Dün was a French
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...
band, active from 1978 to 1981, during which they played shows with
Magma
Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma (sometimes colloquially but incorrectly referred to as ''lava'') is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also ...
,
Art Zoyd
Art Zoyd is a French band formed in 1969, mixing free jazz, progressive rock and avant-garde electronica. Gérard Hourbette was the band's director and composer until his death in May 2018. Another key member of the band was Thierry Zaboitzeff, ...
,
Etron Fou Leloublan
Etron Fou Leloublan (French for "Crazy Shit, The White Wolf" or "Mad Shit, the White Wolf"), also known as EFL, were a French avant-garde rock band founded in 1973 by actor and saxophonist Chris Chanet. They recorded five studio albums between 1 ...
, and almost became a part of the short-lived
Rock in Opposition
Rock in Opposition or RIO was a movement representing a collective of progressive rock bands in the late 1970s united in their opposition to the music industry that refused to recognise their music. It was initiated by English avant-rock gro ...
grouping of bands in Europe. In 1981, they recorded an
album
An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
, ''
Eros
Eros (, ; ) is the Greek god of love and sex. The Romans referred to him as Cupid or Amor. In the earliest account, he is a primordial god, while in later accounts he is the child of Aphrodite.
He is usually presented as a handsome young ma ...
'',
that never secured proper distribution, and as a result is quite rare.
The French label Soleil reissued the ''Eros'' album, which included the four tracks from the original LP plus four bonus tracks, three of which are early
demo versions of the tracks on the original release.
History
In 1976,
guitarist
A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...
François Tellard,
drummer
A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums.
Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...
Laurent Bertaud,
pianist
A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...
Jacques Bretonniere,
bassist
A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...
Michel Blancart and
flute player Pascal Vandenbulcke founded the group ''Vegetaline Boufiol''. In 1978, the group changed its name to ''Kan-Daar''. They mainly played cover versions of
Mahavishnu Orchestra
The Mahavishnu Orchestra was a jazz fusion band formed in New York City in 1971, led by English guitarist John McLaughlin (musician), John McLaughlin. The group underwent several line-up changes throughout its history across its two periods of a ...
,
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...
and Magma. The repertoire was later expanded to include pieces by
Henry Cow
Henry Cow were an English experimental rock group, founded at the University of Cambridge in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer Chris Cutler, b ...
.
Saxophonist
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...
Philippe Portejoie joined the band and Thierry Tranchant replaced Blancart on bass.
[Nantes
Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...]
, the band reformed, with Jean Geeraerts replacing guitarist Tellard and Bruno Sabathe taking Bretonniere's place on
. The band initially changed its name to ''Dune'', from which the final band name ''Dün'' was derived a shortly after. In 1980, saxophonist Portejoie left and Alain Termol took over the drums. Between 1978 and 1981, ''Dün'' played around 40 concerts in the greater Nantes area, including one as an opener for Magma at the 1979 festival in
, but they were hardly able to extend their fame beyond this area. In 1981, the band started the recording of their first
'', with tracks such as ''Arrakis'' and ''L'Epice'' already coming from heir ''Kan-Daar'' times.
'' novel, which particularly fascinated Geeraerts and Vandenbulcke. The production of the LP, which was recorded at ''Sunrise Studio'' in
, was financed entirely by the band members and the LP was sold at concerts in an edition of 1000 copies. However, the band failed to find a