Grime

1) Grime (France)
Grime were a French band similar to Ange, Mona Lisa, and the like, for the dramatic nature of their presentations, both vocally and musically, though I detect an additional influence from UK groups of the mid-seventies, including Greenslade and Genesis. The CD contains six live bonus tracks.

Grime was a French art rock band formed in the mid-seventies. Intended for sale at their concerts, their first and only album was a privately released limited edition LP of 1000 copies. Consequently Grime received very little notice in the press and outside France. Now thirteen years later this Musea CD reissue contains their original LP Grime with six live bonus songs recorded at the «Panespo Club» in Neufchatel, Switzerland on 12 December 1981. Conceived as a concept album, Grime tells the story of a man on a subway who discovers that he can no longer get off. After falling asleep he awakes and looks outside to find the train stranded on a beach. This confusion between dream and reality is the departure for a musical odyssey to worlds of the fantastic. In the end the man wakes to find that he is still on the train in the same dull world. Grime was Didier Morando: drums, percussion, and vocals; Thierry Duval: keyboards, and lead vocals; Nick Vicente: bass, piano, and vocals (studio); Didier Duval: 6 and 12 string guitars, acoustic guitar, and vocals; Marc Nion: alto sax, flute, vocals, and sketches; and Michel Munier: bass (live). Didier Duval chose Grime as their name because in Greek theater it signifies an actor made up as an old man. This image intrigued Didier and he tried to incorporate it in their live performances. Grime’s music is an example of French progressive rock with a subtle blending of poetry, music, and theater. Their music is a mixture of complex melodies, vocals, and instrumentation similar to other popular contemporary progressive bands: Camel, Genesis, H. P. Lovecraft, King Crimson, Le Orme, and Supertramp. Only the brutal opening song «Cauchemar» (Nightmare) stands apart from the rest of the music. This punk influenced song opens with French shouting representing the trapped man’s awareness of his dilemma. The live music recorded 2 years later documents their growth as musicians and as a band. Grime’s music is great. They give good sax but no violins! I commend Musea for resurrecting this lost masterpiece from obscurity.