Le Chemin de Croix De Jos Roy

LE CHEMIN DE CROIX DE JOS ROY

The last album by Les Sinners is scarcely mentioned at all on the various Internet sources that I researched about this band; it came out in 1976 on the CBS Records label (basically, Columbia Records outside of the USA) and is called Le Chemin de Croix De Jos Roy (“The Way of the Cross for Jos Roy”). The Way of the Cross can refer to the road where Jesus walked while carrying His Cross to Calvary – often described in the Latin as Via Crucis or Via Dolorosa – and it can also refer to the Stations of the Cross, a set of 14 or more artistic representations (the associated prayers have the same name) of events that occurred from His being condemned to death to His being laid in the tomb, and sometimes the Resurrection.

Thus, it is likely that Le Chemin de Croix De Jos Roy is a religious album of some sort, though there is little indication of this from the song titles (the entire album is in French again). The bandmembers in Les Sinners for this final album are mostly the same as those on ?, including Daniel Valois (rhythm guitar), Serge Blouin (bass guitar), Claude Hetu (keyboards), Serge Locas (keyboards, synthesizers), and Dennis Violetti (lead guitar), with the addition of Wally Rossi (rhythm guitar) and Richard Tate (drums, percussion). Longtime Les Sinners drummer Louis Parizeau produced the album, and another former bandmember, Alain Jodoin handled the arrangements.

I have no idea who or what “Jos Roy” might be. There is a poet in Quebec named Jos Roy (he even has a Facebook page), but he seems to be a contemporary artist, so I doubt he is the one.

(April 2013)