Pazop were an
early-'70s progressive rock group with some jazz-fusion tendencies from
Belgium. Though their music was beyond the ordinary, they were never
able to release an album during their short lifetime. Pazop was formed
at the end of 1971 by vocalist and flautist Dirk Bogaert, keyboardist
Frank Wuyts, violinist Kuba Szczepansky, bassist Patrick Cogneaux, and
drummer Jacky Mauer. Wuyts and Szczepanski had just left progressive
rock band Wallace Collection, Wuyts had previously been involved with
Bogaert, Cogneaux, and Mauer had been in another short-lived prog band,
Waterloo. Cogneaux had also been a member of Arkham, a group that
included future members of Magma and Univers Zero, while Sczcepansky, a
classically trained musician born in Poland, played in the Brussels
Opera Philharmonic Orchestra for a couple years before turning to rock
with Wallace Collection in 1970. Even before they had decided on a
name, the new group approached Wallace Collection's label, EMI, and
though the record company did not sign the group, they offered them a
two-day studio session to record a better demo. The four-song demo was
in a style far more commercial than their normal sound, which had
influences as diverse as Miles Davis, 20th century classical music,
progressive rock groups like King Crimson and Caravan, and Frank Zappa.
With the new demo Szczepanski and Mauer headed to Paris to hit up every
record label there for a contract, but they had no success. They also
finally came up with a name for themselves, Pas Op, Flemish for
"Warning" but the spelling was soon changed to Pazop. They finally got a
contract with producer Luigi Oglival in March of 1972, who was able to
get them signed to CBS and the Barclay label. The band went into the
Herouville Studio in France in July 1972 to record the album Psychillis
of a Lunatic Genius. The group also played several gigs at the
Gibus-Club in Paris, which brought them some excellent press, as well as
other shows in France and Belgium. Meanwhile, near the end of that
year, Barclay rejected their album as being too non-commercial, and
chose to release one of the earlier demos as a single instead, much to
the group's chagrin. Oglival, who realized he wouldn't recoup the studio
costs, dropped the band as well, reneging on his contract and even
keeping the master tapes. In 1973, the group was hired by pop musician
Sylvain Van Holme to provide modern rock adaptations of various
classical pieces by Tchaikovsky, Dvorák, Mozart and Verdi. Van Holme
decided to co-produce a new record by Pazop, and booked them at the
Start Studio in Belgium in the late summer of 1973. Van Holme contacted
several record companies, but again the album was not commercial enough.
The group continued touring Belgium and France until July of 1974
before calling it quits. Their inability to get enough gigs and to
release either of their LPs had left them financially and emotionally
strapped, and they split up for more successful groups. Their master
tapes sat in a desk drawer for years. Pazop's two albums, minus the four
commercial demos, were finally released on CD by Musea in 1996. Line-up / Musicians Dirk Bogaert/vocals,flute Frank Wuyts/keyboards,vocals Kuba Szczepansky/violin Patrick Cogneaux/bass Jacky Mauer/percussions Discography(Album) Psychillis Of A Lunatic Genius 1972
1.Le la Loo Loo le La 2.Harlequin of Love 3.Crying for Disaster's Hand 4.What Is the Further Purpose 5.Swaying Fire 6.Mirela 7.Freedom Dance 8.Lovelight 9.Bami, Lychee, Si 10.Harlequin of Love 11.Can It Be Sin 12.And the Hermit Will Be the Master 13.M.M.M. 14.In the Army (Devil Likes Smoke) 15.Airport Formalities and Taking Off... 16.It's the End
