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Alongside Magma, the band Ergo Sum is considered as one of the most innovative and distinctive bands from France. Founded in Aix-en-Provence (South of France) as Lemon Pie by Lionel Ledissez (voc) and Jean Guérin (fl, keyb) in 1968, they later renamed themselves Ergo Sum to avoid confusion with other bands. Together with the other talented musicians Michel Leonardi (g, voc), Roland Meynet (vln, g), Max Touat (b, g) and B.B. Brutus (dr, cga, perc), they played an unique genre of avant-garde, rock, jazz with hints of classical and folk. Numerous successful live concerts at festivals and clubs in Paris attracted the attention of Laurent Thibault, the former bassist of Magma. He signed the group as the first act on his new label Theleme in 1971. They recorded their first and only album Mexico in the same year. Singer Ledissez with his extraordinary voice grew up in Mexico, so it's no wonder that the title of the album comes from there. Released in a number of only 3000 copies and distributed mainly in France, Belgium, Switzerland and also in Europe, it sank without a trace, even though they used English lyrics. After this failure they played a few more gigs but disbanded in July 1972.
Their aim of expanding their musical horizons with many instruments, such as flute, Hammond and Wurlitzer organ, violin, electric and acoustic guitars, drums congas and percussion was probably too ambitious. After this musical masterpiece finally received the recognition it deserved over the years, the original first pressing is one of the rarest progressive LPs from France today.
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