a really nice, pleasant piece, dominated by Moog, electric piano and string synths. This piece leads up to the lengthiest piece on the album (11:18), “Isacaaron (ou le démon des choses sexuelles)”. This was perhaps the hardest piece to get into. It was a rather complex and elaborate piece that require many times to “get it”. Some of the Gentle Giant influences were showing up again as well.

The cover to Stadacone was not as silly as J’un Oeil. The front cover depicts Native American (I really should say Native Canadian, since the band isn’t American) artwork, which I thought was cool, while the back shows the picture of the band, in a more normal pose (Carroll Bérard isn’t grinning at his guitar this time, in fact, the photo only shows the band members, but without their instruments).

This was the last we’ll hear from Sloche, but it’s nice to see that gave us two great albums. I guess it’s better than a bunch of albums, where later on in their career, they started giving us mediocre to downright embarassing albums (any fan of Yes, ELP, Jethro Tull, and Pink Floyd can attest to that).

I am happy to see that Sloche did it again, Stadacone proved that Sloche were no slouches, and this is another must-have album!