On August 14, 1997, the Montreal collective Godspeed You! Black Emperor released what would become one of the flagship albums of the post-rock music movement. A record celebrating its 25th anniversary.
First released in vinyl format on the independent Montreal label Constellation Records, it was then released on June 8, 1998 in CD format and in a slightly different version on the American label Kranky.
In the opening seconds of The Dead Flag Blues, which opens this album entitled F# A# ∞, we hear a sonorous hum and a deep voice uttering the phrase: “The car’s on fire and there’s no driver at the wheel on fire and there is no driver at the wheel).
Almost entirely instrumental, with soundscapes difficult to describe, snippets recorded in the streets and cities, crescendo climbs, Godspeed You! Black Emperor proposes a kind of engaging end-of-the-world soundtrack. We hear sounds of violin and cello through the guitars, basses, drums and percussion.
The album, the third album released by Constellation Records, was recorded at the legendary Hotel2Tango on Van Horne Street in Mile-End, Montreal. A loft that was the eclectic group’s headquarters and where they performed in their early days.
The covers for the first 500 copies of the vinyl were hand put together by band members, employees of the Constellation Records label and local artists.
Inside the envelope we found a drawing of a train in homage to the American blues guitarist-singer Reverend Gary Davis and an envelope containing an explanatory sheet, a show flyer, a diagram explaining the title F# A# ∞, and a crushed penny on a railroad track.
Back then the cast consisted of Thierry Amar, David Bryant, Bruce Cawdron, Christophe, Aidan Girt, Norsola Johnson, Efrim Menuck, Mike Moya, Thea Pratt and Mauro Pezzente.
The East Hastings play “The Sad Mafioso” is featured in filmmaker Danny Boyle’s film 28 Days Later.
As reaction
In an interview published in Canada’s Exclaim magazine last December, bassist Mauro Pezzente explains that Godspeed You! Black Emperor started out as a reaction to a sort of “nationalization” of grunge music.
“When we started making music, we had this idea to do the complete opposite of everyone else and not make three-minute love songs. We wanted to make long songs with humming noises,” he explained.
The musician says the band was influenced in some ways by Sonic Youth, including Godspeed You! Black Emperor opened for them on May 10, 1998 at the Metropolis in Montreal.
“I was. Not necessarily because of their 15-minute songs, but because I found their different ways of tuning their instruments exciting,” he added.
Pitchfork magazine rates the first issue of Godspeed You! Black Emperor is the fourth best-selling post-rock album of all time, behind Spirit of Eden and Talk Talks Laughing Stock and Scottish band Mogwai’s Young Team.