Carpe Diem - En Regardant Passer Le Temps 1975

Carpe Diem was a rather short-living French band with (unfortunately) not more than two albums and though they are considered in general by Prog fans of minor significance compared to i.e. Ange, Clearlight or Pulsar. Actually they’re quite difficult to categorize because they revealed elements of symphonic Prog, jazz-rock fusion and space rock. Their debut opens with the short “Voyage du Non-Retour” in a rather quirky and up-tempo vein and here in fact the jazz-rock classification still fits quite well. But “Reincarnation” reveals already very obviously a sound typical for this band starting with slow e-piano which reminds of harpsichord, gentle flute play and spheric synths. The composition continuously gains momentum and develops into an excellent and wonderful symphonic Prog piece with both a jazzy touch (due to the saxophone) and a slightly spacey one (due to tone modulated vocals). “Jeux du Siecle” reminds much more of classical music than of jazz and offers a very warm, gentle and harmonic sound dominated by saxophone, tasteful keyboards and Camel-esque guitar play (actually the only element this band comes to mind) with nice contributions by flute. Most of the track is kept instrumental, only in the final minute there are some vocals. The closing all instrumental one “Publiophobie” is like the introduction again more lively and represents a highly appealing hybrid between symphonic and jazz rock. Especially in its second half there are nice sections where the guitar’s coming more to the foreground for the first time. Carpe Diem presented on their debut a felicitous mix of traditional Prog and jazz fusion in a very dense and highly intriguing sound that fascinates the prone listener in a mesmerizing way.

Line-up / Musicians

Christian Truchi/keyboards,vocals
Gilbert Abbenanti/guitar
Alain Berge/bass
Alain Faraut/drums
Claude-Marius David/flute,sax,percussion

Discography(Album) 

En regardant passer le temps 1975

1.Voyage du Non-Retour 
2.Reincarnation 
3.Jeux du Siecle 
4.Publiophobie 


Listen or download Carpe Diem reincarnation for free on Pleer

Listen or download Carpe Diem publiphobie for free on Pleer