Claude Denjean

(c) Vinyl Vulture.... After studying classical music in Paris as a teenager, Denjean felt the lure of more contemporary things and he formed his own dance band and accompanied several popular French singers of the day, performers with names that mean nothing to us Brits. However, soon he struck paydirt on an international scale by arranging for Charles Aznavour. Denjean clearly built up a nice little nest-egg from all of this, as he later quit France and relocated to Canada. With the newfound freedom of not having to provide syrupy backing for tired old cabaret acts he dived headlong into the world of electronic music when he discovered the Moog synthesiser. We might not know much about the man, but his legacy is a fine one. MOOG! In fact 'Moog' (Phase 4, 1971) must be one of the most essential Moog-ified albums there are. The song choices look lame at first glance, but it's the extensive use of the wibble button that really bigs this one up. Many Moog albums were produced during the 70's with some dude just going through the motions with lackluster pop melodies. Not so here. Bright invention springs forth with great regularity and the up-tempo numbers are simply stunning. In the world of Moog, it's really difficult to beat his takes on 'Venus' and 'Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye'...They are just steaming! Easily picked up wherever cheese is sold, so shame on you if you haven't got a copy already. OPEN CIRCUIT There are a couple more Moog-styled offerings from Denjean to check out, and the follow up 'Open Circuit' (Phase 4, 1973) is worth a dabble, though strangely commanding a higher price, yet offering substantially less. A decent run through of 'Let's Stay Together' is the only highlight apart from the very, very wonderfully 'Kiss This', on which a mucky-sounding French bird occasionally makes just that very reasonable invitation over a big beaty backing that really cooks. Rude not to! MOODS A few years pass before the next release, and it is clear that these were the disco years, as 'Moods' (Phase 4, 1977) is more than a bit 'Fifth Of Beethoven' in places, as a few stuffy perennial themes are approached, such as 'My Way' and 'Moon River' All is not lost, as the Moog is retained throughout, and works best on the up-tempo Latin numbers 'Desormais' and 'El Cumbanchero'. Also, there is a slightly disturbing Moody Blues connection, with Denjean's own personal homage 'Memories Of The Moody Blues', churning up 'Nights In White Satin' in epic style. Couple this with the similarity throughout with the style of Jeff Wayne's 'War Of The Worlds', released the following year, which of course had Justin Hayward all over it, and you start to see the bigger picture!" (c) Vinyl Vulture. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.