The roots of southern based Lagger Blues Machine extend back into the late sixties, but it wasn’t until 1972 till they grasped the opportunity to unveil some of their compositions on vinyl. On the strength of their extensive gigging, CBS records had decided that they would assume the responsibility of releasing an album.
The band was then: Vincent Mottoulle on organ (who had replaced main composer Christian Duponcheel in 1971), Jean-Luc Duponcheel on drums, José Cuisset on guitars, Michel Maes on bass and Carmelo Pilotta who had joined in 1971 to play sax and flute.
Their music couldn’t exactly been categorised as it was very adventurous. Especially the almost 14 minutes opening song “Symphonie 1ere Partie” is an impressive example of symphonic jazz-rock. They cultivated a sound with decidedly prominent leanings towards certain “arty” acts such as King Crimson, Soft Machine or (early) Pink Floyd.
The songs were long with strange complex themes and outbursts of guitar / organ and more subtle interplays with sax and flute. Vocals weren’t used that much, but when they did, they mostly sound awful.
On October 31, 1970 L.B.M. had played in Brussels (Woluwe shopping center) on a festival along Warhorse and Wishbone Ash.
Recordings from that show later ended up on their posthumous (limited 500 copy’s) second album entitled Tanit Live and released in 1988. The album (with beautiful cover artwork) sounded very raw but not as strong as the first one. “Ode” sounds really heavy but is ruined by awful vocals, while “Mistake” is mostly a drum solo.
Surprisingly however, things went inexplicably quiet after a few years and as there was little or no news concerning the Blues Machine’s activities thereafter, was this leading to the almost inevitable conclusion that they had, for some reason, split-up.
By the end of 1975 guitarplayer Cuisset joined Downtrip and a few months later former member Christian Duponcheel hooked up with Burning Light.
In 1994 the Italian label Mellow records decided to re-release both albums on one cd entitled “The Complete Works”, while in march 2006 the first album was re-released on (quality-vinyl) by the German label Amber Soundroom.
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Lp LAGGER BLUES MACHINE (CBS S65230 — 1972)
-Symphonie 1ere Partie
-Darknessy
-Tanit
-Symphonie 2eme Partie
-Born To Be Alone On A White Desert Island
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Lp TANIT LIVE (Fricrivan 88326 — 1988)
-Test About A Rehabilitating Personality
-Ode
-Mistake
-Firedance
Cd THE COMPLETE WORKS (Mellow records MMP 217 — 1994)
-Symphonie 1ere Partie
-Darknessy
-Tanit
-Symphonie 2eme Partie
-Born To Be Alone On A White Desert Island
-Test About A Rehabilitating Personality
-Ode
-Mistake
-Firedance
Lp LAGGER BLUES MACHINE (Amber Soundroom ASLP 041 — 2006)
-Symphonie 1ere Partie
-Darknessy
-Tanit
-Symphonie 2eme Partie
-Born To Be Alone On A White Desert Island
Lp LAGGER BLUES MACHINE (Veals & Geeks VAG 002 — 2012)
-Symphonie 1ere Partie
-Darknessy
-Tanit
-Symphonie 2eme Partie
-Born To Be Alone On A White Desert Island
Lp TANIT LIVE (Veals & Geeks VAG 003 — 2012)
-Test About A Rehabilitating Personality
-Ode
-Mistake
-Firedance
Cd LAGGER BLUES MACHINE (Veals & Geeks VAG 004 — 2012)
-Symphonie 1ere Partie
-Darknessy
-Tanit
-Symphonie 2eme Partie
-Born To Be Alone On A White Desert Island
-Test About A Rehabilitating Personality
-Ode
-Mistake
-Firedance
Belgian Metal History 