PARIS RECORD STORE - SINCE1985
PARIS RECORD STORE - SINCE1985
PARIS RECORD STORE - SINCE1985
EST. 1985
FRANCE'S LARGEST COLLECTION OF RARE VINYL RECORDS & MUSIC MEMORABILIA
ACANTHUS
MONSTER MELODIES RECORDS (2025)
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Clear vinyl, comes with inner booklet (lyrics, a fold-out sheet) and 1 postcard.
The music is one long track with 10 sub-tracks, split in 2 sections because of the vinyl format.
Recorded in 1970 at Pathe Studios, Paris, France & unreleased until this 2025 issue.
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€30​
Acanthus emerged from a band formed in 1967 under the name The Bayens (Bayen being the name of a street in the 17th arrondissement of Paris). Five young music enthusiasts—Daniel Buffet, Francis Bendichou, Bernard, Jean Vazon, and Guy Ouly—were barely seventeen when they achieved a certain level of success with a repertoire consisting exclusively of rock and rhythm and blues covers. Regular performers in small venues in the Paris suburbs and nightclubs in northern France, they occasionally opened for Vince Taylor and Dick Rivers. In Paris, they played at Bus Palladium and Golf Drouot, making their mark on the rock scene until 1969, when their guitarist Bernard left the band and was replaced by Gérard Salette.
By 1970, with the addition of this new musician, the group had grown more ambitious and wanted to move away from covers to create their own material. The Bayens were now playing in nightclubs in Italy and experimenting with a few original compositions, but it was after seeing Magma perform on stage that their music took a new direction.
Under the influence of psychedelics (at the time believed to expand consciousness) and an obsessive reading of Friedrich Nietzsche’s works, Daniel Buffet began writing a rock opera, Tryphasys, which Gérard Salette set to music. The band sent their demos to Philips, the record company behind Magma, and were signed to the Pathé label following strong recommendations from Étienne Roda-Gil (a successful lyricist, notably for Julien Clerc) and Philippe Constantin (future co-creator of Virgin France and then artistic director at Pathé Marconi), who was riding the wave of progressive and experimental music (having just signed Komintern and Red Noise). With this new opportunity, the band recorded their album at the Pathé studios and changed their name to Acanthus (inspired by Acanthe, a character from their work).
While waiting for the album’s release—recorded in just one day—the band, prohibited from using their new name, returned to the club circuit with their cover repertoire. However, by the end of 1970, the record company, citing financial reasons, refused to release the album and instead offered to market just a single from it. The band declined the offer, broke their contract, and retrieved the master recordings.
Seeking a new record label for his protégés, Roda-Gil arranged for Acanthus to perform on José Arthur’s Pop Club, but to no avail. After several further attempts to secure funding, they met the owner of Lido Musique on the Champs-Élysées, who was eager to replicate the success of Titanic (a Norwegian hard rock band that was enjoying significant international popularity, particularly in nightclubs). In an effort to generate income, Acanthus—under the businessman’s direction—rebranded as Unity and released two 45 RPM singles on the Lido Musique label, intended for club play. These singles received some recognition but failed to bring financial success.
Feeling betrayed after this final disappointment—when they had been led to believe their album would finally be released—the disheartened musicians soon dissolved the band. However, before their breakup, thanks to their connection with producer Jean-Philippe Delamare, they composed two film scores: Le Frisson des Vampires by Jean Rollin, which was released in theaters in 1971 (its soundtrack was eventually issued in 2010 by the UK label Finders Keepers), and the score for Liberta, a short film by Delamare, which remains unreleased.
The original Tryphasys master tapes remained lost in the archives until the 2000s. These historic psychedelic music recordings are now available on the Monster Mélodies label—fifty-four years after their creation.
