Michel Le François - Sur La Terre Comme Au Ciel (1979, LP, Canada)

Although not very well known (particularly outside of Quebec), composer-musician-arranger Michel LeFrançois has worked with a number of Quebec recording artists through the vinyl era of the 70's & 80's (l'Infonie, l'Eternité, Claude Leveillée, Claude Peloquin, Nuance, etc). He's even contributed on the international scene with Shawn Phillips, yet he managed to record just one* obscure solo long play during that period. But what an album! (* he also released 3 solo new age CD's in 1997).

This is excellent keyboard-driven symphonic prog, reminscent of Claude Leveillee's Black Sun or Peloquin's Chants de l'Eternité, with dabbles of Pink Floyd and King Crimson.

Michel Le François (vocals, guitars, keyboards, Mellotron & Roland synths) had clearly made a few friends over the years, as he's supported here by a number of well-established artists that include Eternité's Robert Turmel (bass) and Richard Perrotte (drums), Octobre's Claude Hamel, Hun Bang (violins) and Estelle Ste-Croix (vocals), Harmonium's Serge Locat (mini-Moog), as well as Marc Belanger (violins), Lorraine Desmarrais (viola), Jean-Luc Morin (cello) and André Perreault (percussion, drums).