Biography
Last Tango is, according to
the members of the multi-lingual Esperanto, musically what they had
attempted-but failed-to accomplish on all the other albums. Last Tango
is, to the group itself, the essence of Esperanto. The group attributes a large
part of the project's success to producer Robin Geoffrey Cable. "He has become
one of the band; he feels the same as us. He is happy when we are happy, excited
when we are excited, and scared when we are scared. And his personality is such
that he wants to produce sounds. He heard us, and was instantly interested in
making the best of us sound-wise. Everybody has the utmost respect for him." An
understanding producer is particularly important with a line-up as complicated
as Esperanto's. "We have all got such different ideas, and he was able to sort
them out and put them all together. He managed to capture the whole concept. And
Robin is alos an amazing engineer."
Esperanto, although very much a
collective creative unit, owes its conception and evolution to Raymond Vincent.
It was he who developed the original "rock orchestra" concept for the band; he's
very much the group's mentor, and its main arranger as well. A child violin
prodigy, Vincent has been, in the past, both principal violinist of the Belgian
Symphony Orchestra and leader of the highly respected Wallace Collection.
Last Tango is a direct result
of Vincent's inspiration. At one stage of his career, he was continually writing
tango tunes. The album was recorded at the famous Chateau D'Herouville, outside
Paris. There's a superstition that the chateau itself is lucky. It worked for
albums by Elton John (Honky Chateau) and David Bowie (Pin-Ups).
"We hope it works its magic for us!"
The most recent additions to the
Esperanto line-up have been vocalists Kim Moore and Roger Meakin. They arrived
at a particularly opportune time. "Roger gives us a really unusual and exciting
sound, and Kim makes a very good contrast, which we need." Each member of
Esperanto has an individual contribution to make. All are experienced musicins,
with credits ranging from pop session-work to symphony orchestra membership. The
eight musicians combine to make startlingly original music.
Line-up
RAYMOND VINCENT (Belgian; first
violin)
BRUNO LIBERT (Belgian; keyboards)
GODFREY SALMON (English; second violin)
TIMOTHY KRAEMER (English; cello)
GINO MALISAN (Italian/Belgian; bass)
TONY MALISAN (Italian/Belgian; drums)
ROGER MEAKIN (English; vocals)
KIM MOORE (English; vocals)

New Music On A&M Records
ESPERANTO - LAST TANGO
For their third album on A&M,
Britain's first International Rock Orchestra - Esperanto - has recorded a series
of original, striking musical tone poems drawing upon and consolidating a
variety of musics encompassing Stockhausen-like electronics, up-tempo rock &
roll, and soaring classical passages. In addition to the original material, the
group gives a vigorous and original reading of the Lennon/McCartney standard
"ELEANOR RIGBY."
On LAST TANGO - the 8-piece,
self-contained group is heard on a variety of instruments giving credence to
their musical diversity including violin, harpsicord, cello, synthesizers,
drums, bass and guitars. The driving force behind ESPERANTO is Raymond Vincent,
who started out as a child violin prodigy, eventually becoming first violinist
with the Belgian Symphony Orchestra, and the leader of the popular Belgian rock
group "The Wallace Collection." "Esperanto" for many years was the name of the
first attempt at an international language whose aim it was to bring people of
all nations together in mutual understanding.
Produced and Engineered By: ROBIN
GEOFFREY CABLE
SP-4524 - $6.98
ESPERANTO can also be heard on A&M albums:
SP 3624 DANSE MACABRE
SP 4399 ESPERANTO ROCK ORCHESTRA
© Claude Wacker - 2001-2014
|