(Captain Trip Records CTCD-550R-552R)
Heldon- Live 1975-1979
(Captain Trip Records CTCD-550R-552R)
From Aural Innovations #36 (May 2007)
Heldon, for those who do not know, were a groundbreaking French band lead
by Richard Pinhas. Heldon were very unique as they took rock music and mixed
it with analog synthesizers in a very unique and special way. Richard Pinhas
is a master at guitar looping (probably learned something from Fripp but then
took it into his own unique world of music). This collection of live Heldon
material is very special. It starts at their earliest time in 1975-76, where
you can hear the raw, acidic, psychedelic nature of the band before the synthesizers
started to take an equal role with guitar on the first track. He had a hell
of a band backing him as well at this time. The 2nd track (Distibution Deterritorialisation)
is very much based on a repetitive synth line under which (I wish it was over)
Richard totally rips it up on the guitar but also does a synth solo as well.
The next 4 tracks on the CD are all taken from a concert in Paris in 1975 and
just feature the duo of Richard Pinhas (Mellotron, ARP2600 Synthesizer, AKS
and guitars) and Alain Benaud (Guitar and analog keyboards). Heldon is Back
was not that interesting, while Lady from the North devolves into a pure strange
guitar solo piece, where Richard ends up just ripping it up. Hendrix would be
smiling…Klossowski’s Circlus Vitosus brings the ARP2600 back and
the other synths space out over the repetitive theme that eventually gets taken
over by what sounds like an airplane and this leads into Death of Omar Diop
Blondin and some really cool guitars take over the soundscape. Intense stuff
that dies out into some feedback and synth sounds before a bit of guitar noodling
(Track of Cocaine). That ends CD 1.
The 2nd and 3rd CDs are the entire concert from Nancy, France on March 19th,
1979 and feature the 3 piece line up of: Richard, Francois Auger (Drums) and
Perrot Boussel (Bass and Mellotron). The CD begins with some incredibly intense
drumming with some spacey synths fighting for space in the sound in the background.
This leads into Heldon UFO War Machine, which slowly builds up on a synth and
gets more and more intense as the drums kick in and the very intense guitar
takes over and the drums gel with the synths.. It eventually comes down to just
synths and bird like sounds before the next piece (which I will spare you the
very very long name) begins. The track slowly spaces out over the interplay
of the bass and drums. The track gets very intense like Alien Planetscapes as
the drums pound and the synths trip out. Red Line Target ends the 2nd CD and
returns to the interplay on the cymbals and repetitive ARP sequences, while
Richard does some introductions of something in French, before getting down
to business again, with some intense guitar and heavy bass underneath. CD3 features
2 18 min long tracks. The first begins with some AKS synth like sequences (Remember
On the Run from Dark Side of the Moon) that slowly takes time to build. Around
7 mins, the bass comes in and the drums start becoming more intense and Richard
picks up his guitar to let forth a fury of intense playing as the drums get
more and more intense, Richard is practically buried in the background. Mellotronic
Dune Dance ends this really excellent documentation of a very unique band who
was a trailblazer at this time making music that no one else dared to try…
Enjoy and also read the Heldon Retrospective in this issue of Aural Innovations!
Visit the Captain Trip record web site at: http://www.captaintrip.co.jp
Reviewed by Scott Heller