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Pierre Dutour's infamous Top Fiction is the epitome of a 5-tracker. Coming to
light in 1979 on Tele Music, its collection of environmental themes are *all
astounding*. We're talking all-time heavy hitters, here. They come
recommended as tracks you'd choose to elegantly elevate deep selector sets
or mixes.
Skip the irritating whistle-laced marching-band funk of "Captain Parade" and
head straight to the glistening synths and proud horns of beatless ambient
wonder "Mountain Echoes". Arguably worth the price of admission alone. It's
that good. The sci-fi atmospherics of "Space Fiction" are definitely sampleable
whilst the proud horns of "Mountain Trumpet" definitely contain blasts that
could be of creative use. "Tambours Parade" is more marching-band funk,
only this time the drums go hard and there's a lot to like about this one.
Truly, it's all about the B-Side. A real B-Side for the ages, in fairness. It opens
with the gorgeous "Deer Forest". It's one of the most beautiful songs you'll
ever hear. Like something off Brian Bennett's Voyage, it rides dreamily
melodic synths, and comes on, as one fan claimed "like something Angelo
Badalamenti would have co-written with Final Fantasy composer, 植松伸夫
[Nobuo Uematsu]". It's jaw-dropping. Be instantly beguiled by the deep eerie
nostalgia and pretty delicate piano of "Magic Lake I" and the whistling-synth-
augmented "Magic Lake II". The almost-title-track "Pop Fiction" is another
hidden gem, containing dreamy, glistening arpeggios that are just begging to
be sampled with a heavy knocking beat behind it. The set closes with
"Damnation Space", 2 minutes of spooky Musique concrète.
So, 5 absolutely incredible tracks and 2-3 good ones. An excellent ratio for a
library album, I think we can all agree. Trust us when we say that the heavy
hitters are just absolute gold, rendering this one an essential, buy-on-sight
purchase. Go listen and discover for yourselves...
The audio for Top Fiction has been remastered by Be With regular Simon
Francis, ensuring this divisive release sounds better than ever. Cicely
Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the
original space-age sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the
finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.
Tracklist
A1 Captain Parade 3:25
A2 Mountain Echoes 4:09
A3 Discowboy 2:42
A4 Tombola Time 1 2:10
A5 Tombola Time 2 2:08
A6 Space Fiction 1:21
A7 Mountain Trumpet 0:58
A8 Tambours Parade 1:42
B1 Deer Forest 4:32
B2 Charly Guitare 3:01
B3 Magic Lake 1 2:45
B4 Magic Lake 2 2:45
B5 Pop Fiction 1:43
B6 Damnation Space 2:38