Roger Rodier

One of my favourite albums. Such a pity he only made one album in 1972 which later was reissued with bonus-tracks he recorded as a duo with Germaine Gauthier as 'Rodier-Gauthier'. Little is known of this excellent Canadian artist, who began as a member of the Mockers and the Mike Jones Group.

Upon Velveatur - 1972

Biography: Roger Rodier put out an obscure album on Columbia in 1972, Upon Velveatur , that was very much in line with the folk-rock-oriented singer/songwriter trends of the era. It was at least as much indebted to British sounds from that genre as North American ones, however, with its gentle breathy vocals, subdued melancholy, and combination of predominantly acoustic guitars with subtle strings and some female backup vocals. Prior to the LP, Rodier had issued a couple of singles on the local Montreal label Pax, the first of them sung in French. Despite getting praised in Rolling Stone by Lester Bangs for its "timeless grace," Upon Velveatur got little exposure when it was issued in autumn 1972. Although he did start work on a second album for Columbia in early 1973, it wasn't finished, and Rodier left music a few years later without having released anything else.
- source: www.allmusic.com (by Richie Unterberger)

Roger Rodier is a Québecois composer, singer and guitarist. He was born in Montréal and released only one album, in 1972, called Upon Velveatur. Rodier is really an unknown/forgotten artist, an obscure character, he didn?t make public appearances often. When his album came out, he only made a couple of gigs, some alone, some in support of Procol Harum and Genesis.
After a moment he started to compose a new album, but nothing came out of his recent compositions. Since then, he slowly stopped playing music. He now lives in exile.
- source:  http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=4855

“We haven’t been this excited about a rediscovered psych-folk classic since Red Hash by Gary Higgins. Nobody knew what to expect from the cover photo of Rodier, (looking a lot like Geddy Lee) staring out at us from a hazy meadow with the strange enigmatic title: Upon Velveatur. It is a dreamy French-Canadian psych-folk pop suite that varies from hushed mystical songs lushly orchestrated with strings and theremin to more rock-oriented numbers featuring stinging electric guitar. Lazy comparisons to Nick Drake are inevitable,and if we must go there, Upon Velveatur is closest to Bryter Later in terms of feel and production value. But Rodier can also sound like John Lennon with Cream as the band, Fleetwood Mac on backing vocals,and produced by Roger Nichols and his Small Circle of Friends all on one song! We get the feeling that maybe some folks like Neil Halstead were onto the sounds of Rodier as we were listening to
some Mojave 3 and could totally hear Rodier’s voice and stylings being transmitted by Mr. Halstead. Featuring bonus singles from an earlier psych folk project, Rodier-Gauthier, and liner notes from the man himself. Totally Recommended!”
- Aquarius Records.