Heldon - Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale. 1976. 11=11.  I picked up all the Heldon’s on Japanese mini-LP recently and embarked on a full overview for Gnosis. I didn’t get any further than the fourth album and stopped – that was back in October. No reason, just ran out of words. What’s interesting so far is that each album has been bumped up a point. More and more, and even though I’ve owned all the Heldon albums since the 1980s, I find myself attracted to their sound. There’s just something about the tortured guitar over the rigorous Moog synth lines that I find highly appealing. The middle two tracks on this set of 4 are a bit too cling-clangy for my tastes and are the barrier for this album’s promotion. But the bookends are really special – something Pinhas would exploit further on the last two outings. Two bonus cuts are raw outtakes of the best side of Heldon, thus skewing the grade upwards, but I don’t count bonus tracks in the grades unless a separate entry.

La Maschera di Cera – s/t. 2002. 11=11. Probably the most overtly retro of the current wave of Italian progressive rock groups. La Maschera di Cera are from the Zuffanti factory of groups and have been quite successful for the two I’ve heard (missing only the new one). I know the drumming has been called out as a weakness, but fortunately it isn’t bothering me, as I find the focus more on sound texture and atmosphere verse technical gymnastics (either one are a trait of the classic 70s Italian scene). Probably if I had a beef, it would be the flute is too buried in the mix and doesn’t sound “crisp”. Close your eyes, and it still doesn’t sound like the 1970s. Nothing wrong with that, just need to set the right expectation. Vocalist turns in a fine performance (naturally, and thankfully, sung in Italian). Fuzz bass, mellotron and organ will always score points in my book. No classic, but LMdC still received an A-list status with this debut.

Jenghiz Khan - Well Cut. 1970. 8=8. Jenghiz Khan was one of the first “real” rarities I traded for in the 1980s, in the era when you could still wheel and deal with other hungry collectors. It wasn’t an auspicious start for me. And off it went quickly for something more to my tastes at the time. This Belgian group was hyped as a heavy UK progressive band – which to me meant Yes and ELP not what the term meant to collectors (Warhorse, Steel Mill, Odin, Ashkan, Elias Hulk, etc…) I would years later appreciate where the collectors (most were considerably older than me at the time) were coming from. And sure enough, this revisit paints the group as an electric blues outfit, with fuzzy guitar and an occasional progressive move (theme / dynamic / meter change). Last track is by far the best and most innovative. Even with the lowered expectation, this one is under the bar, and is merely average on the whole.