Customer Reviews

Pollen

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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.