Offenbach - Bulldozer (1973/2008 Remastered & Expanded Edition)
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Album: Offenbach - Bulldozer (Musique originale du film de Pierre Harel)
Released: 1973 (2008)
Genre: Heavy Prog, Soundtrack music
Gnosis Rating: 9.43
ProgQuébec - MPM29
Who in 1973 would have thought that the recordings on the just-released soundtrack was the genesis of one of Quebec's favorite bands as we know it? In fact, this album (one of the least promoted of Offenbach's discography, with none of its tracks available on CD until now) dates back to 1970, when band manager Lucien Ménard orchestrates their fateful meeting with poet/musician/songwriter Pierre Harel, who was also working with Ménard on a new film: "Bulldozer". Harel proposes that the group records the film's soundtrack, and writes the band's first French lyrics. The result is an album that often demonstrates the young Offenbach's progressive tendencies, with completely different versions of the classic songs "Bulldozer", "Câline de doux blues" and "Faut que j'me pousse". Essential for dyed-in-the-wool Offenbach fans! - ProgQuébec
Offenbach was one of Quebec’s best-known bands in the 1970s. They were known primarily as a hard rock band, though their early material, featuring two organists, tends to be more experimental than their later commercial output...
Bulldozer was a soundtrack to a 1974 film by Pierre Harel, who was the organist and band co-leader at the time. It includes a number of instrumental tracks and rearranged versions of some of the band’s early hits. The style ranges from bluesy hard rock to more experimental conceptual tracks. No one is going to confuse this with Morse Code, but these guys have some muscle to their music and it has been compared to Uriah Heep or Atomic Rooster - Kinesis
The band was founded in the sixties playing covers of pop anglo acts translating them to french, they called themselves Les Gants Blancs, then L' Opera Pop D'Offenbach then Offenbach Pop Opera then Offenbach Soap Opera in 1970. That year, poet-songwriter-lyricist-singer Pierre Harel joined them and gave them the necessary boost the band needed, convincing them that they should sing in Quebec's street french.
Under Harel's guidance the band recorded a string of innovative albums including Saint-Chrone de Neant, a live album recorded in a church, with choir, church organist and a priest giving a mass in latin! The band themselves sang the lyrics in latin making for a unique experiance. The style of music on that album could be described as a cross between Pink Floyd and Deep Purple, very original and innovative.
The rest of the albums up to 77's eponymous LP are more in the early 70's organ driven prog/hard rock similar to Uriah Heep, Atomic Rooster and some german bands like Birth Control, Jane etc. ... maybe a tad blusier. After many personal change-ups the band re-settled in '79 for a more boogie oriented sound. They did record a fine album with a big band in '79 (En Fusion). Even though Harel was long gone (he left in '74), they were very popular in French Canada, filling 17,000 seaters under the [aegis] of co-founder Gerry Boulet who died in 1990. Nowadays the band frequently re-unites for small scale gigs and festivals, events etc., but not permanently. I would suggest trying to find the two boxed sets released in the early 90's as they contain most of recorded output of the band, even some unreleased songs. - Alain Mallette, New Gibraltar Encyclopedia Of Progressive Rock
BULLDOZER may be one of Offenbach's most obscure albums, however it is an important one from a historical perspective since the music composed for it helped launch Offenbach's career and defined the group's sound for years to come.
By 1970, keyboardist and vocalist Gerry Boulet, his brother and drummer Denis Boulet, guitarist Johnny Gravel, and bassist Michel Lamothe had grown tired of playing cover songs as Les Gants Blancs. They changed the group's name to Offenbach Soap Opera, and began writing original songs in English. In early 1971, their new manager, Lucien Ménard, introduced the group to poet, musician and director Pierre Harel, with whom he was working on a new film entitled Bulldozer. The band needed money, so Harel hired them to help write a soundtrack for the movie. Harel also encouraged the band to compose rock songs in French rather than in English, an idea Gerry Boulet found preposterous. Harel's talents as a songwriter were soon evident, as within no time he helped compose "Câline de blues" and "Faut que j'me pousse", which would later become two of Quebec's most popular rock songs.
By the spring of 1972, Harel's film was still not finished, however the band had enough original music and decided to record its first album, Offenbach Soap Opera which featured some music from the Bulldozer soundtrack. The album was released that summer and received little airplay as rock music sung in French was something new. To pay the bills, the band, which had now shortened its name to Offenbach, was relegated to playing English cover songs again in hotel clubs throughout Québec, lugging around a Hammond B-3 organ and Davoli sound system. A disenchanted Denis Boulet quit music and was replaced by Roger Belval who had played with Gravel in the groups Les Venthols and Les Héritiers. After a gig in La Sarre, Harel had an epiphany in which he visualized the band playing the Mass for the Dead at St-Joseph's Oratory in Montreal. His vision soon came true, and on November 30, 1972, Offenbach performed a show sung in Latin before 3,000 people, yielding a live album entitled St-Chrone de Néant which was released in early 1973. Meanwhile the group continued to compose music for Harel's movie, and finally that spring the soundtrack to Bulldozer was recorded. Work then began on editing the film and synchronizing the music.
In the summer of 1973, while Offenbach was performing on the Plaines of Abraham in Quebec City, a French cinematographer named Claude Faraldo became enthralled with the band. By fall, Faraldo had lured the group to France to star in a film and record a new album. Then finally, after nearly more than three years in the making, Harel returned to Montreal to launch the film Bulldozer on Valentine's day 1974, starring Donald Pilon, Mouffe, Pauline Julien and Yvan Ducharme among others. Offenbach's album of the same name was released simultaneously with little fanfare while the rest of the group was still in France unable to afford plane tickets for the return trip to Montr?al. Harel decided not to go back to France where the band was leading a life of debauchery which was being filmed by Faraldo. However, many new songs had already been written by Harel, which would be featured on Offenbach's next three albums: Tabarnac (1975), Never Too Tender (1976), and the eponymous Offenbach (1977). Harel continue to collaborate with Offenbach, writing more big hits for the group until he formed Corbeau with Lamothe and Belval in 1977. - CD Notes
1 Bulldozer (chanté ) (04:40)
2 Hey Boss (04:34)
3 Magie Rouge (04:07)
4 Câline de doux blues (05:02)
5 Solange Tabarnac (00:27)
6 Marche de Peanut (02:08)
7 Bataille (02:46)
8 Bulldozer Thème (sax) (03:03)
9 Qu'est-ce qui te prend (02:47)
10 S.O.S. (03:14)
11 Ah Comme on s'ennuie (03:09)
12 Faut que j'me pousse (02:38)
13 Adios Amor (03:19)
14 S.O.S. (Alternate Take) (03:23)
15 Ah comme on s'ennuie (Long Version) (04:13)
Gérald Boulet: Vocals, Piano, Organ, Saxophone
Roger Belval: Drums
Jean Gravel: Guitar
Pierre Harel: Vocals, Piano
Michel Lamothe: Bass, Acoustic guitar
Mouffe: Vocals (S.O.S)
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