Awaken (band)

AWAKEN
Background information
Also known as 泡件, Trường Hợp Bong Bóng
Origin Belgium. Also Japan and Vietnam. + France, Australia, England
Genres Pop, disco, hard rock, progressive rock, Hi-NRG, soul, reggae, art rock[1]
Years active 1988–present
Labels It's Oh! Music
Associated acts 猫川~Dòng Sông Mèo, Gilles Snowcat, Sousbock
Website gilles-snowcat.com
Members various (see "Musicians" section of this page).
Past members various (see "Musicians" section of this page).
Notable instruments
keyboards, guitar, bass guitar, drum machine, sequencer, voice, various

Awaken is an underground rock band / indie music project based in Belgium. They released two official albums and numerous demo tapes and web-only singles since their early days in 1988. Not related to the modern Belgian scene at all (dEUS, Eté 67, Girls in Hawaii), Awaken gained interest from Vietnamese people[2] since the release of a Vietnamese song and legend, "Chú Mèo Ngủ Quên", and in Japan with the virtual EP "別府NIGHTS". Recently, a cover of a Vietnamese children song "Rửa Mặt Như Mèo" has been recorded and has been heard on Vietnamese internet, though not officially released. Since 2005, Awaken is part of the team of the indies Japanese label It's Oh! Music based in Miyazaki city.

The name

Though looking like a tribute to a Yes song, the name AWAKEN means "a matter of bubbles", according to the Japanese translation :

Genre

AWAKEN's style is hard to define, though their roots are clearly inside the 1980s and 1970s, mixing disco beats and progressive structures, karaoke arrangements and heavy sounds, Belgian New Beat rhythms and romantic new wave.[3][4] The instrumentation is often focussed on keyboards and electronic sounds [5] though electric guitar and bass guitar are more audible in recent songs. AWAKEN's latest songs have been influenced by various places in Japan, Vietnam and the rest of the world : "The Train Is Leaving Kokura" mentions Kokura (小倉) and Usa (宇佐), "Beppu Nights" happens in Beppu (別府), known for its hot springs, "Wasabi Kiss" describes the peninsula of Shuzenji, "Yanagigaura" (柳ヶ浦) evoques the feeling of loneliness in the small city of Yanagigaura and "As A Start : Cà Phê And Pizza" is an imaginary trip from Italy, Vietnam and Japan. The 2009 single "My Last Evening In 大分" / "Chase Around 大分駅" is based on Gilles Snowcat's own memories of the city of Ôita, Japan.[6]

Musicians

Being a project more than a band, different musicians appear following the recordings of the band, some as members and some as guests.

Present musicians (members and guests)

Past musicians (members and guests)

Collaboration

Repertoire (original songs and covers)

AWAKEN mixes original songs and covers, a similar attitude to Manfred Mann and Vanilla Fudge earlier. Artists that have been covered by AWAKEN include:

Nekokawa (猫川 - Dòng Sông Mèo)

AWAKEN has a side-project named NEKOKAWA since 2002, focussing on the ambient side of its music. NEKOKAWA is 猫川 in Japanese and Dòng Sông Mèo in Vietnamese.

Discography

EP

LP

Singles (non-exhaustive listing)

tapes

vintage and rare songs (non-exhaustive listing)

Contribution to tribute albums

Party In Lyceum's Toilets

Party In Lyceum's Toilets
Studio album by Awaken
Released 2001
Recorded 1999-2001, some bits in 1988
Genre pop, disco, hard rock, progressive rock, hi-NRG
Length 140 minutes
Producer Gilles Snowcat, Lionel Meessen, John Sellekaers [25]
Awaken chronology

Tales Of Acid Ice Cream
(1996)		 Party In Lyceum's Toilets
(2001)		 Beppu Nights (別府ＮＩＧＨＴＳ)
(2006)

Party In Lyceum's Toilets is the second album by the music project Awaken, released in 2001. This double CD features original songs (volume 1) and covers (volume 2).

History

While its predecessor, Tales Of Acid Ice Cream, was completed in one studio only, Party In Lyceum's Toilets was recorded on a portable studio that was brought along to meet several musicians in Belgium and France. The first takes come from 1999, as the album was recorded rather slowly.

Controversy

Despite his efforts to introduce the new Awaken as a band, leader Gilles Snowcat fails, as the booklet details show that the quartet hardly plays together on more than 6 of the 41 tracks. The main band is then dubbed by 12 additional musicians.[26] In some songs Snowcat plays alone or only with guest musicians, which caused anger from the main singer and the lead guitarist. Apart from the keyboardist, none of the musicians had played on the previous album Tales Of Acid Ice Cream.

Trivia

Track Listing CD 1 (original songs)

  1. Interlude: Misty Conclusion
  2. I'll Disagree
  3. Cold As My Heart
  4. Carla's Dream
  5. Neons Of Lyceum's Toilets
  1. Interlude: The True Story Of Maïté D.H.
  2. Down The Drain
  3. Dead In A Subway
  4. Cutting My Loved One
  5. Spleen Fourteen
  1. Interlude: Ellen's Orange Room
  2. Lycée Nase (featuring 1030)
  3. Bonnie Parker Rêve (featuring Hervé Gilles)
  4. Britney And Barry
  1. Electric Time
  2. Four Dreams Suite: i. Günz (a) Overture ; b) Over The 'A' ; c) Nine Elements Of Life) ii. Polygonal Mirror iii. Rising Forest iv. The Test v. Sweet Wave Of Ice Cream vi. Out Of The Flowerwall vii. Tygersmile viii. Interlude 6 ix. Sandrine x. 8888 xi. Subliminal Mountain xii. The World Where Bears Never Lock The Door xiii. Cucumber Phone xiv. Picture From An April's Dream xv. Lady S xvi. The Last Escape Of Lady S xvii. Dark Spring xviii. Four Dreams Epilogue

Track Listing CD 2 (covers)

  1. One Caress (cover from Depeche Mode)
  2. Eesom (cover from Quincy Jones)
  3. Send My Body Home (cover from Dick Annegarn)
  4. One Thing (cover from Neil Young) / Best Kept Lies (cover from Cold Chisel)
  1. L.A. Is My Lady (cover from Frank Sinatra)
  2. Run Out Of Time (cover from Genesis)
  3. You're Really Out Of Line (cover from Rufus) / Golden Age Dreams (cover from Vanilla Fudge) / I'm Gonna Love You (cover from Peter Criss) / Heart Of Me (cover from Cerrone)
  1. Nothing Else Matters (cover from Metallica)
  2. Chrysalide (cover from Patrick Juvet) / Open The Kingdom (cover from Philip Glass) / The Dance (cover from Uriah Heep)
  3. Sweet Thing (cover from David Bowie)
  1. Koyaanisqatsi (cover from Philip Glass) / Shandi (cover from KISS) / This Is Love (cover from Tony Banks)
  2. Interlude: Clouds And Rain (cover from Gillan & Glover)
  3. In Search Of England (cover from Barclay James Harvest)
  4. Tyger (cover from Tangerine Dream) / Everybody (cover from Jacksons)
  5. Sweet Dream Machine / Come Into My Life / Love I Never Knew You Could Feel So Good (covers from Supremes)
  6. Something I Should Have Known (cover from Matthew Fisher)
  7. Taking It Back (cover from Toto)
  8. Interlude: Jazzy (cover from Renaud Lhoest)
  9. Young Girls (cover from Sparks)
  10. Interlude: (Theme) Once Upon A Time (cover from Donna Summer)
  11. Only The Fool Survives (cover from Donna Summer)
  12. Hearts To Heart / Moonwalk (covers from Earth Wind & Fire)
  13. Here Today (cover from Paul McCartney)
  14. The Candidate (cover from Al Stewart)
  15. Until... (cover from Bee Gees)

Musicians

Guest musicians

Design

Gilles Snowcat, Awaken, Patrick Laplagne, 1030 (Socre), Peter Clasen.

Availability

Online.[27] Catalog number : awalp-002

Outtakes

Three songs had been completely recorded but finally dumped  :

Other songs have been worked but never fully recorded : a cover version of Marillion's "The Party" and Yes' "Big Generator" being on the list. Other Awaken songs were planned to appear but not chosen on the final list and not even recorded at all. Most of the tapes have been deleted, which means a future remix without the songs fading out has become impossible to do.

Reviews

References

  1. ↑ Review from Forces Parallèles
  2. ↑ Interview Gilles Snowcat by Vietnamese webzine M!osaic, http://www.m-mosaic.com/articles/interview/read/539.html
  3. ↑ Gabor Kleinbloesem, AOR Reviews, http://www.angelfire.com/ma/strutteraor/NEWREVIEWS99.htm
  4. ↑ Kevin Julie, Universal Wheels, http://www.travellersintime.com/UniversalWheels/0602revs.html
  5. ↑ David, Forces Parallèles, http://fp.nightfall.fr/index_101_awaken-party-lyceum.html
  6. ↑ It's Oh! Music Blog : 大分について歌
  7. ↑ Al Stewart jams with Gilles Snowcat from Awaken & Nekokawa: love music ~ magnetic soul
  8. ↑ Kiss related recordings - Peter Criss cover versions, http://www.kiss-related-recordings.nl/coverversions_1978_peter.html
  9. ↑ Peter Criss covers, http://www.demonoid.com/files/details/2131133/2325666/
  10. ↑ Deep Purple covers, http://www.thehighwaystar.com/rosas/misc/dpcovers.html
  11. ↑ EWF covers, http://www.homdrum.net/ewf/cover_versions.html
  12. ↑ Awaken covers Matthew Fisher, http://www.palersproject.com/looking-glass/something_awaken.htm
  13. ↑ Awaken in Philip Glass site GlassPages, http://www.glasspages.org/news.html
  14. ↑ Kiss related recordings - Kiss 1980 cover versions, http://www.kiss-related-recordings.nl/coverversions_1980_unmasked.html
  15. ↑ Uriah Heep Discography -related collection, http://www.uriahheep-discography.com/collection/heeprelcol.htm
  16. ↑ Echoes In The Dark: Uriah Heep cover versions, http://www.echoes.dk/25covers.htm
  17. ↑ How Many 'L' Were In Your Name? on iTunes
  18. ↑ https://itunes.apple.com/be/album/yanagigaura/id355997793
  19. ↑ Party In Lyceum's Toilets on iTunes
  20. ↑ it's Oh! Music page for "Moko-Moko Collection"
  21. ↑ https://itunes.apple.com/be/album/mokomoko-collection/id500872609
  22. ↑ Al Stewart covers, http://www.search.com/reference/Cover_versions
  23. ↑ Al Stewart tribute albums, http://home.scarlet.be/~ping9712/awaken-asta-engl.htm
  24. ↑ Procol Harum tribute album, http://www.palersproject.com/looking-glass/players.htm
  25. ↑ Metarc artists
  26. ↑ Official albums from Awaken & Nekokawa: love music ~ magnetic soul
  27. ↑ CD Baby: AWAKEN: Party In Lyceum's Toilets

External links

Reviews