{"product_id":"heldon-stand-by","title":"Heldon - Stand By","description":"\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eOriginally released in 1979. \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eStand By was Heldon’s seventh and final album of the 1970s. Afterwards, Richard Pinhas focused on solo LPs before quitting music for around a decade. “It was the end of the tale,” he explains. “We decided to split for many reasons. The main one was that one or two of the other musicians wanted to stop. They were session musicians, mainly. At one point they said they didn’t have so much time to give. And it was a time when a lot of bands who had become reluctantly successful decided to split. It was a vision. It was stupid, but it was a vision. Split at the top, not waiting to go down.” \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eHeldon certainly went out on a high. Stand By’s mood remains urgent and gripping throughout, fashioned via immense synthesizer sounds, a plethora of interweaving drum patterns, spiralling guitar chops and lurching riffs. It’s been likened to krautrock, yet Pinhas never paid attention to the German scene. There are other similarities to parallel innovations that John Carpenter was making in the field of sci-fi\/horror soundtracks. The hazmat-suit-wearing figure on\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e Stand By’s cover could have starred in such a movie. \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe LP’s unearthly vocals were provided by Klaus Blasquiz of Magma. “He was a real friend,” says Pinhas. “We had a blues band together. We played the clubs for two years, without making albums. Then he joined Magma in 1969. My cousin is Stella Vander from Magma, so Christian Vander was my cousin-in-law. A lot of musicians from Magma came to Heldon, and vice versa. We were two bands that everybody hated because of the music we played. We didn’t do rock ’n’ roll. We didn’t do blues. Still, after fifty years they only remember bands like Magma and very few others.” \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eSpeaking in 2019, Pinhas sees only further global catastrophe around the corner. In the long run, this won’t necessarily be a bad thing. “Maybe humans can disappear and other species can come in,” he suggests. “It can be a new start for the planet, one without humans. Maybe plants instead? Your next interview, in two years’ time, will be with plants.” \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eWill these plants produce such wonderful music? We’ll have to wait and see. Stand by.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e  \u003ca data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003ecredits\u003c\/h3\u003e","brand":"South Records Ltd","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":39624913027153,"sku":"","price":23.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0342\/2497\/products\/a1611296808_10.jpg?v=1637750673","url":"https:\/\/www.southrecordshop.com\/products\/heldon-stand-by","provider":"South Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}