Morse Code

This Quebecois band has three phases. First came the psych period under which they were known as Morse Code Transmission and made two psych albums in 71 & 72 sung in English. The second phase saw their names shortened and with the Quebec prog explosion under way decided to switch to French singing. The three albums that followed are real gems of progressive music oscillating between Genesis and Barclay James Harvest but the French texts (sometimes highly impressive) gave them a sound of their own. They disbanded, as the disco wave became a Tsunami in La Belle Province only to reform in 83 to make a best-forgotten English-sung album and again in 95 for a much better one again in French.

For the 1977 Je Suis le Temps, Capitol sent the group to London to record with Eddie Offord, the engineer responsible for Yes and ELP's classic albums. For a moment, Morse Code believed they had a chance to break out on the international market, what they weren't counting on was prog rock's brutal crash in the late '70s. Dropped by its record company, the group disbanded. It re-formed in 1983 with the same lineup for a tentative comeback as an intelligent pop group with the LP Code Breaker, but this attempt failed rather miserably. In the early '90s, Capitol issued a CD compilation of the three French albums, allowing a new generation of Quebecers to discover a national prog treasure. Capitalizing on the good sales of the CD, the group recorded a new album, 1995's D'Un Autre Monde, and scored a minor campus radio hit with "Le Fils du Grand Dragon," but plans to put a tour together failed and Morse Code disappeared once again.