Cadmus le robot de l’espace (Cadmus, vesmírný robot, 1959)

Přidal: Premek |

Květen 6, 2014

Jean – Jacques Perrey. Sci-fi příběh pro mládež. Zvukové efekty Jean-Jacques Perrey. Produkce Henri Gruel.

Osoby a obsazení: Patrick Dorval (Paul Guers), profesor Somène (Jean Brochard), Cadmus (Lucien Nat), Imaro Sukamoto (Henri Virlogeux), profesor Wisencraft (Mischa AUer), Roger Florentin (Roger Duquesne).

Natočeno 1959. Vydal Philips v roce 1959 (2 LP, Livre-disque EIR 0035 – FRANCE). Reedice 16. 5. 2011 (1 CD; Sinetone AMR).

Pozn.: Ultra rare 2nd album by Jean-Jacques Perrey (and just as hard to find as his Prelude au Sommeil), an awesome French children’s science fiction story with stunning electronic sound effects and background soundscapes made by Perrey entirely on his Ondioline proto-synthesizer (credited as „Effets sonores: Jean-Jacques Perrey et son ondioline kaleidoscopique“), plus plenty of electronically processed crazy French robot voices! The Ondioline was a vacuum tube-powered, touch-sensitive early electronic keyboard instrument invented in 1941 by Georges Jenny; Perrey was an Ondioline salesman and it was his instrument of choice before the Moog existed (it achieved some popularity in the heyday of space-age pop, used by Esquivel, Attilio Mineo, Kai Winding, Al Kooper, and even Hollywood composer Alex North in his Spartacus score). Includes the full storybook inside the gatefold, written by Jean-Jacques Olivier and with gorgeous uncredited space-age sci-fi illustrations.

Lit.: anonym: Henri Gruel & Jean-Jacques Perrey – Cadmus, Le Robot de l’Espace. In web Continuo, 21. 3. 2011 (článek + nahrávka ke stažení). – Cit.: This amazing 1959 French drama not only involves some of the best French film noir and comedy films actors of the era, but also embarks sound effects prodigy Henri Gruel and electronic music guru Jean-Jacques Perrey. The latter doesn’t need any introduction, except for mentioning that, at the time, Perrey hadn’t met Robert Moog and was still playing on George Jenny’s Ondioline keyboard. He left France after the Cadmus project and had his first proper solo release as Mr. Ondioline in 1960 in the U.S. Henri Gruel (1923-2007) was both a successful film director and a much sought-after sound engineer and producer. In 1957, he directed his first film, La Joconde, with a script by Boris Vian. In 1958, he collaborated with Nicolas Schoffer on Mayola, a film on Schoffer’s cinetic sculptures with music by Tom Dissevelt and Dick Raajmakers. In 1961, Gruel filmed Schoffer’s Tour de Liège sculpture. In the 1970s, he produced several library music records for Unidisc, including the Imaginations… series launched in 1973 with Imaginations pour l’Expression Corporelle (posted before), and Imaginations #3 in 1978.

♫ Cadmus, subtitled The Robot from Outer Space, tells the story of an extraterrestrial artificial being secretly landing on Earth in the future – the story takes place in… 1983! – to use Terrestrial power engines to destroy an asteroid about to collide with his own planet, Aura 3 in the Betelgeuse constellation. When finally cornered by a group of international scientists, he tries to escape with a space rocket, but is finally destroyed by missiles fired from satellites in orbit around planet Earth. The drama involves multiple characters played by great actors, a lively, captivating realization by Henry Gruel, also serving as foley artist, and original incidental music with radically far out sounds by Jean-Jacques Perrey, who is credited with “Ondioline kaleidoscopique” on the cover – whatever that means, his instrument sounds deliciously futuristic. The record’s analog sound quality is so extraordinary as to make it an exciting experience even for non-French speakers.