Thursday 14 September 2017

Malicorne - Malicorne 1 (1974)


The (first/) second album from this French band.

Malicorne was a quartet with a lineup of bass, crummhorn, guitar, bouzouki, mandolin, violin, viola, percussion, hurdy gurdy, dulcimer, psaltery and French vocals. Both male and female vocals from Mr and Mrs Yacoub.

.... and here is the confusion about if this is the debut album or the second album from this band. This is what I alluded to when I reviewed the Gabriel & Marie Yacoub album earlier this month. See my review here.
I would regard Malicorne 1 as their second album. I also see that ProgArchives does the same and I am following their example just for the sake of clarity.

Following on from the Pierre De Grenoble album from the year before, we get a lot more French folk rock again. They use a lot of exotic instruments here and a lot of vocal harmonies.

The best reference here are Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span. But Malicorne's folk music is a lot more dense than their English counterparts.

The music here is not easy listening by any means. But the music is sometimes melodic and has some OK instrumental parts too.

I would not label this thirty-eight minutes long album as a good album as I find the hardcore folk music a bit jarring and disharmonic. But they are getting better........

2.5 points



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