Clearlight (French band)
Encyclopedia
Clearlight are a French
progressive rock
band from the 1970s, although their best known work was produced in England
, and released by a major British
record company. While progressive rock is an appropriate overall genre for the band, much of their work delves into other genres including psychedelic music
, jam band
music, symphonic rock
, space rock
, jazz fusion
, and new age music
.
"Clearlight" did not become the group's name until their third album; their first was Clearlight Symphony
which is an album with a title but no artist name. Before choosing the name Clearlight they were briefly called Delired Cameleon Family, taken from a humorous "franglo" pun, "delire raide camé Léon". This being an English language name for a French group, it contains, perhaps unintentionally, two words that do not exist in the English language: delired as the adjective form of delirium
("delirious" would have been correct), and cameleon is a mis-spelling of the lizard species chameleon
(probably confused with the French spelling, caméléon).
The group's large and continually changing membership featured a mix of French and British musicians, including pianist
and synthesist
Cyrille Verdeaux who was regarded as its leader, Gilbert Artman of Lard Free and Urban Sax
(although he does not play saxophone here), and several members of Gong
: Tim Blake
, Steve Hillage
and Didier Malherbe
. Violin
ists Jorge Pinchevsky (also of Gong, but he does not appear on any Clearlight albums) David Cross
of King Crimson
, and Didier Lockwood
of Magma
were also members at various times.
The band was managed by Jacques Reland, now a lecturer at the London Metropolitan University
and Head of European Research at the Global Policy Institute. The Rennes born manager negotiated the band's first four album deals.
Cyrille Verdeaux later recorded one or more solo albums under the name Clearlight, which are outside the scope of this discography.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
band from the 1970s, although their best known work was produced in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and released by a major British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
record company. While progressive rock is an appropriate overall genre for the band, much of their work delves into other genres including psychedelic music
Psychedelic music
Psychedelic music covers a range of popular music styles and genres, which are inspired by or influenced by psychedelic culture and which attempt to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues-rock bands in the...
, jam band
Jam band
-Ambiguity:By the late 1990s use of the term jam band also became ambiguous. An editorial at jamband.com suggested that any band of which a primary band such as Phish has done a cover of be included as jam band. The example was including New York post-punk band Talking Heads after Phish performed...
music, symphonic rock
Symphonic rock
Symphonic rock is a sub-genre of progressive rock. Since early in progressive rock's history, the term has been used sometimes to distinguish more classically influenced progressive rock from the more psychedelic and experimental forms of progressive rock....
, space rock
Space rock
Space rock is a subgenre of rock music; the term originally referred to a group of early, mostly British, 1970s progressive and psychedelic rock bands such as Hawkwind and Pink Floyd, characterised by slow, lengthy instrumental passages dominated by electric organs, synthesizers, experimental...
, jazz fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
, and new age music
New Age music
New Age music is music of various styles intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management or to create a peaceful atmosphere in their home or other environments, and is often...
.
"Clearlight" did not become the group's name until their third album; their first was Clearlight Symphony
Clearlight Symphony
Clearlight Symphony is a progressive rock album released in 1975 on Virgin Records in the UK. It does not officially have an artist name, but is now regarded as the first album by Clearlight who adopted the name later that year, after briefly using the name Delired Cameleon Family...
which is an album with a title but no artist name. Before choosing the name Clearlight they were briefly called Delired Cameleon Family, taken from a humorous "franglo" pun, "delire raide camé Léon". This being an English language name for a French group, it contains, perhaps unintentionally, two words that do not exist in the English language: delired as the adjective form of delirium
Delirium
Delirium or acute confusional state is a common and severe neuropsychiatric syndrome with core features of acute onset and fluctuating course, attentional deficits and generalized severe disorganization of behavior...
("delirious" would have been correct), and cameleon is a mis-spelling of the lizard species chameleon
Chameleon
Chameleons are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of lizards. They are distinguished by their parrot-like zygodactylous feet, their separately mobile and stereoscopic eyes, their very long, highly modified, and rapidly extrudable tongues, their swaying gait, the possession by many of a...
(probably confused with the French spelling, caméléon).
The group's large and continually changing membership featured a mix of French and British musicians, including pianist
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and synthesist
Analog synthesizer
An analog or analogue synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses analog circuits and analog computer techniques to generate sound electronically. The earliest analog synthesizers in the 1920s and 1930s such as the Trautonium were built with a variety of vacuum-tube and electro-mechanical technologies...
Cyrille Verdeaux who was regarded as its leader, Gilbert Artman of Lard Free and Urban Sax
Urban Sax
Urban Sax is an ensemble founded by the French composer Gilbert Artman made up of massive numbers of saxophones, accompanied by percussion and sometimes voices...
(although he does not play saxophone here), and several members of Gong
Gong
A gong is an East and South East Asian musical percussion instrument that takes the form of a flat metal disc which is hit with a mallet....
: Tim Blake
Tim Blake
Timothy 'Tim' Blake , keyboards, vocalist instrumentalist and composer with both Gong, and Hawkwind. Blake is best known for his Synthesizer and Light performances as Crystal Machine, with the French Light Artist Patrice Warrener...
, Steve Hillage
Steve Hillage
Steve Hillage is an English musician, best known as a guitarist. He is associated with the Canterbury scene and has worked in experimental domains since the late 1960s...
and Didier Malherbe
Didier Malherbe
Didier Antonin Malherbe is a saxophonist and flautist. He was one of the founders of the Canterbury sound band Gong....
. Violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ists Jorge Pinchevsky (also of Gong, but he does not appear on any Clearlight albums) David Cross
David Cross (musician)
David Cross is an electric violinist born in Turnchapel near Plymouth, England, best known for playing with progressive rock band King Crimson during the 1970s...
of King Crimson
King Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
, and Didier Lockwood
Didier Lockwood
Didier Lockwood is a French jazz violinist. He played in the progressive rock/jazz fusion band Magma in the 1970s and is known for his use of electric amplification and experimentation on different sounds on the electric violin....
of Magma
Magma (band)
Magma is a French progressive rock band founded in Paris in 1969 by classically trained drummer Christian Vander, who claimed as his inspiration a "vision of humanity's spiritual and ecological future" that profoundly disturbed him. In the course of their first album, the band tells the story of a...
were also members at various times.
The band was managed by Jacques Reland, now a lecturer at the London Metropolitan University
London Metropolitan University
London Metropolitan University , located in London, England, was formed on 1 August 2002 by the amalgamation of the University of North London and the London Guildhall University . The University has campuses in the City of London and in the London Borough of Islington.The University operates its...
and Head of European Research at the Global Policy Institute. The Rennes born manager negotiated the band's first four album deals.
Discography
- Clearlight SymphonyClearlight SymphonyClearlight Symphony is a progressive rock album released in 1975 on Virgin Records in the UK. It does not officially have an artist name, but is now regarded as the first album by Clearlight who adopted the name later that year, after briefly using the name Delired Cameleon Family...
– 1975, Virgin RecordsVirgin RecordsVirgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...
V-2029, UKUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
; this album has no artist name - Delired Cameleon FamilyDelired Cameleon FamilyDelired Cameleon Family is a progressive rock album by the group of the same name, released in 1975 on EMI Records in France. It is now regarded as the second album by Clearlight who adopted the name later that year, in response to the success of Clearlight Symphony , which is now regarded as...
– 1975, EMI RecordsEMI RecordsEMI Records is the flagship record label founded by the EMI company in 1972 and launched in January 1973 as the successor to its Columbia label. The EMI label was launched worldwide...
2C-066-13.087, FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
; as Delired Cameleon Family - Forever Blowing BubblesForever Blowing BubblesForever Blowing Bubbles is a progressive rock album by Clearlight, released in 1975 on Virgin Records in the UK. It is their first album to use this artist name, but is regarded as their third album....
– 1975, Virgin RecordsVirgin RecordsVirgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...
V-2039, UKUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... - Les Contes du Singe FouLes Contes du Singe FouLes Contes du Singe Fou is a progressive rock album by Clearlight, released in 1976 on Isadora Records in France....
– 1976, Isadora Records ISA-9009, FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... - VisionsVisions (Clearlight album)Visions is a progressive rock album by Clearlight, released in 1978 on Celluloid / LTM Records in France....
– 1978, CelluloidCelluloid RecordsCelluloid Records, a French/American record label, founded by Jean Georgakarakos operated from 1976 to 1989 in New York, and produced a series of eclectic and ground-breaking releases, particularly in the early to late 1980s, largely under the auspices of de facto in-house producer Bill...
/ LTM Records LTM-1005, FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
; says LTM Records on cover, Celluloid Records on label
Cyrille Verdeaux later recorded one or more solo albums under the name Clearlight, which are outside the scope of this discography.