Pulsar ~ France

Bienvenue au Conseil D'Administration! (1981)

Pulsar.... meet Ange. Ange... meet Pulsar. Nice to meet you.

Bonus tracks from Musea are nothing more than electronic music from Jacques Roman (circa 1986). While quite pleasant, it has little to do with the album proper.

---9/27/24

A mixture of Heldon like electronics, Ange styled theatrics, Pulsar's trademark space rock sound, and plenty of narration in French. It's a very good album but I never really warmed up to it.

2001 Musea (CD). Acquired in 2016.

12/29/16 (review); 9/27/24 (update)

Pollen (1975)

Generally regarded as the weaker of the classic three 1970's Pulsar albums, debut Pollen is still an album very much worth absorbing. The album suffers from a muddy production and a certain immaturity towards songwriting. In its favor, however, is an exorbitant amount of atmosphere. I would classify Pollen as "heavy cloud music" (a new genre is born!), in which there's a pervasive melancholy that requires an intense introspection. Ironically the music is inspirational rather than depressing, and provides a perverse motivation. The track that best represents this motif is 'Apaisement' with the drawn out flute, acoustic guitar, organ, fuzz chords, thudding drums, string synthesizer, and the mumbling vocals in French. A rainy day in Lyon indeed. A wonderfully sad album.

Ownership: 

1975 Kingdom (LP). Acquired in 1989.

2008 Arcangelo (CD) Papersleeve. Includes Musea's historical booklet in English. Acquired in 2015.

1989; 1996; 9/18/15 (review)

Halloween (1977)

Pulsar are one of France's essential progressive rock groups. They were well known in their era, and enjoyed popularity up until the punk rock movement took over. Halloween is perhaps their most powerful work, with haunting melodies that contain some of the most brilliant strings and flute mellotron one can ever hear. There's also searing guitar work, dreamy vocals, militaristic drums, all of which add to the pervading melancholic feel. This is the type of music that sticks with you for days and days after only one listen. Side 1 is absolutely perfect, and for me, is one of the highlights of my entire collection. Side 2 is a bit more typical spacey prog rock (especially 'Dawn Over Darkness'), which doesn't possess the pure magic of the flip. All the same, this is still a near-masterpiece, and it's tempting to give it top marks for the one side alone. A very rich, deep, and compelling album.

Ownership: 

1977 CBS (LP). Gatefold. Acquired in 2011.

2008 Arcangelo (Japan). Papersleeve gatefold. Includes Musea's English booklet with liner notes.

First copy: 1987 Musea (LP). Gatefold. Insert with liner notes. Acquired in 1988.

1988; 2/11/10 (review); 8/25/15

Also own: Strands of the Future

2/11/10 (new entry)