HELDON II - ALLEZ TEIA

4.5 stars. HELDON's debut was pretty much Richard Pinhas doing it all except for the one track he got lots of help on. On this his second album he partners with Georges Grunblatt. There's a nice picture of the two in the liner notes. Speaking of liner notes Richard thanks his idol Robert Fripp, Patrick Gauthier, Jimi Hendrix and Eno along with some others. I like what ClickForth says about this album on the RYM site. He describes it as "Hazy soundscapes that take you somewhere on a summer afternoon, required listening". I couldn't agree more especially since I was listening to this early today as I drove on a beautiful summers day through the country side. It doesn't get much better.

"In The Wake Of King Fripp" is such a great title. Gentle guitar to open as mellotron washes in and continues. Such a beautiful sound. Angular guitar comes in after 4 minutes. Just gorgeous. "Aphanisis" features some nice dual acoustic guitar melodies throughout. "Omar Diop Blondin" is dedicated to both Fripp and Eno. The guitar is darker sounding as synths join in. Angular guitar before 1 1/2 minutes. It stops 2 minutes later as we start to get these guitar soundscapaes the rest of the way.

"Moebius" is a TANGERINE DREAM like tune, very electronic sounding. Great song. "Fluence" builds as the sounds seem to hover. It's like the sounds keep coming closer then they drift back. About half way through the sounds are floating like they're suspended in mid air. The synths get louder 10 minutes in. "St.Mikael Samstag Am Bends" again feature electronics that float and hum. The guitar comes in after 2 minutes. Mellotron a minute later. Angular guitar before 5 1/2 minutes. "Michel Ettori" features dual acoustic guitars like the second track.

"Interface" , "Stand By" and this second album are my three favourite HELDON albums.