Pulsar [Import]

1. Parece Que Vai

2. Cristina "Cris"

3. Caminhando Com Edson

4. Em Algum Lugar Do Brasil "Somewhere in Brazil"

5. Família

6. Amazonas "Save the Rain Forest"

7. Electric Life

8. Aoyama San

9. Amostra Grátis

Pulsar,Ivan Conti,Import [Generic],Afro-Cuban Jazz,Brazil,Brazilian,Brazilian Jazz,Int'l & World Music,Pop

Average customer rating: Yup. Masterpiece. These guys are real talents! A Symph-Prog Masterpiece

Halloween Manufacturer: Musea ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Rock | Styles | Music General | Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: The Strands Of The Future Pollen Io Sono Nato Libero Felona E Sorona Forse le Lucciole Non Si Amano Più ASIN: B0000CDE8M Release Date: 2003-08-29

Tracks:

1. Halloween - Part One (I. Halloween Song/II. Tired Answers/III. Colours Of Childhood/IV. Sorrow In My Dreams)
2. Halloween - Part Two (I. Lone Fantasy/II. Dawn Over Darkness/III. Misty Garden Of Passion/IV. Fear Of Frost/V. Time)

Album Description

PULSAR's third album, issued in 1977, "Halloween" is generally considered one of the ten best symphonic albums in the world. A masterpiece of refinement, sold out for a long time and at last reissued with a wonderful 16-page booklet that includes biography, photos, words and history of the band from Lyon. Definitely indispensable for all progressive rock fans! The re-issue of "Pollen" from 1975, includes a biographical booklet with words and pictures. A year later, "The Strands Of The Future" showed us its charms in the format of hyper-sophisticated, elaborated and refined music, filled with exacerbated lyricism and romanticism. Probably as good or even better than "Halloween" ! In the early Eighties, PULSAR took the path of theatrical creation: with the director Bruno CARLUCCI, the famous quartet (Gilbert GANDIL at the guitar and bass, Victor BOSCH at the drums, Jacques ROMAN at the keyboards & Roland Richard at the flute and saxophone) adapted a short story by! Austrian novelist Peter HANDKE in 1981, "Bienvenue Au Conseil D'Administration !". The result is worth it for a lot of reasons ! With "Görlitz", PULSAR made their comeback in 1988 and played an actualised music with beautiful themes, and with the same melodical beauty and the same refinement they had shown on the four previous albums. Those are milestones of Seventies French Progressive rock !

Customer Reviews:

Yup. Masterpiece. These guys are real talents!.......2005-12-02

Totally agree with William, the previous reviewer. He's written a wonderful review of this wonderful french band. Many compare Pulsar with Pink Floyd but...I tell you, Pulsar is way better than PF. Simply haunting. Their 1st album, "Pollen" is also very good. Similar style with Halloween. Their 2nd is a little bit different from these two albums. Yeah, it's more similar to PF's style and less exciting. I found I like them in the order of Halloween > Pollen >> The Strand. If you are a fan of euro prog rock, you should have 'Halloween'. It's a law. If you like it, then try Pollen. Just remember the strand should not be the not first choice to appreciate their music.

A Symph-Prog Masterpiece.......2005-11-03

Here's the short version of this review:
If you don't like symphonic prog rock you will HATE this CD and might as well stop reading right now. If you're like me and can't get enough of the stuff, especially the genuine 70's kind, you should add Halloween to your collection immediately.

If you're still with me, here's the long version:
Pulsar was a French prog band who were big stars in their homeland, although they could barely make a dent elsewhere in their day. Their work has since gained quite a cult following with prog fans worldwide, with this album sometimes referred to as the French Dark Side of the Moon. While most of the Continental prog bands (Italy aside) were playing in sub-genres like RIO, space-prog and zeuhl, Pulsar was squarely in the English symph-prog tradition with some definite overtones of the Italian symph-proggers. Symphonic as all get-out actually. Keyboardist Jaques Roman played the full complement of prog keys from organ and piano to Mellotron and synths. Gilbert Gandil had the necessary facility with both acoustic and electric guitars, and bassist Michel Masson is the underrated star here as he effortlessly follows the twists and turns in tempos and key changes. Victor Bosch was not only a great drummer but a fine percussionist and vibes player as well. He won't knock you out with his technical virtuosity like a Kerry Minnear of Gentle Giant, but his vibes work is wonderfully atmospheric and really adds to parts of this album. Multi-instrumentalist Roland Richard colours the music with woodwinds, piano and strings. This is a full-on symphonic rock sound of the highest order with so many things going on in the music that it virtually begs repeated listening.

The album is presented in two "side-long" suites (to use the old-school vinyl term!) It opens in E-flat with a 7 year old female voice student singing the "Londonderry Air" (AKA "Oh Danny Boy") with "la-la" syllables for the words, and closes with a male opera singer intoning over a bed of Mellotron and organ, ending in a sustained, triumphant C-major chord. In between, the story unfolds with sweeping strings and Mellotron, beautifully recorded acoustic guitar, hard rock jamming with fusion undertones, atmospheric vocal segments...well I could go on and on but you get the picture. A word about the sterling acoustic guitar sound: John McLaughlin had just finished recording in the same studio and had painstakingly set up for the perfect guitar sound (I believe this would have been Shakti's Natural Elements album but I am not positive.) All Gandil had to do was sit down and record with the same setup to get that sound.

This is supposedly a concept album but what exactly the concept may be has escaped me despite repeated listenings (which means it fits right in with stuff like The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway lol) This is largely due to the badly transcribed English lyrics and phonetic singing. According to the liner notes, the band used the services of an alleged "English teacher" but given head-scratching lines like "the rose garden stenches the ambers on my lips" (!?!) I sure hope they didn't pay too much! Gandil's unfamiliarity with the language leads to words like "floating" and "flood" coming out as "flouting" and "flude." Put aside the lyrics and just listen though, and you will be pleasantly surprised to find out how effective his yearning, dramatic style can be and how much the voice adds to this record.

About midway through the second part you may find yourself wondering how any of this fits on with the title of Halloween. At the 14 minute mark your question will be answered as deep, terrifying Mellotron notes and a frightening musical cacophony begins, leading to some dark, King Crimsonish jamming. Everything from cello to congas ends up in the mix as the piece turns symphonic again, leading to that glorious operatic ending. I have listened to more prog "grand finales" than is probably healthy for anyone and I have to say that this is one of the very best I have ever heard. Just blows me away every time.

The editing and mixing is excellent, blending the many disparate parts into a seamless whole with a tight conceptual focus that is found in the best prog rock. For those looking to expand your collections well beyond the UK "Big 6," Halloween is essential. A masterpiece of progressive rock.

Average customer rating: What to say? Eerie and Haunting Experimental Rock Masterpiece of prog rock

The Strands Of The Future Pulsar Manufacturer: Musea ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Rock | Styles | Music General | Classic Rock | Styles | Music General | Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Halloween Pollen Uomo Di Pezza Au-Dela Du Delire Felona E Sorona ASIN: B0000CDE8N Release Date: 2003-08-29

Tracks:

1. The Strands Of The Future
2. Flight
3. Windows
4. Fool's Failure

Product Description

PULSAR's third album, issued in 1977, "Halloween", is generally considered one of the ten best symphonic albums in the world. A masterpiece of refinement, sold out for a long time and at last reissued with a wonderful 16-page booklet that includes biography, photos, words and history of the band from Lyon. Definitely indispensable for all progressive rock fans! The re-issue of "Pollen" from 1975, includes a biographical booklet with words and pictures. A year later, "The Strands Of The Future" showed us its charms in the format of hyper-sophisticated, elaborated and refined music, filled with exacerbated lyricism and romanticism. Probably as good or even better than "Halloween" ! In the early Eighties, PULSAR took the path of theatrical creation: with the director Bruno CARLUCCI, the famous quartet (Gilbert GANDIL at the guitar and bass, Victor BOSCH at the drums, Jacques ROMAN at the keyboards & Roland Richard at the flute and saxophone) adapted a short story by Austrian novelist Peter HANDKE in 1981, "Bienvenue Au Conseil D'Administration !". The result is worth it for a lot of reasons ! With "Görlitz", PULSAR made their comeback in 1989 and played an actualised music with beautiful themes, and with the same melodical beauty and the same refinement they had shown on the four previous albums. Those are milestones of Seventies French Progressive rock !

Customer Reviews:

What to say?.......2005-10-24

French krautrock if one could put it this way. Nothing more to say but: fantastic music to listen when its cold outside your door and you need something to warm you up.

Eerie and Haunting Experimental Rock.......2004-08-06

The eerie and haunting synth-heavy opening of the massive 22' 08" suite The Strands of Future conjures up images of a dull sun rising over a bleak and empty landscape every time I listen to it. This may have been intentional, given that Pulsar was trying to depict a nightmarish world through the music, as illustrated in the disturbing and macabre cover art. While the music on The Strands of the Future is not characterized by passages of blinding virtuosity, Pulsar does extremely well at creating somber and rich atmospheres through the use of minor chords and loads of synthesizers. In fact synthesizers of all descriptions are featured prominently on this recording including the mini-moog, solina string synthesizer, and the mellotron model 400 amongst others. As such, the music is stylistically closer to that of Tangerine Dream than Yes or even Pink Floyd for that matter. There is however instrumentation that extends beyond synthesizers, including very understated, yet technically competent drumming, woodwind, guitar and bass work (the keyboardist doubled on Rickenbacker bass). Vocals by guitarist Gilbert Gandil are provided in English and are quite good. Although a great deal of the music on The Stands of the Future is very serious, I should note that not all of the music is as bleak as I have described, with the 2'37 "Flight" providing a brief reprieve from the heaviness with some sprightly keyboard work and comparatively energetic playing by the guitarist and drummer. Overall, The Strands of the Future is a very polished and emotionally sophisticated work that is certainly equal in stature with if not superior to their subsequent masterpiece Halloween (1977). Recommended for prog fans that appreciate Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze just as much as Premiata Forneria Marconi.

Masterpiece of prog rock.......2004-07-29

Second album from one of the great prog rock bands to come out of France. Strands of the Future was originally released in 1976 on the Kingdom label (a label apparently ran by Terry King, who was the manager for the famous Canterbury band Caravan, which Caravan recorded for that label for a short time in the early '80s). I have always felt their debut Pollen was underrated and often ignored compared to their following two albums, but that one is an album worth checking in to. Strands finds the band adding a Mellotron to their setup and exploring more of that same great prog that I so enjoyed about Pollen. With Phillipe Roman (I presume the brother of Jacques Ramon) no longer with the band, vocal duties (as well as bass duties) were now handled by Jacques, whose singing makes it difficult to determine if he's singing in French or in English. The album starts off with the side length title track. It starts off sounding not unlike Klaus Schulze, complete with synth drones and spacy electronic effects. After that, the whole band kicks in and goes through several different movements and themes, including the occasional experimental passage. Lots of great use of synthesizers and guitar. "Flight" is nothing short of an incredible instrumental piece, I just love that use of Mellotron choir in this cut. "Window" is a slow-ballad, pretty much in the same vein as their following album, Halloween. "Fool's Failure" is yet another wonderful epic (although not a side-length cut like the title track) going through several themes and movements. There are some use of spoken dialog here too. The song ends with the sound of someone using a typewriter, throwing the paper in the trash, then you hear a sound of a buzzer before you hear one of the Mellotron themes close the album out. Truly a great album to have in your collection.

Average customer rating: Pulsar is off to a clumsy, albeit promising start

Pollen Manufacturer: Musea ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Rock | Styles | Music General | Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: The Strands Of The Future Halloween ANGE - Par Les Fils De Mandrin - Live Tour 2003-2004 Felona E Sorona Spock's Beard ASIN: B0000CDE8P Release Date: 2003-08-29

Tracks:

1. Pulsar
2. Apaisement
3. (I. Puzzle/II. Omen)
4. Le Cheval De Syllogie
5. Pollen

Album Description

PULSAR's third album, issued in 1977, "Halloween" is generally considered one of the ten best symphonic albums in the world. A masterpiece of refinement, sold out for a long time and at last reissued with a wonderful 16-page booklet that includes biography, photos, words and history of the band from Lyon. Definitely indispensable for all progressive rock fans! The re-issue of "Pollen" from 1975, includes a biographical booklet with words and pictures. A year later, "The Strands Of The Future" showed us its charms in the format of hyper-sophisticated, elaborated and refined music, filled with exacerbated lyricism and romanticism. Probably as good or even better than "Halloween" ! In the early Eighties, PULSAR took the path of theatrical creation: with the director Bruno CARLUCCI, the famous quartet (Gilbert GANDIL at the guitar and bass, Victor BOSCH at the drums, Jacques ROMAN at the keyboards & Roland Richard at the flute and saxophone) adapted a short story by! Austrian novelist Peter HANDKE in 1981, "Bienvenue Au Conseil D'Administration !". The result is worth it for a lot of reasons ! With "Görlitz", PULSAR made their comeback in 1988 and played an actualised music with beautiful themes, and with the same melodical beauty and the same refinement they had shown on the four previous albums. Those are milestones of Seventies French Progressive rock !

Customer Reviews:

Pulsar is off to a clumsy, albeit promising start .......2006-05-08

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.

Average customer rating:

The Strands of the Future Pulsar Manufacturer: Musea Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Rock | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Rock | Imports | Stores | Music ASIN: B00004VADG Release Date: 2006-06-01

Tracks:

1. Strands of the Future
2. Flight
3. Windows
4. Fool's Failure

Average customer rating:

Gorlitz Pulsar Manufacturer: Musea Records France ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Rock | Styles | Music Rock | Imports | Stores | Music ASIN: B00004VADI Release Date: 2006-06-01

Tracks:

1. Quatrieme
2. Sixieme
3. Cinquieme
4. Pendule
5. Sous Une Arche De Pierre
6. Prelude A L'eclipse
7. Robe Et Le Chat
8. Pour Le Bal Des Pauvres

Average customer rating: Oh so tragic...

Halloween Pulsar Manufacturer: Musea Records France ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Rock | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Rock | Imports | Stores | Music ASIN: B00004VADD Release Date: 2006-06-01

Tracks:

1. Halloween, Pt. 1: Halloween Song/Tired Answers/Colours of Childhood
2. Halloween, Pt. 2: Lone Fantasy/Dawn Over Darkness/Misty Garden of ...

Customer Reviews:

Oh so tragic..........2003-04-26

This is fantastic music (released in 1977) that is intelligently arranged and played, and unlike a lot of progressive rock is remarkably understated. Large sections of the 40+-minute "Halloween" suite are dominated by sweeping and haunting synthesizer parts (Roland string synthesizer, Mellotron etc...), which are punctuated by "heavier" sections where a technically superb drum part dominates. In fact, it is worth noting that the drummer is excellent, yet never grandstands, and works with the composition, which is both delicate and sophisticated. At times, these drum-dominated "jams" sound somewhat like jazz-rock, with pre-composed keyboard solos lending a distinct structure to the jam. The guitar work is also quite good and the guitarist alternates between acoustic parts and "clean"-sounding electric guitar parts. The vocals (in English) are excellent and the guitarist assumes virtually all vocal duties, while one other University-trained individual sings briefly towards the end of the "Halloween" suite. The production quality on "Halloween" is stellar and every instrument (including the flute parts) can be heard with crystal clarity. This recording is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Average customer rating: The gentle vocal passages are the best parts (2.7 stars) Underrated debut from one of the French prog greats

Pollen Pulsar Manufacturer: Musea Records France ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Rock | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Rock | Imports | Stores | Music ASIN: B00004YWAE Release Date: 2006-06-01

Tracks:

1. Pulsar
2. Apaisement
3. Puzzle/Omen
4. Cheval de Syllogie
5. Pollen

Customer Reviews:

The gentle vocal passages are the best parts (2.7 stars).......2005-10-03

I don't know their follow up albums Halloween and Strands of the future, but I wouldn't recommend this one. The instrumental passages are average fare, but admittedly the narration on the third track and the 4 gentle piano-dominated minutes on the
long last track are nice.

Underrated debut from one of the French prog greats.......2004-06-14

Pollen, the 1975 debut by this band from Lyon, France, is often overlooked in light of their next two albums, Strands of the Future and Halloween. The album was originally released on the Kingdom label, a label ran by Terry King (who was also a manager for Caravan, and Caravan themselves ended up recording for that label for a short time in the early '80s). Decca in the UK also issued this album a year later (in 1976). This album tends to be a bit more experimental and abstract than the ones to follow. The Mellotron isn't even present, instead its plastered with Solina string synths. The ARP 2600 is the other dominate keyboard used. The vocals are all in French (except for some spoken dialog, in English on "Puzzle/Omen"). It's their only album you can actually tell what language they're singing in, likely because it's bassist Phillipe Ramon (presumably the brother of keyboardist Jacques Ramon), who handled the vocals here. He left the band after this album. The album opens up with "Pulsar", which is basically an experiment in synthesizers and drums (provided by Victor Bosch). "Apaisment" is a stunning and haunting piece every much the classic Pulsar as to be found on their following albums. The piece ends with Rolland Richard giving us some flute. "Puzzle/Omen" is largely an instrumental piece, a faster piece number, with largely wordless voices, and the ARP 2600 synthesizer. The middle part changes to something more piano-dominated with female narrations (provided by Carmel Williams) in English. "Le Chevel de Syllogie" is by far the most experimental piece on the album. There is some more spoken dialog (this time in French), only the voice is electronically modified, and apparently done by one of the band members. Lots of bizarre electronic effects are also provided. "Pollen" is the last number on this album, and closest to the Pink Floyd sound, especially the use of Hammond organ. If you already enjoy Strands of the Future and Halloween, be sure to get this album as well.

Average customer rating:

Pollen Pulsar Manufacturer: Musea ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD ASIN: B00004VADE Release Date: 2001-01-01

Tracks:

1. Pulsar
2. Apaisement
3. Puzzle/Omen
4. Cheval de Syllogie
5. Pollen

Average customer rating:

Out of Place Sonic Pulsar Manufacturer: Mello ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Rock | Styles | Music General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music Hard Rock & Metal | Imports | Stores | Music ASIN: B000CAGMGE Release Date: 2006-05-08

Tracks:

1. Out of Place
2. Burning Inside Me
3. Schizophrenic Playground
4. Always Knew
5. Chain of Actions
6. I Heard of a Place Called Earth
7. Ghosts of the Lost Planes
8. Solitary Star
9. Instrumetal
10. Moving Engines
11. Time Has Been Broken

Average customer rating:

Fiesta San Antonio 2002 Various Artists Manufacturer: Pulsar Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music ASIN: B000NQRDWY Release Date: 2007-03-16

Tracks:

1. Fiesta Town - Rick Cavender
2. Ay Te Dejo En San Antonio - Texmaniacs
3. Bienvenidos A La Fiesta (San Antonio) - Mariachi Fiesta
4. Follow Me To Fiesta - Jazz Antonio
5. Ojitos Negros - Flaco Jimenez
6. Two Hearts - Henry Brun & The Latin Playerz
7. Parece Que Fue Ayer - Trio San Antonio
8. El Babalu - Rene Rene
9. Cry Me A River - Luis Gasca Quartet
10. Fiesta San Antonio - David Marez
11. Time - Josh Rael
12. Heal Our Land - Sister Renetha & Friends

Product Description

SAN ANTONIO's BIGGEST BASH OFFICIAL SOUNDTRACK! Ten days of pageantry, parties, food, culture and fun. It's all wrapped up in that uniquely San Antonian event known as FIESTA SAN ANTONIO. What better way to capture the spirit of this event than with the OFFICIAL CD OF FIESTA SAN ANTONIO. The 2002 CD, is full of musical fusions that make San Antonio, TX what it is. This is the 2nd annual Official CD of FIESTA SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS. LIMITED EDITION. Official FIESTA Merchandise.

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1. Quarteto Novo [Limited Edition] [Import]
2. Rendevouz
3. Roots of Awakening: Chanting the Chakras
4. Salsa Praise
5. Sanäti
6. Serenade
7. Serie Raizes Do Samba [Import]
8. SONGS FROM THE SOURCE-VOLUME 1
9. Sounds Of Progress
10. Suga Shack

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