Very good electronic music
luna@netverk.com.ar | Argentina | 06/20/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Richard Pinhas is the creative mind of the mythical French group Heldom. The recordings of this album were done in 1976 using Revox recorder with a Moog synthesizer. Pinhas in addition play guitars and mellotons. In the album play personel of Heldom: Francois Auger in percussion and Didiet Batass in bass.. The sound remembers the sonorous experiments of Robert Fripp, of whom Pinhas is fan, although the ritms are more dynamic than frippertronics. References to krautrock can be found, specially to Tangerine Dream. Strongly recommended for the lovers of the electronic music of the Seventies."
A great solo album from Richard Pinhas
BENJAMIN MILER | Veneta, Oregon | 12/27/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"While 1977's Rhizosphere was Richard Pinhas' official first solo album, Chronolyse is technically his debut. The problem was the album was recorded in 1976, but shelved until 1978, when it finally got released on Cobra. I really don't understand the two year delay, other than probably due to the fact Heldon had released two albums in 1976 (Agneta Nilsson, Un Rêve Sans Consequence Speciale), and having a Richard Pinhas album released that year might have been too much (much like Peter Hammill's Over's release was delayed, likely due to Van der Graaf Generator having coughing up two albums in 1976 with Still Life and World Record). Or perhaps the Urus label (which was previously called Disjuncta, which released all the Heldon albums up to Agneta Nilsson) went under and never got a chance to released Chronolyse. Too bad, I really thought the album deserved a release when it was first recorded because this is a truly great album of electronic and prog. Much of the first half of the album is consumed with "Sur Le Themes de Bene Gesserit", divided in seven parts. This is all sequenced electronic music, with a nice spacy feel to it. Like Rhizosphere, he doesn't touch the guitar. These pieces tend to be short, and they never overstay their welcome. The second half consists of the 30+ minute "Paul Atreides", at times closer to the Heldon sound you come to expect, where he also uses guitar and even Mellotron (that's the one instrument giving it away this wasn't recorded at the time of release, as after 1976, Richard Pinhas gave up on the Mellotron, he likely had those similar mechanical problems his idol Robert Fripp had, which caused Fripp to say, "Tuning a Mellotron doesn't"). This piece is simply amazing! It's truly one of the highlights for electronic music for me, and one of the best things I've heard in the Richard Pinhas/Heldon catalog. This album is truly a must-have for electronic music fans!"
Track Listings (9) - Disc #1