The Ephemerist

When I started listening to rock music in the early eighties, Belgian music ruled the airwaves (in Belgium, at least). All of a sudden, we had bands like Luna Twist, Allez Allez, Toy, The Bet, Red Zebra and TC Matic, playing a whole range of exciting tunes. And even though my tastes have expanded over the years, they still tend to be my benchmark for good music.

But, like I said, it was all very much contained by our country’s borders. And then, all of a sudden, a band from Ghent managed to record a complete LP in Abbey Road ! And on Parlophone ! Ladies and gentlemen, I proudly present the Belgian Beatles - or rather, The Machines, as they would come to be known.

“A World Of Machines” was launched on the world 25 years ago today, and it was one of the first LP’s that I continuously played front-to-back. I particularly liked the uptempo songs, like “It’ll Be Allright” and “Pick And Choose”, only later to find that the best ones (”I’m Into Something Good” and “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”) were Goffin & King covers. Today I rather enjoy the more funky songs, but it’s the straight rock that still makes me drive faster.

So, what does this all have to do with comics ? The cover of the album was drawn by none other than Bob De Moor, not only Hergé’s right hand and creator of some of the best Tintin books, but also a cartoonist in his own right.

De Moor’s passed away a long time ago, and after two more, rather disappointing albums, the Machines kicked the bucket as well. But both still live on… It will be allright…

Since this blog is something of a continuation of my Yahoo Group, i’ve decided to post some stuff from time to time that has made the rounds there. I’ll try to limit myself to stuff that’s fairly public domain.

To start with, here’s a series of illustrations that Johan De Moor did for a publication that was meant to show us Belgian citizens the way through our labyrinthine government bodies.

What’s interesting about this, is that De Moor has brought back to life Balthazar, a character his father, Bob De Moor, created as a filler in Tintin magazine. Bob De Moor, of course, being the genius that gave the later Tintin books the lustre they deserved.

Enjoy…