Harmonium

Genre: Folk-Rock

Grade: C

Harmonium is one of those bands that fell into the atypical 'three album group' cycle.

Let's review this cycle, shall we?

Album #1 - Good. Not amazing, but good. Worth buying, but nothing to brag about.

Album #2 - A classic. 'Essential' is insufficient when describing how mind-blowing this album is. Not a single flaw! And, uh...and so on.

Album #3 - Harmonium? I thought this was Billy Joel!

...And then they break up. Basic post-dispersel drama ensues (presumably).

That Serge Fiori guy had a brief and uneventful solo career after the group broke up, sort of like Phil Collins. Sort of.

Surprisingly enough, Harmonium was pretty popular in their native Quebec. Of course, they never found any commercial success in America or any other important countries in the world, but they did find some minimal critical favor years and years after people out of Canada even heard any of their material.

Now, on to the music.

Harmonium's style was pretty unique (that is, at least, until L'heptade was released). They were sort of like a quirky combination of Yes and Cat Stevens.

However, it's hard to generalize with these guys, because their three albums are all very different. Maybe similar in essence, but certainly not structure or...some other pretentious form of categorization that critics always use to impress people. I've been doing a pretty good job of that, haven't I?

Anyway, back on task.

Harmonium's sophomore album, Si on Avait Besoin D'une Cinquieme Saison is the best of the three, and one of the best albums in the entire prog catalog.

Harmonium isn't bad, but it's not a crucial album in any way. L'heptade, as celebrated as it is, still sounds like one huge Billy Joel pastiche to me.

And, of course, the quote:

"Amene la folie, perd la raison. Mais j'ai le gout de m'rattraper."

I...really have no idea what that means, besides maybe two or three words.

Essential recordings: Si on Avait Besoin d'une Cinquieme Saison (1975)

Other recommend recordings: Harmonium (1974)

Stay away from these: L'heptade (1976)

Diversity - 8/10

Because of their lack of...well, albums, it's hard to judge exactly how diverse they could've potentially been. However, the three they did release are all very different entities.

Listenability - 9/10

Most of it is very pleasant and accessible; the only thing that the majority of listeners would find off-putting is the song length. I, myself, love the extended length. Only more room for mandolin solos and French lyrics which I can't understand.

Originality - 7.5/10

I wouldn't dare to call them 'unoriginal', because that's not the situation at all; they did what a lot of prog bands did. They took elements from their influences and contemporaries and combined them all into one distinct sound.

Quality - 6.9/10

Si on Avait is still one of the best albums in prog (and it's a pretty massive genre), but L'heptade drags the score down a point. Yipes.

Importance - 7/10

Harmonium was actually one of the more influential bands to come out of Quebec. Of course, 90% of their audience was Quebecois, but hey, someone's gotta listen to it. Right?

Rating: 7.68/10

Thus, a C on the scale.