Ladies & Gentlemen of Yesfans, please welcome: PULSAR

[oliasdoug]

HEY family: You've heard me talk about them from time to time, and after having just today discovered that they released a reunion CD in 2007 (MEMORY ASHES, which I now have on order), I had this uncontrollable urge (thank you, Devo) to give them a spotlight here in Yesfans.

Why? Because they deserve it. I discovered them around 1977 when, by that time, I had been completely captivated by the European progressive rock movement of the era. I was probably one of a literal handful of people in the town of Kearney, Nebraska who was ordering albums by these European bands no one had even heard of from Dusty's, our hippest recorded music source at the time. The JEM catalog, which I'm sure a lot of you were familiar with, had ALL the foreign progrock bands of the time listed...and having been a fan of both prog music and the French language, I couldn't help wondering what French progressive rock would sound like. So, I ordered their debut album, POLLEN...and upon hearing it for the first time, I was a goner.

To date I've only acquired both POLLEN, and what is widely regarded as their masterpiece, HALLOWEEN, their 3rd album. I have heard their 2nd album, THE STRANDS OF THE FUTURE, which is also a great album in its own right. When I visited their website for the first time today, I was happy to learn not only of their reunion CD, but of 2 other albums they recorded after HALLOWEEN, entitled GORLITZ, and BIENVENUE AU CONSEIL D'ADMINISTRATION (WELCOME TO THE BOARD).

All I can say is what I've alluded to before in other threads: Pulsar has earned its rightful place in the pantheon of the legendary prog bands (not to mention unsung heroes) to come out of Europe in the 70's. Those of you who love the music of this era--and who specifically are fans of Pink Floyd, The Moody Blues, PFM, King Crimson & Gabriel-era Genesis--truly owe it to yourselves to check out the music of Pulsar. More details for you here from the website (which had several howling grammatical/typo errors, which I've corrected):

>>>Pulsar is a French progressive rock band formed in the early 70’s in Lyon, France.

The name Pulsar was derived from the dark sun in outer space which can be found only by the sound waves it emits.

"They were as when dear Syd was with Floyd;
very enjoyable." - Melody Maker

Early Pulsar musicians were Jacques Roman (organ, piano, synth), Victor Bosch (drums, percussion), Gilbert Gandil (guitar, vocals) and Philippe Roman (bass).

In the summer of ’74, they were joined by sound-man Gérard Trouve and lightshow operator Armand Fines and a fifth member of the group named Roland Richard on flute and keyboards. The band also needed a manager, and found it with a friend called Xavier Dubuc.

"A highlight in French Rock History." - Melody Maker

Though Pulsar music is moody, mostly instrumental and very atmospheric at times, they add a symphonic edge to it. Many little musical twists give them an original style in progressive space [music]. Dashes of Kraut & Psych meet in a Symphonic mix...
Pulsar’s music was generally characterized by extended suites with a weighing atmosphere and a Pink Floyd-ish sense of grandeur and mood.
They heavily utilized moog and mellotron to great effect, painting grandiose and often horrific backdrops to the mournful and sedate vocals.
Pulsar sits squarely within the symphonic progressive rock movement, and their fascination with dark atmospheres mixed with symphonic tendencies makes for a sound which is actually quite unique.
Pulsar albums are milestones of Seventies Progressive Rock.
Pulsar met its audience with its first album : Pollen.

Pollen was released at the start of 1975. Pulsar revealed themeselves to be the forerunners of the music being tuned by Sphynx, Camel and others.
Facing zero promotion from Kingdom Records, their label, Pulsar toured in France and England to promote Pollen.
The group was able to sell 5000 copies of their first LP, which landed them on the French charts and attracted the interest of concert and festival promoters. Pulsar gradually became well known, among bands like Magma or Ange, for instance.
At one point, the band even considered collaborating with Van der Graaf Generator’s Peter Hammill as lyricist and singer for their second album (The Strands of the Future), as he apparently adored Pollen, but the labels unfortunately nixed the idea.

In February 1976 Philippe Roman left the band for health reasons and was replaced by Michel Masson.
In April ’76, Pulsar began recording their second album.

The Strands of the Future was released in September 1976. [It was on this album that the duty of lead vocalist shifted from Philippe Roman to Gilbert Gandil.]
This album is a French progressive rock classic that was loyal to the style displayed on Pollen, but perhaps even stronger overall.
The French press was unanimous in its praise; even the British critics took notice. If they had critisised Pulsar for mimicking Floyd’s ideas, Pulsar were nonetheless playing original music, built upon experience and composition. The title track, with its fine sense of dynamics and group interplay, remains one of the classic space rock tracks ever recorded.
The album vaulted Pulsar into the big leagues of French rock, selling 40,000 copies within its first six months, behind only Ange at the time. Having wrapped up their deal with Kingdom Records, Pulsar jumped to the bigs and signed a three album contract with CBS in December of ’76.

Halloween, their third album was released in December 1977.
Sequestered at a farm, under the influences of composer Gustav Mahler and director Luche Vicsonti, the group set out to create a concept work rife with a similar thread of anguished romance and fantastic imagery.
Halloween is considered the group’s masterpiece: dreamy pastoral pieces dripping with mellotron and spiced with acoustic guitars and flute; heavy, complex prog rockers bristling with intensity; and moody, impressionistic soundscapes using electronic keyboards alongside classical instrumentation (cellos, clarinets).

Pulsar toured throughout Europe until 1978 in Portugal; the band played two nights in Lisbon, 15000 people attending 2 concerts that will last forever in their memories.<<<

Sound interesting? I recommend starting with HALLOWEEN. If any of you decide to look into Pulsar's music as a result of this thread, please post your impressions here; I'd be interested to hear what you think.

Peace,

Doug

PS: Almost forgot this: http://www.thepulsarband.com

[TOBYSGRAPHICGOKART]

Thanks for the word up on the reunion CD,Doug.
I've also posted about this lot on the What are you listening to now thread in the past.
I have Halloween and Strands of the Future on vinyl.
Both are excellent and for me it's SOTF that is their masterpiece.
Great stuff!

[Meng]

Well, my interest is piqued good and proper.

I feel a wallet-opening experience coming on.

[oliasdoug]

Originally Posted by Meng

Well, my interest is piqued good and proper.

I feel a wallet-opening experience coming on.

That's the spirit!!!!! Make sure to post here again with your impressions. I am, if you haven't figured it out yet, nuts about this band. Have not been able to find any clips of them on Youtube yet. :-( Spread the word, all who know this band!

[TOBYSGRAPHICGOKART]

Originally Posted by oliasdoug

That's the spirit!!!!! Make sure to post here again with your impressions. I am, if you haven't figured it out yet, nuts about this band. Have not been able to find any clips of them on Youtube yet. :-( Spread the word, all who know this band!

Doug,I believe there are some clips of them on their My Space site.

By the way,I found I do still have my copy of their first one,Pollen,after all !!

[oliasdoug]

Originally Posted by TOBYSGRAPHICGOKART

Doug,I believe there are some clips of them on their My Space site.

By the way,I found I do still have my copy of their first one,Pollen,after all !!

Indeed? MySpace never even crossed my warped little mind. I will check those out.

I love POLLEN...for a debut album, it was pretty far out. I could listen to "Apaisement" and the title track a million times & never get tired of them. Philippe had such an unpretentious, ghostly style of singing on those tracks.

[TOBYSGRAPHICGOKART]

Originally Posted by oliasdoug

Indeed? MySpace never even crossed my warped little mind. I will check those out.

Sorry,I didn't have the link to hand earlier.

If you haven't already found it yet,try this.....

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...ndID=409968215

[Roan's Lady]

I can appreciate wanting to give a relatively unknown band a spotlight - especially when a lot of the audience here is already primed, so to speak, to find them to their taste. I had a chance to check out most of what's on their Myspace page. While a fair amount is personally not really my cuppa joe, Pink Floyd fans and fans of atmospheric music should leap all over this. I did like "Le Cheval De Syllogie" (with a bit more movement, and portions reminiscent of early Genesis), but I felt they cut it short just as it was developing nicely! I'll keep my ears out for more from this band. Thanks for bringing PULSAR to our attention, Doug.

[Salmacis]

Pollen, Strands Of The Future and Halloween are all excellent. I've never heard anything beyond that. Just wanted to chime in and give another thumbs up to Pulsar!

[oliasdoug]

Originally Posted by Salmacis

Pollen, Strands Of The Future and Halloween are all excellent. I've never heard anything beyond that. Just wanted to chime in and give another thumbs up to Pulsar!

Right on--glad to see another Pulsarian! What I've heard of the new (2007) CD sounds fantastic...can't wait for it to get here. I'll give a full review after receiving/auditioning it.

[oliasdoug]

Hey again, ProgFans: I just received MEMORY ASHES a few days ago in the mail, and have listened to it several times since. I'm happy to report that the men of Pulsar still have it! It's a great-sounding album; they are tighter than ever, have not lost their edge (although to be fair, this is probably the most accessible album they've released to date), and this is without a doubt a great comeback for them. And yes, they still sound very Pink Floyd-ish! Here's the track listing:

1. Memory Ashes, Part I (7:52)
2. Memory Ashes, Part II (7:58)
3. Memory Ashes, Part III (4:50)
4. Memory Ashes, Part IV (5:24)
5. Monks (10:45)
6. Respire (8:54)

This CD definitely receives the Drugless Douglas Seal Of Approval.

[Doug jumps up from computer chair, starts clapping his 2 forearms together & barking like a seal, much to the consternation of his 2 cats.]

Receiving & hearing this 2007 gem has inspired me to go over to Mindawn.com and download 2 other discs of theirs, GÖRLITZ and BIENVENUE AU CONSEIL D'ADMINISTRATION (just finished downloading & haven't listened to yet), and I've put in an order for STRANDS OF THE FUTURE from Amazon. Awaken, Yesfans...I would like all of you to hear this band tout de suite.

[Meng]

Originally Posted by oliasdoug

That's the spirit!!!!! Make sure to post here again with your impressions.

I'm sorry I don't do impressions - my training is in computers.

Ok, just played through The Strands Of The Future. I'm rarely able to make a judgement on an album on first hearing, so I'll be doing my usual thing and taking the CD into the car and playing it on repeat.

Having said that:
1. Any album with so much choir 'tron on it is ok by me;
2. I suspect the title track is probably a prog masterpiece worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as CTTE, Supper's Ready, Grendel and Once Around The World. Four or five more listens should hopefully confirm this;
3. A nice blend of symphonic prog, space rock and Krautrock. I was reminded of pastoral Crimson, Flower Kings and also of obscure German band from the 70s Epidaurus.

One of my irritations with life is that it is guaranteed there is music out there that I would absolutely love, but I've no idea what it is or who it's by. I think one of those holes may have now been filled, so thanks particularly to Doug and Paul for the recommendation.

[TOBYSGRAPHICGOKART]

You're welcome,Pete.
Yep,give it a few more spins and I'm sure you'll regard the title track in particular as a bit of a classic,if not quite belonging in the exalted company of some of those you mention,then certainly "knocking on the door". This is my favourite Pulsar album,though I've been listening to the newie on their Myspace page and that sounds pretty cool too.

Paul.

[Cygnus X-1]

So Peter Hammill love Pollen, is it true?

[oliasdoug]

Originally Posted by Cygnus X-1

So Peter Hammill love Pollen, is it true?

It wouldn't surprise me at all...when I listen to my favorite VdGG album (H To HE...), I'm left with the impression that both they and Pulsar could very well have come from the same sector of the universe.

Originally Posted by Meng

I'm sorry I don't do impressions - my training is in computers.

Ok, just played through The Strands Of The Future. I'm rarely able to make a judgement on an album on first hearing, so I'll be doing my usual thing and taking the CD into the car and playing it on repeat.

Having said that:
1. Any album with so much choir 'tron on it is ok by me;
2. I suspect the title track is probably a prog masterpiece worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as CTTE, Supper's Ready, Grendel and Once Around The World. Four or five more listens should hopefully confirm this;
3. A nice blend of symphonic prog, space rock and Krautrock. I was reminded of pastoral Crimson, Flower Kings and also of obscure German band from the 70s Epidaurus.

One of my irritations with life is that it is guaranteed there is music out there that I would absolutely love, but I've no idea what it is or who it's by. I think one of those holes may have now been filled, so thanks particularly to Doug and Paul for the recommendation.

Interesting name for a group; brings to mind a T-Rex going through labor pains. Haven't heard of this band & will have to check them out. Am very glad to hear that SOTF has given you such a positive initial impact. I'll be very curious to hear what you think of both HALLOWEEN and MEMORY ASHES.

Take note, fellow Yesfans--this is one bandwagon I recommend you all jump upon forthwith & with greatest dispatch!

[oliasdoug]

Originally Posted by Cygnus X-1

So Peter Hammill love Pollen, is it true?

Hey Cyg, being a native Frenchman, what do YOU think of them? Are they still big in France among prog rock circles?

[Pulsar]

Hi Doug, thanks for you friendship on MySpace & thanks for this wonderfull page on YesFans (and for the corrections of the bad English on the official Website (I'll try to give it to our webmaster as soon as possible !)

I've posted the link to this page on our MySpace.

So you really appreciate the new album Doug ? thanks a lot ! I'm Arthur (marketing manager) and my favorites albums are Pollen, Halloween, Strands of the Future & Memory Ashes

Hope that this album will be a succes to be on the road again !

So maybe there's other fans of Pulsar in here ?!

Here are some links which should interest some of you ?!

Website : www.thepulsarband.com
Youtube : www.youtube.com/thepulsarband
Myspace : www.myspace.com/thepulsarband
Onvibes : www.onvibes.com/pulsar

Facebook : http://www.new.facebook.com/pages/Pulsar/37529538010
So you can became a fan of Pulsar on Facebook !

Keep on Progin !

[Soundchaser_413]

Wow. Good to see this band mentioned on here.

I used to have one of their cds called "strands of the future" which was pretty fantastic to say the least.

Hey Amy, if you want to hear Pulsar all you have to do is ask your husband if you can borrow some of his cds.

A few weeks ago they(Dr. Cosmo to be precise) played a long segment from the Halloween album on wprb(college radio station from Princeton NJ).


I would like to know how is Pollen? Usually it's not rated as highly as the two after it but I can't imagine it not being good maybe just a little bit raw or something. Also, how about their later stuff?

[oliasdoug]

Originally Posted by Soundchaser_413

Wow. Good to see this band mentioned on here.

I used to have one of their cds called "strands of the future" which was pretty fantastic to say the least.

Hey Amy, if you want to hear Pulsar all you have to do is ask your husband if you can borrow some of his cds.

A few weeks ago they(Dr. Cosmo to be precise) played a long segment from the Halloween album on wprb(college radio station from Princeton NJ).


I would like to know how is Pollen? Usually it's not rated as highly as the two after it but I can't imagine it not being good maybe just a little bit raw or something. Also, how about their later stuff?

Glad to see Pulsar getting some good response in here--hope to see more & that the word gets around! As for POLLEN, if you like what you've heard, I can state with a large degree of certainty that you will like their 1st album as well. And you're right, POLLEN is a bit raw compared to the polish that is SOTF and especially HALLOWEEN, but that fact does not take away anything at all from its [coining a phrase here] cosmicity. The album as a whole is excellent, and as I mentioned earlier, the 2 tracks with sung vocals ("Apaisement" and the masterpiece title track) are songs I absolutely never grow tired of hearing. Philippe Roman's vocal style is a world apart from Gilbert Gandil's, but I love it nonetheless. His--as I mentioned--is a very wispy, non-vibrato-based, straightforward style of singing, and is made even more "ghostly" sounding by being put through a slight echoplex effect. Both of these songs give new meaning to the term "haunting," and I especially love the moog solo that graces the long fade-out on "Pollen." So yes, I would unconditionally recommend this album.

Now that I've had a chance to listen to MEMORY ASHES several times over the last few days, all I can say is jump on it, man! The guys have done a great job hanging onto the style of music that made them famous, and this album is every bit as cosmic as their others, while remaining unique in its own way. Go for it!

A few days ago I downloaded GORLITZ and BIENVENUE from the Mindawn website (thank God both were available there)...but not being the most experienced person in computer matters, I had trouble converting the Flac files to Wav files for my Mac, so I have to go back in there & do the process again. But, what I heard of both of these albums sounded great, too. For all intents & purposes, Pulsar has not released anything even close to a bad album...that's quite an accomplishment. It's apparent they take their music & artistry quite seriously, & it's a shame that not enough people know of them. I hope this little bit of publicity here will change that to a significant degree!

[oliasdoug]

Originally Posted by Pulsar

Hi Doug, thanks for you friendship on MySpace & thanks for this wonderfull page on YesFans (and for the corrections of the bad English on the official Website (I'll try to give it to our webmaster as soon as possible !)

I've posted the link to this page on our MySpace.

So you really appreciate the new album Doug ? thanks a lot ! I'm Arthur (marketing manager) and my favorites albums are Pollen, Halloween, Strands of the Future & Memory Ashes

Hope that this album will be a succes to be on the road again !

So maybe there's other fans of Pulsar in here ?!

Here are some links which should interest some of you ?!

Website : www.thepulsarband.com
Youtube : www.youtube.com/thepulsarband
Myspace : www.myspace.com/thepulsarband
Onvibes : www.onvibes.com/pulsar

Facebook : http://www.new.facebook.com/pages/Pulsar/37529538010
So you can became a fan of Pulsar on Facebook !

Keep on Progin !

Hey Arthur! Thanks for the acknowledgment & sorry if I sounded a little catty in my mentioning the text errors...I forget sometimes that I tend to be a stickler on these things & occasionally put my foot in it when mentioning it.

I hope you'll pass onto Gilbert, Jacques, Victor & Roland my great love for the new CD...it really is fantastic. I hope we who love Pulsar will maybe have the good fortune of seeing a concert DVD of them in the near future....? This would be a crowning event in prog music!

I will check out the Facebook site as soon as possible, and thank you again for stopping in to say hello--my best to all the guys, & you as well!

Peace,

Doug