HALLOWEEN

Kingdom Records organized a huge promotion tour for Pulsar's second album next to a new group named Sunset Wading.But as Sunset Wading's debut album was continuously canceled the French group had to hit the road alone with a shortened schedule of around 10 gigs.They were enough to earn the band full publicity and raise the sales of ''The strands of future'' up to 40,000 copies.At the end of the year Michel Masson joined Pulsar on bass and the band was in search of a new label, as the contract with Kingdom Records had expired.They signed with CBS, which immediately pushed the band to write down some new material.Pulsar headed to a farm in the mountains of the Savoy region, where most part of their upcoming work was written.They revisited the Aquarius Studios in Geneva with Yes' Patrick Moraz helping out in production.Release month was December 1977 and the third Pulsar album was entitled ''Halloween''.

''Halloween'' was the most ambitious effort ever created by the group, consisting of two sidelong pieces, which were also linked to each other.''Halloween Part I'' clocks at 20 minutes and it is definitely the best of the pair.A Symphonic-Space Rock tour-de-force with massive instrumental and mood changes, featuring extended hypnotic undelines with powerful, cosmic synthesizers and melancholic acoustic colors, but also some big symphonic washes with dominant Mellotrons and nervous electric guitars.Among the best creations of the group, this one is divided in four sections, being largely instrumental with only some female narration in the opening seconds and some male vocals at the end, combining the PINK FLOYD approach with the old KING CRIMSON/GENESIS aesthetics.Even so Pulsar had come up with a very personal sound, having plenty of dramatic and fairytale atmospheres in the same track.Fantastic and clever use of synthesizers, very deep, spacey soundscapes and great orchestral work on Mellotron.A piece of music to admire.

''Halloween Part II'' is just one minute shorter than the opening piece, but not exactly on par with the ultimate inspiration of the band during the first 20 minutes.Of course it is not bad at all, actually this is another fine epic delivery by the group, even more diverse and flexible with the addition of some sax, flute and violin parts, but fails to reach the instrumental depth of the opener.Pulsar will again offer laid-back, spacey and highly symphonic music with the focus on atmosphere, limiting the presence of the melodic, electric textures in the sake of long, keyboard-led soundscapes, which prevail throughout the track, acccompanied often by Gilbert Gandil's vocals.This one comes very close to CLEARLIGHT at moments, especially during the second part, which features jamming electric power next to some angular electronics.Overall its first part is pretty great with strong PINK FLOYD/GENESIS/CAMEL resemblances, while the second sounds just a bit directionless, even if the atmospheric outro with the impressive male chant-like voices is again beautiful.

The more balanced mix between Symphonic and Space Rock.Strongly recommended, the opening piece is absolutely great, the following one is pretty nice as well even if not that consistent.Approach with comfort...3.5 stars.