Pierre Henry – Machine Danse

I play this album today to honor the work and the ing of Pierre Henry, one of the most innovative and totally BEYOND of all European composers; a man whose magnificent opus will be sured only by the enduring influence of his legacy.

If the record was issued in 1973 it is impossible that it isn't distribited by London Records Of Canada (1967) ltd.

I continuosly just cannot find a valid point about this album being not reissued, just when (not strangely) all the French vinyl versions of "Machine danse" I came to manage got always the same wide poor quality audio output with a consistent lessening in sound quality.
The Canadian version instead, manufactured by London Records of Canada LTD. (established in 1967), recognizable by red vinyl labels, has TOTALLY a superior amount of deluxe qualities: first, visually, the esternal record surface suggests a particular pressing were the grooves are, in a way, hidden "under" and protected by the superficial strata wich greatly seems not to retain any dust or paper sleeve signs from usage.
Probably the link here is that Decca was connected to London Records, plus it was the main label to press classical vinyls of a maximum quality for the consumers, like the "phase 4 stereo spectacular" Lp.
Plus aurally this pressing it deserves many surprises, I do not know how maybe vinyl surface has been treated with some repellent or what, but since this theres a proper division between the sound produced by grooves and the one produced by the stylus on media, this Canadian version is able to let the sound come out at a maximum clarity details degree, and Pierre Henry's music on here, just deserves this.

These days, this record just makes a wonderful analogic original standout in Henry's opus, but when hearing the black labelled French pressing , the listener's praise for a proper remastered Cd version becomes stronger and stronger, simply due to the fact that music here is all centered about the
sound manifestation that microphones put into air, plus the maniacal work of keepeing sounds together put the listener in journey where can't exist disturbing elements usually produced by vinyl, like low humming, surface ticklin and un-costant dust scraping that distorts listeners' attention.

So Henry's "Machine Danse" deliver to the attentive listener a deep insight into experimental avant sound world and once I listened to the original 1973 French vinyl on Philips years ago, i thought that all the rich meat secreted (!) into it was lost and the fact that the Cd reissue was missing led me to a profound desperation.
Plus i was kind of buzzled, as one could think, like me, that this record was initially a Library destinated to background music or avant gard cinema panorama.
But once realized that it was simply and CRAZILY issued in the early heavy rock electro-mania of the early Seventies, with the title track putting out a guitar solo beddazzled by synth flippers , it blowed me away for is non commercial and ahead of time feeling.
So the first track puts it like you have Led Zeppelin riffing guitar with J.J. Perrey synth bursting, and it is ONLY a tricky music market operation.
The rest all is centered about erotic soundscape (!) and music concrete collages, widely improved by the backcover pretentious surrealistic presentation.
The tracks follow to produce synthesis between recorded human language and "soundings", both electronical and concrete, fusing eeerie distant crystal cries with sexy woman voice whispering and smiling, producing an expressive mixture of disorienting "music land scape" and "what next? feeling.
In "Sacrifice" a kind of "drunken" woman voice makes counterpoints to weird compressed tiny voices
like being in a circus of maniacal elfs "whooping" and sucha like.
In "Erotica" there's a coitus sound reproduction, or at best it is suggested by spare voices and intermitting sounds, like the joke wants it.
I suggest to little low down the volume on this because it will make your neighbours think you are a kind of loony maniac dedicated to nasty activities involving "male ooohs" and "Female ahhhas" of pleasure and body intimity. "Initiation" then led to distensive laid down of nerves with a proper usage of crotales and synthesizer.
Following "Tam Tam de la source" the sound becomes liquid and the fluidity is easily expanded thankfulyy to the tracks long minutage wich allows to bend and stretch the idea development and providing a fully pleasant eantertainment made of "never heard" sounds in the "never know what to expect" land. Percussions come over to beat down the soft liquid in "Danse des fausses bouteilles"
and damn, it is a nice xperiment vibe !
With "Exorcisme" we have the continuation of head-on blending of suggestive and "sense-hurting" music collages like it was made in the mid of bloody riot in a psichiatric recovery hospital.
Again "Tam Tam De La Vache" multiple percussive instruments comes in to bild up a crescendo made of pregnant and catartic climax of additional beats and bells, just at the point where focusing on totality this led the listeners to obtain a unique idea of a totality of order into (controlled) chaos.
And finally the perfect ending "Danse Electromatic" is like being literally wrapped with electronic adhesive scotch made of synthesized sounds, plus comic burping & bursting & burpling of an ideal pantagruelic music eater when suddenly one vein collapse out with 3000 Hertz .......

So Man.. this is Unsured !

So knowing that only the original 1973 Canadian version (fortunately manufactured by London Records Ltd.) gives listeners full idea of the potentiality of original album, we still praise for a proper remastered CD version of this Henry most appreciated masterpiece.

I continuosly just cannot find a valid point about this album being not reissued, just when (not strangely) all the French vinyl versions of "Machine danse" I came to manage got always the same wide poor quality audio output with a consistent lessening in sound quality.
The Canadian version instead, manufactured by London Records of Canada LTD. (established in 1967), recognizable by red vinyl labels, has TOTALLY a superior amount of deluxe qualities: first, visually, the esternal record surface suggests a particular pressing were the grooves are, in a way, hidden "under" and protected by the superficial strata wich greatly seems not to retain any dust or paper sleeve signs from usage.
Probably the link here is that Decca was connected to London Records, plus it was the main label to press classical vinyls of a maximum quality for the consumers, like the "phase 4 stereo spectacular" Lp.
Plus aurally this pressing it deserves many surprises, I do not know how maybe vinyl surface has been treated with some repellent or what, but since this theres a proper division between the sound produced by grooves and the one produced by the stylus on media, this Canadian version is able to let the sound come out at a maximum clarity details degree, and Pierre Henry's music on here, just deserves this.

These days, this record just makes a wonderful analogic original standout in Henry's opus, but when hearing the black labelled French pressing , the listener's praise for a proper remastered Cd version becomes stronger and stronger, simply due to the fact that music here is all centered about the
sound manifestation that microphones put into air, plus the maniacal work of keepeing sounds together put the listener in journey where can't exist disturbing elements usually produced by vinyl, like low humming, surface ticklin and un-costant dust scraping that distorts listeners' attention.

So Henry's "Machine Danse" deliver to the attentive listener a deep insight into experimental avant sound world and once I listened to the original 1973 French vinyl on Philips years ago, i thought that all the rich meat secreted (!) into it was lost and the fact that the Cd reissue was missing led me to a profound desperation.
Plus i was kind of buzzled, as one could think, like me, that this record was initially a Library destinated to background music or avant gard cinema panorama.
But once realized that it was simply and CRAZILY issued in the early heavy rock electro-mania of the early Seventies, with the title track putting out a guitar solo beddazzled by synth flippers , it blowed me away for is non commercial and ahead of time feeling.
So the first track puts it like you have Led Zeppelin riffing guitar with J.J. Perrey synth bursting, and it is ONLY a tricky music market operation.
The rest all is centered about erotic soundscape (!) and music concrete collages, widely improved by the backcover pretentious surrealistic presentation.
The tracks follow to produce synthesis between recorded human language and "soundings", both electronical and concrete, fusing eeerie distant crystal cries with sexy woman voice whispering and smiling, producing an expressive mixture of disorienting "music land scape" and "what next? feeling.
In "Sacrifice" a kind of "drunken" woman voice makes counterpoints to weird compressed tiny voices
like being in a circus of maniacal elfs "whooping" and sucha like.
In "Erotica" there's a coitus sound reproduction, or at best it is suggested by spare voices and intermitting sounds, like the joke wants it.
I suggest to little low down the volume on this because it will make your neighbours think you are a kind of loony maniac dedicated to nasty activities involving "male ooohs" and "Female ahhhas" of pleasure and body intimity. "Initiation" then led to distensive laid down of nerves with a proper usage of crotales and synthesizer.
Following "Tam Tam de la source" the sound becomes liquid and the fluidity is easily expanded thankfulyy to the tracks long minutage wich allows to bend and stretch the idea development and providing a fully pleasant eantertainment made of "never heard" sounds in the "never know what to expect" land. Percussions come over to beat down the soft liquid in "Danse des fausses bouteilles"
and damn, it is a nice xperiment vibe !
With "Exorcisme" we have the continuation of head-on blending of suggestive and "sense-hurting" music collages like it was made in the mid of bloody riot in a psichiatric recovery hospital.
Again "Tam Tam De La Vache" multiple percussive instruments comes in to bild up a crescendo made of pregnant and catartic climax of additional beats and bells, just at the point where focusing on totality this led the listeners to obtain a unique idea of a totality of order into (controlled) chaos.
And finally the perfect ending "Danse Electromatic" is like being literally wrapped with electronic adhesive scotch made of synthesized sounds, plus comic burping & bursting & burpling of an ideal pantagruelic music eater when suddenly one vein collapse out with 300 Hz * .......

*(Carlo Beltrami "Arte e fisica del suono")

So Man.. this is Unsured !
So knowing that only the original 1973 Canadian version (fortunately "manufactured" by London Records Ltd.) gives listeners full idea of the potentiality of original album, we still praise for a proper remastered CD version of this Henry most appreciated masterpiece.

First strange thing is how this record got no original reissue on cd with the author still active these days, everyone its this should have been remastered or something else on Cd format.

Second strange thing is that the french Philips vinyl got less sound quality (more dust clicks and humming, less details in music) output if compared with the canadian version manufactured by London Records of Canada, wich keeps a stronger surface gloss and a deeper sound without any dust noise.
Surely London Records in Canada used high quality vinyl in the pressing plant and this can be seen in other Canadian Philips records of the era, i guess it coulcd have been the fact that this subsidiary was linked with Decca and his high deluxe vinyl pressing due to the classical music catalogue, as well the "phase 4 stereo spectacular" series of recordings.
But above all is that Pierre Henry during first years of the seventies until this 1973 lp was in a big high creativity process, delivering 4 of his most acclaimed albums one after the other: despite this, both "cortical art" records and this one are left in the original old style vinyl issue, wich became a treasure to find for specialized conoisseurs worldwide.

We ask Henry to manage to remaster this wonderful work on Cd again, surely will be a fullfillmet for many conoisseurs and will receive a newly acclamation for one of the best musique concrete album EVER.