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PRICE:
$33.00
NOT IN STOCK
ARTIST
TITLE
Calcium
FORMAT
LP

LABEL
CATALOG #
MMLP 012LP MMLP 012LP
GENRE
RELEASE DATE
12/22/2017

2023 restock. Monster Mélodies present the never before released album by Calcium. A legendary French psychedelic rock album, recorded in 1969, of which only two tracks were released at the time. Percussionist Stéphane Vilar played with pianist Jef Gilson and recorded on his 1964 album Oeil Vision (OI 012LP). Musician Graeme Allwright introduced Vilar to Marc'O, then director of the theater school of the American Center Boulevard Raspail. The director, looking for musicians to play rock n' roll in his project Les Idols, hired Vilar along with jazz pianist Patrick Greussay, saxophonist Didier Malherbe (Gong, Clearlight), and guitarist Didier Léon who features on the Barney Wilen's 1972 album Moshi (FFL 015LP). Stéphane then recruited jazz bassist Jacques Zins through Jérôme Savary. Les Idols is where the musicians who baptized The Rollsticks played. It was performed in 1966 and was later adapted for a feature film in 1968, where the same participants were joined by Valérie Lagrange. Stéphane Vilar then decided, together with his brother the painter Christophe, to create his own band which included some of the Rollsticks: Jacques Zins, Patrick Greussay, Didier Léon, drummer Alain Sirguy, and singer Danièle Ciarlet known as Zouzou. Model and muse of the Parisian night scene, Zouzou acted in Eric Rohmer's Afternoon Love (1972). Considered to be the French Marianne Faithfull, she released two 45 EPs orchestrated by Jacques Dutronc. She represents the image of the liberated woman in France in the sixties. The group took the name of Jardin, and soon changed it to Calcium. Thanks to financial support from Sylvina Boissonnas, the group bought instruments and practiced and refined the compositions for a year before recording. Two recording sessions were held at the Davout studios in 1969. Christophe was replaced by guitarist Denys Lable who later recorded on Jean Claude Vannier's L'enfant Assassin Des Mouches (FKR 001X-LP). After the recordings, Michel Taittinger, the heir of the namesake Champagne and television producer, obtained a contract with Pathé for the band. A single was put on the market without any promotion, resulting in poor sales. It's now considered to be one of the rarest singles of French psychedelic rock. Due to the disinterest of the record company, which only wanted put Zouzou's character forward to create a new Janis Joplin, the masters for the album were abandoned on a shelf for forty-eight years. Color vinyl; Includes two inserts; Edition of 1000 (numbered).