Love That Album Podcast Episode 150 - Interview with Steve Berlin about Los Lobos' "Native Sons"

You know what it's like when you discover a band that was around a long time ago, and then you inevitably go down a rabbit hole and discover a whole lot more music in a “Kevin Bacon six degrees of separation” kind of way? That's happened to me over the last few months.

Welcome to episode 151 of Love That Album.

A few months back, Christian Swain at Pantheon Podcasts (who supports Love That Album, See Hear and a ton of other music shows) asked me if I knew of the 70s band from Montreal called Harmonium. At the time, I'd never heard of them, so I did some investigating.....I fell in love with what I heard. Their small but wonderful back catalogue started out as Laurel Canyon-esque like folk which evolved into progg-ish and art rock. It's not quite prog rock in the way that early Yes or Genesis were – there's not millions of time signature changes for one thing – but it does share some of the more classical song structures those bands started out with. Listening to their music led me to discover that Montreal was a major centre for prog bands, so I listened to some of those other bands as well.

The band were hugely popular in Canada, but separated in 1978 at the top of their game. In 2020, their songwriter and lead singer Serge Fiori was approached to give his blessing for a re-arrangement of the entire Harmonium catalogue as a symphonic work. The result is Histoires Sans Paroles: Harmonium Symphonique. This is not the first time that a classically oriented interpretation of rock music has been attempted, but Harmonium's music seemed tailor made for such a reinvention. There's a wider sonic palette for the music to work under.

I was offered the opportunity to speak with Serge for the show, and I was hugely keen to do so. He's a lovely guy who had a lot to say about the Quebec music scene of the 70s, as well as hearing his music translated into a medium different from its original conception. It's not easy to hand off your creative work to someone else to reinterpret, but to say Serge was delighted with the result would be an understatement. This album is all the more amazing considering it was recorded under pandemic conditions!!!!! A big feat for an orchestra.

Serge is completely grateful for all that being a musician and composer has given to his life, and he is grateful to Simon LeClerc, arranger and conductor of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, for respecting the spirit of the music.

Obviously, many thanks to Serge for his time, but additional thanks also go to Christian Swain for starting this off and and to Lisa Roy at Rock & Roy for making it happen.

You can get Histoires Sans Paroles: Harmonium Symphonique in physical medium or download formats from https://www.harmoniumsymphonique.com/

Download this episode of LTA from wherever you prefer getting your podcasts.

Love That Album is proudly part of the Pantheon Podcast network. Go to http://pantheonpodcasts.com to check out all their great shows.

You can send me feedback at [email protected] (written or mp3 voicemail) or join the Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/groups/lovethatalbum

If you’d consider writing an iTunes review I’d be immensely grateful. However, it’d be even better if you told a friend about the podcast and Pantheon – at a barbecue, over coffee, on social media....whatever way you choose, consider me grateful.

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