JOURNEY TO THE VAST UNKNOWN

The story of this Dutch band from my hometown The Hague is both an incredible as a very personal one. Pythagoras was rooted in a Dutch record shop named Moonlight Records in The Hague in the late Seventies, the owner was drummer Bob De Jong and I was a regular visitor of his shop. Another frequent visitor of Moonlight Records was keyboardplayer Rene De Haan, I met him soon and he told me enthousiasticly about his plans to make synthesizer music. It turned out that he lived only a few streets away from me, eventually this led to a visit at his home by me. The 'musical veteran' Bob was positive about 19 years old Rene his ideas and this led to the release of the album Journey To The Vast Unknown in 1981, a private pressing of 500 copies. Bob send a few promo LP's to some known DJ's like Wim Van Putten (famous LP-Show, great for progrock freaks!), Skip Voogd and Frits Spits. Within a very short time Bob's post box in his record shop was flooded with letters from synthesizer freaks, hundreds from all over the country and even Belgium! They had reacted on the contact-adress that the DJ's had mentioned in their radio programms. The album was re-released a few times and eventually it sold at about 5000 copies, an incredible result for a private pressing by an unknown Dutch duo playing synthesizer music! That music on Journey To The Vast Unknown is very melodic, often compelling and hypnotizing featuring slow rhythms with a warm string-ensemble sound, pleasant synthesizer flights and slow but powerful drum beats, it reminds me of Klaus Schulze his early work like Moondawn and Timewind. Some tracks deliver nice work on sequencers, choir-Mellotron and deep bass sounds evoking 74-77 Tangerine Dream. If you like cosmic oriented synthesizer music, this LP (I hope it will be released on CD) is worth to check out.

I have absolutely no idea how this vinyl copy ended up with a friend of mine (he claims he doesn´t remember). . Only now I know this is such a rare record after reading Erik Neuteboom´s review. Anyhow, this is a pity, since I´d like to have Journey To The Vast Unknown on CD. I´m not really fond of eletronic music, but Pythagoras is a different story. After all, this duo comes from Holland, a country where great melodies are the rule on most bands, and this is no exception: the music here is melodic, fluid and quite pleasant. Ok, some parts are a little more dark and abstract, but generally, much more accessible and organic than most artists on that genre (also helped by the fact that they have a real drummer here). I specially enjoyed the long title track with its four distinguished parts. Nothing to write home about, but very good nevertheless, soothing and compelling like some of Tangerine Dream´s most ´conventional´ moments.

An interesting work, to say the least! Rating: 3 stars.

I feel like I'm one of the few who is actually really into this album. Of course the Bio for this duo reveals a different story. And it's such a cool story where keyboardist Rene De Haan in his late teens and a regular visitor to Moonlight Records in The Hague, meets the owner Bob De Jong, and the rest is history. Rene, still living with his parents has a room full of keyboard equipment and is composing music. He has dreams, and Bob, a drummer who also knows his way around a studio, buys into Rene's dreams.

They would record this album in the second half of 1980 and release it in 1981. Bob of course has connections and ideas. He sends copies to many Djs who in turn after playing a tune would give the postal address for Moonlight Records for those interested in buying a copy. Soon Bob was getting hundreds of requests. Would you believe this sold over 5,000 copies! Well, if you heard this 42 minute album you might be surprised. I could see if this was 1971 but not 1981.

It's uniform sounding with Rene dominating. Lots of synths here and some sequencers. Piano as well, and some mellotron on the closer. Bob's drumming is rather sedate, but that's the sound they were looking for. Not a lot of breakouts, and it's melancholic. No vocals. There is some moving sections and variety within the style. What style? Well, electronic would be my choice for this album. Symphonic for their second release I understand, as I don't own it. Considering the duo call it a Symphonic poem, I guess answers that.

They released that second record in 1982 and that would be the end of their moment in the sun. They actually have a very young Arjen Luccasen playing guitar and bass pedals on that one, along with guest violin, flute and bass. Plus synths from a PLACKBAND member. Oh, and they thank PLACKBAND in the liner notes on the debut here as well. This album opens with the side long suite called "Journey To The Vast Unknown" which is divided into four parts. And the second side features two long tracks, just under 10 minutes each. I am a sucker for albums that take you places. I have that psychedelic mindset. This is a trip, or journey to the vast unknown indeed. And those two closing tracks are my favourites.

Easily 4 stars in my little cosmic music universe.