The Quebecois band with a name that works in both French and Dutch has finally thrown us a little loop by releasing an album with a few surprising classic covers. Do not worry proggers, there is no Celine, Shania or Bublé anywhere to be heard. Led by the mercurial Michel St-Père of Mystery fame as guitarist and label chief, the lads have followed up their recent and rather delicious In the Face of the Unknown record released in late 2024 with a delightful insight into their influences and personal likes. Three older Huis tracks are re-made and re-modeled (to quote the first Roxy Music album) with different musicians and arrangements, so I won’t harp on that too much because the true value here are the adaptations they have undertaken on famous as well as infamous masterpieces from legends such as Rush, Deep Purple, Genesis, Asia, Marillion, Saga, Arena, and Morse Code, a rather seminal Quebecois band from the 70s, reminding us all how big prog was then and now in la Belle Province.
“Down and Out ” A curious choice from the Genesis pantheon, picked from the “?and Then They Were Three” album, showcasing Martin Plante’s muscular emulation of Phil Collins’ rather tectonic drumming skills. Thankfully, Sylvain Descoteaux’s vocal is entirely original, though in all fairness, this is a tune I never really cared for much. The band nails “Perfect Strangers” with dastardly precision, keyboardist Johnny Maz doing his best Jon Lord homage, Michel St-Père having the time of his life on his fretboard and Descoteaux doing a raucous interpretation. How can one go wrong, after all this is a corker showpiece of the Purple catalog. The impression of smoke on the water flutters with intensity. Well done.
Tackling Marillion’s epic “Easter” is about equal to the challenge faced by Steve Hoggarth to validate his selection as a replacement for Fish, literally out of the blue as his previous band the Europeans was quite an unknown entity. Well, this version makes the grade but in no way outpaces the original, Sylvain does a great job, definitely E for effort. Asia’s mega hit “Wildest Dreams” was an even higher mountain to climb for a multitude of reasons, all very clear here because of the unlikelihood of keeping the original out of mind, and then how can one make such a ‘perfect song’ any different than the original? . It does however remind us just what a uniquely great voice Wetton possessed. The guitar solo is just fine.
Staying in Canada with the Rush piece “Between the Wheels”, “Qu’est ce que t’as Compris” from Québec band Morse Code, as well as the Saga classic “Don’t Be Late” consolidates the reverence fellow musicians have for their musical heritage, irrespective of language or culture. All three are familiar to most fans, the Saga track being a personal favourite, mostly for having heard it live (opening for UK!) and forever blown away. This version cannot go wrong as the original is legendary ! The Morse Code tune is an iconic track that has stood the test of time, a whirlwind affair sung in French with an impetuous authority that really hits the mark, progressive Rock ‘n Roll par excellence! The first and third section reminiscent of Octobre or Uriah Heep, while the middle instrumental part remains to this day, a prog romp into delirium, where grisly organ and guitar workouts settle the score, ‘If you understand what I mean ?’
Even though I have most of their albums , Arena’s “The Hanging Tree” barely elicits a spark in my mind, so it actually came across as a fresh revisit of “the Visitor”, instantly recognizing a piece I had not heard in 25 years ! As such, it made my day, in more ways than one, a moody and powerful epic neo-prog track, and a highlight event on this album.
The three reworked Huis compositions are just as good as the originals, they do sound out of place here, in my opinion. Listening to this album felt like attending their concert and the band finishing off with a set of golden oldies. Because this was so obviously a labour of love drenched in admiration and devotion to the cause, it can only be worthy of genuine applause. A hugely entertaining album.
4 Open doors