Pollen

This 1975 debut by French prog band Pulsar is actually quite good, and although a bit clumsy and raw at points, lays out the spacey and haunting blueprint that they would develop further on Strands of the Future (1976) and bring to crystalline perfection on Halloween (1977). The lineup at this point included Jacques Roman (Hammond organ, acoustic piano, ARP synthesizers (mostly 2600 and Pro-Soloist I think); Gilbert Gandil (electric/acoustic guitar, vocals); Philippe Roman (bass, vocals); Victor Bosch (drums) and Roland Richard (flute and ARP string ensemble). In addition to the core musicians, Carmel Williams provides a "reading" in English on Puzzle/Omen, although all of the vocal parts by Gilbert and Philippe are in French.There are five tracks on Pollen that range in length from 3'00" to 13'05", with three in the 7-8 minute range. The basic Pulsar sound at this point includes delicate flute work, washes of string synthesizer, gloomy and heavily echoed vocals, spacey, Rick Wright-ish Hammond organ work (with the characteristically tiny modulations), and a very Pink Floyd-ish rhythm section (although admittedly, Victor Bosch is a technically superior drummer to Nick Mason). The guitar playing is also quite nice and acoustic passages balance nicely with sections that feature the electric guitar. I should note that Gilbert gets some very nice tones out his electric guitar, even when distorted. In addition to the trademark gloomy and haunting Pulsar soundscapes, there are some moderately sprightly and proggier sections (e.g. on Puzzle/Omen) along with some psychedelic, electronic experimentation and electronically altered vocal passages (e.g. parts of Le Cheval de Syllogie). Speaking of the vocals, they are OK, although they would get much better with subsequent releases.This Musea reissue is pretty good and the liner notes provide a nicely detailed history of the band up to 1975. Interestingly, the band had existed under the Pulsar name as early as 1971 - a fact that was news to me. This album is significant in that Pulsar was finally up and running after several years of gigging throughout Europe without any recording contract to speak of. Although I ultimately prefer Strands of the Future and Halloween, Pollen has enough of the haunting and spacey Pulsar sound in place that I find it very enjoyable and can easily overlook the clumsiness. Recommended to fans of Pulsar, Meddle-era Pink Floyd, and spacey prog in general.

Pollen, the 1975 debut by this band from Lyon, France, is often overlooked in light of their next two albums, Strands of the Future and Halloween. The album was originally released on the Kingdom label, a label ran by Terry King (who was also a manager for Caravan, and Caravan themselves ended up recording for that label for a short time in the early '80s). Decca in the UK also issued this album a year later (in 1976). This album tends to be a bit more experimental and abstract than the ones to follow. The Mellotron isn't even present, instead its plastered with Solina string synths. The ARP 2600 is the other dominate keyboard used. The vocals are all in French (except for some spoken dialog, in English on "Puzzle/Omen"). It's their only album you can actually tell what language they're singing in, likely because it's bassist Phillipe Ramon (presumably the brother of keyboardist Jacques Ramon), who handled the vocals here. He left the band after this album. The album opens up with "Pulsar", which is basically an experiment in synthesizers and drums (provided by Victor Bosch). "Apaisment" is a stunning and haunting piece every much the classic Pulsar as to be found on their following albums. The piece ends with Rolland Richard giving us some flute. "Puzzle/Omen" is largely an instrumental piece, a faster piece number, with largely wordless voices, and the ARP 2600 synthesizer. The middle part changes to something more piano-dominated with female narrations (provided by Carmel Williams) in English. "Le Chevel de Syllogie" is by far the most experimental piece on the album. There is some more spoken dialog (this time in French), only the voice is electronically modified, and apparently done by one of the band members. Lots of bizarre electronic effects are also provided. "Pollen" is the last number on this album, and closest to the Pink Floyd sound, especially the use of Hammond organ. If you already enjoy Strands of the Future and Halloween, be sure to get this album as well.

I don't know their follow up albums Halloween and Strands of the future, but I wouldn't recommend this one. The instrumental passages are average fare, but admittedly the narration on the third track and the 4 gentle piano-dominated minutes on thelong last track are nice.

Ce CD correspond à mes attentes . C'est un bon début pour ce groupe français !!!

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