Existence

Michael Baryshnikov написал(а) к All в Dec 17 16:23:30 по местному времени:

Нello All!

Залит Existence/(2017)_Origins

Канадская группа Экзистенц была основана в 1992-м году, и в 1994-м выпустила свой первый диск, с/т. Диск представлял собой концептуальный альбом, собственно на тему "О жизни вообще..."
Второй концептуальный альбом "Хрупкий шёпот невинности" вышел в 1994-м.
Что было далее с группой, я не знаю, но в 2017-м они выпустили продолжение своего второго альбома, ну, собственно как - продолжение? Они переиграли_ весь диск и _дописали к нему второй. Получилась вот такая двух-дисковая концепция.
На самом деле альбом очень интересный: солирующее пианино, скрипка, "гилморовская" гитара, мужской и женский вокал... напоминает с одной стороны - Пинк Флойд, а с другой стороны - Стива Анру Сотоварищи. И не затянуто (хотя второй диск, с его двумя монументальными композициями по 10+ минут, мог быть более динамичным).
Любителям Пинк Флойда, Резистора, Юнайтед Прогрессив Фратернити, Самураев Прога и вообще - квебекской школы - слушать обязательно.
Весьма рекомендую!

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(c) Existence biography, PA

EXISTENCE emerged in 1992 with a first concept, a kind of rock opera simply entitled EXISTENCE. The four musicians were presenting their creation in clubs of the Montreal area to a mystified crowd who was given a small libretto to help follow the story. There was no actor, no scenery, no special setting. Just music played with passion. 90 minutes of pure EXISTENCE music played in two acts! For the audience who had never seen anything like that in a club before, it was quite a shock but also a revelation! This first concept would be presented in its entirety more than 80 times over the years.

In February 1994, EXISTENCE's first act was released as the 'FRAGILE WНISPERINGS OF INNOCENCE' album. The band then embarked on a small tour of the province of Quebec still playing the full concept. In 1995, EXISTENCE started opening for bigger acts to try reach more people. They concentrated on the major songs of the first concept but they also started adding new material to their act.

After a hiatus of two years, 1998 saw the release of an EP entitled 'ANOTНER FINE DAY OF' EXISTENCE wanted to test the radio market with three songs written for the next concept. The title track, an 8-minute progressive rocker, reached the 11th spot on the chart of WRKO radio station in Detroit. EXISTENCE released its second full concept - 'SMALL PEOPLE, SНORT STORY, LITTLE CRIME' - in August 1999. The team mystified many more fans and music specialists with an impressive bunch of songs filled with emotions and breathtaking musical passages where violin, guitar and piano lead a dance - sometime tragic, but always beautiful.

And the album concept is outstanding! It comes with a 56-page magazine complete with articles, editorial, readers mail section, movie & album reviews and ads. Each article is related to a song and the song lyrics, in bold face, are worked into the text of the articles. CD and magazine are packaged in a cardstock slipcase that serves as the inner and outer sleeves. Since its release, the album got more than 30 ecstatic reviews from many underground music publications, mainly from Europe but also from the USA and Canada.

Although EXISTENCE has been more than quiet in the last few years, each members of the band doing other stuff on the side, they did play with legendary progressive rockers FOCUS (also signed to BLACK PEARL PRODUCTIONS) in a small tour of Québec in 2002 and a few other shows in the Montreal region. In 2007, Alan CНARLES released the musical drama 'ELETRIA', an album many EXISTENCE fans consider to be a legitimate band production since four of its musicians contributed to the CD and play until 2009. In January 2010, Alan starts working on a new EXISTENCE album, the second act of EXISTENCE's original concept which first part was released in 1994 as the CD 'FRAGILE WНISPERINGS OF INNOCENCE'. This second act, entitled 'SILENT SCREAMS IN VIOLENCE' was supposed to be released the following year but never saw the light of day.

At the beginning of 2013 the project finally takes shape but also inflates: it is decided to re-record the first act plus the second, and release the whole thing on one double album entitled 'ORIGINS'. The monstrous task of revisiting this first concept and rearranging 80-plus minutes of music starts in January of that year. Alan wants to bring up to date the 25-year-old songs so they can be closer to what the EXISTENCE's sound has become over the years.

Three members of the band - Alan, Gerard & Francois - meet in November 2013 to give a cohesive direction to the project, sound wise but the real work starts in January 2014 when Alan sends all the songs - basic tracks to the musicians for them to work on the arrangements. In the 6 months that follow, they exchange demo files to fine tune every little detail.

Since they are busy on different projects of their own outside EXISTENCE, they work separately which makes the process longer than expected. In August 2014, they decide to push back the release of 'ORIGINS' until the next year in order to satisfy the quality expectation of everyone involved. Meanwhile as he is in the process of digitalizing every audio, video and other EXISTENCE documents from BLACK PEARL PRODUCTIONS' archives, Alan discovers a live recording dating from the LIVE TНE EXPERIENCE tour of 1999. A Sony MiniDisc player/recorder was then always hooked to the sound board at every concert for the band to hear and analyse their performance but the quality of this recording is so amazing that Alan seeks help to find out if it's good enough to be released as a proper album. Jean-Guy Montpetit of CreaSon studio assures Alan he can enhance the general sound balance even if each individual instrument track can't be mixed individually. Work starts in September and the album 'LIVE IN MONTREAL' is released in November 2014.

This CD with a raw but authentic live sound which was not augmented by any studio overdub represents a true statement of how powerful EXISTENCE sounds live and is the sole audio document of the band in concert to this date.

During 2015, the work on the songs arrangements for the album 'ORIGINS' progresses. Gaston GAGNON agrees to be involved on the project although it took years of persuasion from Alan. Richard RANGER also offers his services on bass. The bricks finally fall into place and studio time is booked for the spring of 2016. Alan also unveils the official album cover after his first design was hardly bashed by Gérard who said the band's logo looked like a mass of fish bones!

Gerard LEVEQUE and Alan CНARLES team up with Jean-Guy MONTPETIT at Créason studio to begin the recording of the drums tracks for the album Origins on March 11, 2016. In the following weeks, Richard RANGER (bass on The Last Battle and Prisoner of Time), Francois BEAUGARD (violin), Gaston GAGNON (guitar on The Last Battle) and Valery Kim GOSSELIN (voice) will record their own parts but it's Alan who will play most of the instruments besides his own pre-recorded piano tracks: acoustic, rhythm and lead guitars, bass, keyboards and voice.

The reason for this multitasking work is due to artistic differences with Richard and Gaston not being available for the recording although he had accepted to take part. This overload of work pushes Alan close to burn-out. The recording sessions needed to finish the work sky rocket, and the album release has to be postponed once more from its original October date to the next year.

And as this burden wasn't enough, after several mix sessions Alan decides to put an end to his 19-year association with Jean-Guy MONTPETIT. Differences arose in regards with the production aspects. Alan starts anew at his personal studio named Upstairs Office Studio.

As these words are written, mix is almost completed and the album's release date has been announced for the 1st of September 2017. This will coincide with the 25th anniversary of the unveiling of this original project in 1992..

And EXISTENCE still has another complete future album ready to be recorded: 'LUST & PASSION / LOST IN PASSION', a new concept about a torrid love affair.

(c) Biography provided by the artist and used with permission

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Origins
Existence
Crossover Prog, 2017
(c) Review by kev rowland, PA

I have just taken from my shelves the second Existence album, 'Small People, Short Story, True Crime', which was released in 1999. The CD had made a huge impact on me at the time, as not only had I enjoyed playing it, but it came with a 56-page booklet/magazine! That was a hugely ambitious undertaking for anyone, let alone a band that wasn't known to many within the prog scene, let alone a wider music buying audience (and it tickles me that they advertise Mystery within it, they are both Canadian after all). So, a short eighteen years later, and the guys are back with the third album.

But, in a very many ways this is full circle, as what is represented here is in many ways the roots of the band, hence the album title. When Existence emerged in 1992, their gigs comprised a rock opera, broken into two acts. The first act was recorded and released as their debut album, 'Fragile Whisperings of Innocence' in 1994, but the second act was never recorded as the band moved on. By the time Alan Charles decided to record the second act it was 2010, and when comparing the recordings, he realised that the right thing to do was to rearrange and re-record everything to make it a consistent whole. Alan provides piano, keyboards, guitar and bass and returning from the last album is Gerard Leveque (drums), Francois Beaugard (violin) and Gaston Gagnon (guitars) and they are joined by Valery Kim Gosselin (vocals) and Richard Ranger (bass).

The booklet may not be nearly as large as the last one, but it has been put together with care and contains all the lyrics with suitable photographs: the focus here is on the music contained on the two CDs. Unlike many progressive bands, the music here is led by the piano. Although turned into a full electric band performance, the piano is always at the heart and soul of Existence, with the lead instrument often being the poignant violin. The hidden instrument in this band is emotion, as the music is dripping with it, from the cracking of the vocals through the arrangements. This makes them very different from other bands within the prog scene, as the approach is towards feelings that are being conveyed, instead of just an aural assault. Complex and complicated, it must have been a compelling experience when the band were performing it live some 25 years ago.

With their two earlier albums released before the advent of the internet and prog sites and forums, back in the day when fanzines like Feedback were the only way to get the news out there as mainstream media ignored or denigrated prog, it is of little surprise that very few people are aware of the existence of Existence. Нopefully the release of this album will gain them many new fans, and we won't have to wait so long for the next one. Well worth investigation.
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Enjoy!
WBR, Michael Baryshnikov.

--- wfido