On July 19, 2024, Musea Records is pleased to announce the highly anticipated reissue of the album “Emile Jacotey” by the legendary band Ange. Originally released in 1975, this album is considered one of the band’s masterpieces, featuring standout tracks such as “Ode à Emile” that continue to resonate in the hearts of Progressive Rock fans.
“Emile Jacotey” was initially intended to be a musical adaptation of the Book of Legends. However, during a tour in England, Christian Décamps, the band’s leader, received a letter from his cousin containing an article from the newspaper L’Est républicain. This article spoke of an old blacksmith from Saulnot in Haute-Saône named Émile Jacotey, who shared fascinating local legends. Captivated by this character, Christian Décamps met Émile and recorded forty-five minutes of inspiring conversations that would give birth to several songs on the album.
This reissue, available on CD through the Musea Records website and all its marketplaces, allows new generations to discover or rediscover this iconic album. Musea Records, an independent label based in Metz, has always been committed to preserving the legacy of Progressive Rock and making it accessible to all.
Don’t miss the opportunity to dive into the poetic and musical universe of Ange with “Emile Jacotey,” an album that continues to inspire and amaze.
Purchase the album here: http://www.musearecords.com/ext_re_new_releaseselect.php?np=49854
Ange is, no doubt about it, the most popular of the French Progressive rock bands. Its music is based on Christian Decamp‘ unmistakable and melodramatic voice, his brother Francis Decamps‘ powerful organ sounds as well as on the development of energetic and intense medieval lines. The lineup invented its own style, both epic and delirious, and that blends madness, emotions and exacerbated feelings. This poetic and typically French Rock was noticeable from the band’s beginnings in 1969, and then got more formal on “Caricatures,” their first album issued three years later. “Le Cimetière Des Arlequins” came out twelve months before the three most appreciated Progressive Rock albums of the bdecamps brothers. “Au-Delà Du Délire” was issued in 1974, “Emile Jacotey” in 1975 and “Par Les Fils De Mandrin” in 1976. Undisputed leaders of the French Rock scene in the mid-Seventies, Ange couldn’t be satisfied with only a national success. Of course, foreign audiences appreciated the band, but more for their “exotic” use of the French language than for their true composing talent. Here is then the context that led the band to record “By The Sons Of Mandrin,” literal translation of “Par Les Fils De Mandrin” (1976), one of the major albums of their discography. This is then a true peculiarity in Ange‘s career. For reasons that got lost and about which only charismatic Christian Decamps could tell us about, this album was never released. It remained somewhere in Universal, until the day Musea had the good idea to invest both time and energy to finally get this jewel out of the dark. With the studio album and the recent “En Concert – Par Les Fils de Mandrin Millésimé 1977,” here is then a trilogy that all fans have to have in their collection! The excellent live album “Tome VI” (1977) gives the possibility to re-discover the best tracks of this era with the fantastic energy and exuberance showed on stage. Recorded that very year, “Guet-Apens” (1977) includes the epic and almost 14-minute long suite “Capitaine Coeur De Miel”. Following the first and the last two mentioned albums, “Vu D’Un Chien” (1980), “Moteur !” (1981), “A Propos De…” (1982) & “La Gare De Troyes” (1983) are available again after so many years. After this period, ANGE inexorably followed the path of a music that retained the same quality but that got closer and closer to a kind of rock-pop in fashion during the Eighties. The group would nevertheless make a comeback in the following decade, and that gave them the opportunity to offer “Sève Qui Peut” & “Les Larmes Du Dalaï-Lama,” both of good quality, in 1990 and 1992, and also to make a farewell tour in 1995. The latter has been captured as a double-album called “Un Petit Tour Et Puis S’En Vont,” recorded in May 17th & 24th 1995, today reissued by the Musea label. “En Concert 1970-1971” includes some unreleased live tracks of the first period, with the first bass player and guitarist of the band. For the pleasure of their numerous fans, the mythic concert given on the 25th October 1987 at the Zenith in Paris (During the show called “L’Evénement,” produced by Lionel Baillemont, Martin Circus being the other highlight.) is now available, with Christian DECAMPS’ official blessing, as well as that of the fan-club Un Pied Dans La Marge! On “Tome 87,” the original line-up is present, something that had not been able to come to reality since then. This also gives the opportunity to discover a live version of the famous “Le Nain De Stanislas,” for the first time on CD… True happiness ! At their best, both Decamps brothers, Christian & Francis, respectively singer and keyboardist, are happy to get together with their old friends Jean Michel Brezovar (Guitar), Daniel Haas (Bass) and Jean-Pierre Guichard (Drums). This enthusiasm can be felt thanks to an almost spiritual communion with the audience, more than happy to hear again this theatrical Progressive Rock at its best. Let’s just add that “Tome 87” includes an exclusive bonus video-track (To be read with your computer), an interview of the charismatic Christian Decamps made in December 2001 ! Ange‘s theatricality and magnificence was tailor-made for live performances, the charismatic singer Christian Decamps‘ favourite playground. Find three unique documents on the DVD “Seventies-Eighties“: a live performance recorded in a Swiss farm for the local national television in 1976 (With interview), a concert in the Lorraine region the following year and the much sought-after Zenith show in Paris during the year 1985. Time didn’t affect Ange‘s live potential, and the band still remains capable of moving huge and enthusiastic crowds. “Anthologie – Sève Qui Peut” DVD can be seen as a brilliant evidence of this fact ! The two parts of the mythical Mulhouse concert in April 1990 are reunited at last: the “Sève Qui Peut” album in its integrality, followed by some of the best compositions ever written by Ange. The whole is completed by ten minutes of photograph archives commented by Christian Decamps himself. Two collectors both unique and essential! In the year 2009, the Musea label launches a new collection of remastered albums in Digisleeve, reproducing the cover of the original vinyls in the CD format. The first concerned is none other than “Guet-Apens.”
