Didier Lockwood - Surya
LP Free Bird/Cornelia [COR 4310] (1977/79)
Line-up:
Didier Lockwood - acoustic & electric violin, artianal bass violin
Francis Lockwood - keyboards
Jean Claude Agostini - guitar
Jean-My Truong - drums
Luc Plouton - keyboards
Sylvain Marc - bass
Surya was the progressive-fusion group formed by Didier Lockwood (violins) and Jean-My Truong (drums) when they left Zao after its short tour at the beginning of March 1977.
The rest of the original line-up was:
Francis Lockwood (piano and moog), Luc Plouton (synths) and Dominique Bertram (bass).
The initial plan was to record an LP for RCA that May, but this was just the start of their record company problems.
Shortly after Surya's formation, Bertram was replaced by Bunny Brunel
who had worked with Didier and Francis earlier in the year on the Lockwood 'Jazz-Rock' album.
The first tour began in Rouen on the 4th of May.
In August 1977 Sylvain Marc supplanted Bunny on bass and Surya recorded title album at Studio Damiens in Paris.
This was not simply Didier's backing group; he was only one fifth of the ensemble
and in fact only contributed one composition for the album.
Didier is not a great composer anyway, his skill lays with the bow not the pen and his brother contributed the best material for what was essentially an instrumental set.
They were a hot young act who stood out as the foremost French jazz-rock combo of the late seventies, while most of the other bands were getting tired and cooling off.
In November 1977 Surya began pestering the record companies for a deal with the tapes of their album.
The Tapioca label had a somewhat notorious reputation for releasing sub-standard pressings of albums by Gong and Magma without obtaining the permission of everyone concerned... and, in February 1978, they advertised the album 'Surya' (TP 10019). By July 1978, Surya had successfully taken action against an unspecified record company for pirating their tape and blocked the sale of what they considered to be a bootleg.
Didier and Jean-My Truong considered taking their chances in the States, and then decided to do another French tour that summer. However, they were not as prepared for this as they wished, and had to rely on the quality of the soloists to carry them through. Surya offered some attractive numbers, but knew their more composed pieces had been superior. Luc Plouton was disenchanted and later quit the group.
Surya were then hindered by a backlash against jazz-rock in the French music industry, which was experiencing a resurgence in interest in A.O.R. and of course punk. By 1979, Surya's live act had taken on a more progressive feel and they gradually shed the jazz-rock tag. Eventually it took almost two years until the tiny Cornelia label took them on. 'Surya' (COR 4310) their first and only album was released at the close of the decade. It has superb jazz-fusion themes such as 'Aura' and 'Patty', which are reminiscent of Jean-Luc Ponty's work during the late 70's, yet it was recorded before Ponty started working in that style. But it also has mellower tunes where the interest lies in the musicianship rather than the score, for example 'Aspiring Answer'. This mixture of bold jazz-rock and serene passages is held together with frenetic choruses by Didier Lockwood, with strident drumming from Truong. In fact the entire group were fantastic soloists, which was not always in the best interest of the music that they played, rather the opposite at times. But the group was full of vigour and extensive touring helped them to build a lasting reputation, such that I often hear Magma fans relishing those Surya gigs.
In the early eighties, the American Inner City label re-issued this album with a more colourful sleeve, and then in 1987, Cornelia had the tapes digitally remixed by the original recording engineer. At some point the album was released again (ADDA 581 015).
One peculiar aspect-is the way the last two pieces have been proffered on the CD. On the LP versions, the sixth and final track is a three-part piece. Part one: 'Space Travel' by Jean-My Truong on Syntoba, part two: 'Stakau' a funky melange by Sylvain Marc and part three: 'Do anything you want' an abysmal jazz-funk piece further spoiled by some pathetic vocals. The drumming on these three pieces is to the forefront of the mix. On the CD however, these three have been lumped together as track 6: 'Stakau', but digitally sanitised. The CD's bonus track is the original mix of 'Space Travel' / 'Stakau' / 'Do anything' but re-titled 'Do anything you want'.
It remains Didier's finest recording since leaving Magma
and Aspiring Answer is a fantastic gem!
SourceMusic:
CD+LP
Cybotron - Cybotron
