lockdown : vinyl find #15.

When I started collecting, I gathered a lot of information on the psychedelic record scene, mostly from the past. I quickly realized that a lot of those psychedelic records were expensive. With the info I could get from the internet, I started looking for a few key records, knowing it would be difficult at first. And it had been. 

One day, I happened to visit a huge flea market that was held on the parking lot of a supermarket in Brest, France. My only interest was in records, so I only focused on the people who had records to sell. I went twice to the same couple who had records lined up in crates on the floor. There was a crate of average records. In another one, among the better records, I found "Allée des tilleuls" by Edition Spéciale. That record had been on my list of French psychedelic records, and I knew it could potentially be expensive. I asked if the tag on the plastic sleeve was the price, and it was. So, for 30€, here how one my first real quests ended. The sellers knew how good and rare it was, and we started talking ; I told them I was surprised that it was not more expensive, to which the guy answered that he preferred that it would go for an average price to someone who really knows what it is. I guess I was that someone...

What can I say about the album ? Gosh... magnificient arrangements, in an intermediate way between progressive rock and psychedelism. There's even some funk in the instrumental parts. Some brand it as jazz rock. The vocals are not as pleasant, as they sound more amateurish than the music, but it doesn't ruin the record, as all along, the chemistry between the musicians make it a well-crafted album. 

Edition Spéciale - Allée des tilleuls. 

  

Here's the full album : YouTube.

Originally released by the major United Artists Records, it has since been reissued by Golden Pavilion.