LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

One of a handful of classic French progressive pop albums of the early 1970's, together with Serge Gainsbourg's "Melody Nelson," Igor Wakevitch's "Hathor", and Gerard Manset's "La Mort D'Orion"

Key member of Franois Wertheimer's Popera Cosmic collective

LP pressed in a one-time 180 gram edition of 500 copies

Licensed from Parlophone, A Warner Music Group Company.

Skornik was a mystic explorer, psychonaut, and gifted musician, who was immersed in the metaphysical revolutions of his time. He presented television reports, laced with elements of Eastern mysticism, on LSD experiences. Between 1970 and 1973, EMI/Pathe released several ambitious and progressive pop albums: "La Mort D'Orion (Gerard Manset), "Puzzle (Michel Berger), "Hathor (Igor Wakevitch). And then there was Skornik's incredible album, "Pour Pauwells", inspired by the revolutionary writings of Louis Pauwells (famously namechecked by Gainsbourg in his classic 'Initials B.B.'), a one-time counterculture hero and disciple of esoteric spiritualist G. I. Gurdjieff, The result is a timeless blend of lush orchestration, searing psych-rock, baroque melodies, and deep funk fluidity.

"If you have not heard of Guy Skornik you do not know what you've lost... but don't worry, it's never too late. Guy was brought to the public's attention for the first time in the beginning of 1970. Then it was the release in the middle of the year of a magnificent LP (on Pathe, of course!) I strongly recommend it to you as it is a masterpiece. He starts with a taste for surrealism and for all the strange things that have occurred over thousands of years on the earth's surface; Skornik tried, and succeeded perfectly, to create with his music what Louis Pauwels did with his huge best-seller The Morning of the Magiciansa book that can be quickly defined as a popularization of many disturbing problems poorly understood by the general public, such as flying saucers, Atlantis, and Easter Island." Jacques Allemand (Extra magazine)

Track list:

SideA:

1. What Is Realite? (4:10)
2. Je Ne Sais Pas, Je Ne Sais Plus Rien (2:50)
3. Qu'est-ce Que Le Dream? (3:25)
4. Je Vois Ce Que Je Crois (3:10)
5. Fulcanelli (3:00)

Side B

1. L'ile de Paques (4:25)
2. What Is Realite? (1:05)/Qu'est-ce Que Le Dream? (0:45)
3. Magdalena (3:25)
4. What Is Realite? (0:55)/Qu'est-ce Que Le Dream? (0:30)
5. Gurdjieff (5:30)