PYTHAGORAS

Dutch progressive rock band Pythagoras started out back in the late 1970's, and released two studio albums before calling it quits in 1984. The band has been resurrected however, first with key members Rene De Haan and Bob De Jong as the driving forces, and after De Jong passed way De Haan continues to create and release music under this band name. "Live at Pulchri" is Pythagoras' first ever live album, and was released through the band's label Correlated Music in 2019.

Pythagoras provides us with what one might describe as otherworldly sounding, eclectic oriented instrumental progressive rock on their first ever live album "Live at Pulchri". Often surprisingly easygoing and groove-oriented, but with plenty of finer details and expressive details and sections along the way. An album of creative, subtly-jazz-tinged instrumental progressive rock is the end result, and those who feel that this is a tantalizing description might just want to seek this album out.

'New Dutch progressive electronic, in the true meaning'

Rene De Haan (synthesizers and Mellotron) is the only founding member in the current Pythagoras line-up, because drummer Bob De Jong sadly passed away in 2011. Thanks to Bob (also owner of Moonlight Records where I was a regular) I met Rene, at the home of his parents, only a 5 kilometers away from my home in The Hague. His boys room was loaded with synthesizers, after his recommendations I bought a Roland Juno 106 synthesizer. Fifteen years later I met Rene again, at his studio- appartement in the center, he had become a professional artist. We did an interview for a Dutch prog magazine, about his time with Pythagoras. And now, almost 40 years after our first meeting, I found the new Pythagoras promo CD from Rene in my postbox, at my house on Aruba, now 5000 kilometers from Rene his home, but I received the CD within 2 weeks!

This live CD contains the final 79 minutes of a 3,5 hour concert from 2015, organized to celebrate the new website of fellow artist Ilja Walraven, and recorded at the place of his exhibition room in the legendary Dutch Pulchri. If you are familiar with the work of Pythagoras, the music on Live At Pulchri will surprise you, to say the least! Because Rene loves to do new and challenging things, and this time the music delivers progressive electronic music improvisations, on synthesizers and Mellotron (digital m4000d) by Rene and on a D-Robber Custom Looper (a self designed sample sequencer) by Rob Bobhof. The duo is backed by Peer Wassenaar on bass (once with Robbie Van Leeuwen in Galaxy-Lin) and Joshua Samson on drums and percussion, they deliver catchy beats, the one moment hypnotizing or pulsating, the other moment propulsive and dynamic. On these beats Rene and Rob improvise with soli and interplay, culminating in very adventurous musical moments. It sounds like a blend of electronic music with a variety of styles, from funk, dance and ambient to industrial and Berlin School synthesizer music.

Rene colours the music with lots of soli on his Roland JX8P synthesizer (often using the pitchbend, resulting in funky, freaky, funny and flashy sounds) and the unsurpassed Mellotron, I love the ominous psychedelic Mellotron violins sound in some tracks (evoking The Rolling Stones classic 2000 Years Light Years From Home), very exciting!

My highlights.

Part III Conundrum. First a swinging rhythm with a tight beat, Rene shines with a long solo: pitchbend driven and with a lot of echo, at some moments jazzy like Jan Hammer, at other moments freaky and experimental. The sequencing from Rob is outstanding, very special and adventurous. Then those Rolling Stones ominous psychedelic Mellotron violins, and a swelling sound with spectacular synthesizer flights. Finally lush Mellotron violins and choirs, majestic, blended with another pitchbend driven synthesizer solo.

Part IV Nightwatch. It starts with a spacey intro featuring experimental synthesizer sounds and drums, followed by a wonderful part with Mellotron choirs and sequencing, it sounds experimental and hypnotizing. After an improvisation on percussion gradually the music turns from hypnotizing into more dynamic, featuring spacey synthesizer runs, pulsating sequencing and ominous Mellotron violins. Finally bombastic eruptions, what a compelling climate, strong build-up and exciting finale, this is Pythagoras in its full splendor during this live CD!

If you are up to this new progressive electronic music, this is an album to discover! And check out the Internet for more words about this interesting and daring musical project, named Pythagoras and led by Rene De Haan, from The Hague.

Legendary Dutch record shop Moonlight Records was owned by the late drummer Bob De Jong. Here he started a conversation with a frequent visitor, 19 years old Ren�?�© De Haan (keyboards), they exchanged musical ideas and in the end founded Pythagoras. This duo released two albums, the cosmic Journey To The Vast Unknown from 1981 (it sold 5000 copies, thank to radio airplay) and After The Silence in 1982 (featuring Arjen Lucassen from Ayreon and Michel Van Wassem from Plackband, with the Mellotron M400). After a serie of concerts between 1983 and 1985 with keyboard player Pieter Courtens, there was an option for a third album but this didn't work out and Pythagoras disbanded.

Well, in 2011 Dutch label Correlated Music decided to release 1983-1985 Pythagoras music in a 'vinyl collector's wet dream': on a fold out double LP size, including 7, 10 and 12 inch vinyl and 2 CD's, this is the 500 copies Dutch limited edition , French progrocklabel Musea released it as a double CD I read. I got this Dutch vinyl version personally from Ren�?�© De Haan when I visited him a few years ago at his home/atelier (he is a designer) in the center of The Hague, for an interview with a Dutch progrock magazine. We knew each other because I had visited him in the early Eighties at the home of his parents (only a few kilometers from my home in The Hague) when he was 19. This in order to get a demonstration on his keyboards in his small boys room (Crumar Trilogy, Kawai 100F, Korg MS20, Roland VP330), unforgettable.

Back to the music, there is a difference between the cosmic first album and the more symphonic rock inspired second album. The difference between this third effort and the other two is even more obvious, what a lot of variety and how adventurous and experimental. Like Jingle Jangle Jungle and All Of The Answers featuring lots of sound effects. And in Sonic Mayhem Sucker Punch and A Notion Of Motion (Rollercoaster Daydream) the drum beat is tight and the keyboard sound pretty overwhelming. Many short tracks deliver sound collages. Remarkable is the fiery guitar work in songs of the final part of CD 2 (in my opinion live recorded).

For Pythagoras fans of the first two albums the most interesting compositions are Drama Queens For Teenage Idols (dreamy with an accordeon sound, soaring strings, fluent drums and a final part with organ), Floating Angel Blues For You (compelling Pink Floyd sounding symphonic rock featuring lush synthesizers), Start Here, Or, I Will Try To Explain (Gilmourian guitar runs) and the final track To Put Some Things In Practice (wonderful keyboards in the vein of Vangelis).

For die hard vinly collector's who are into prog, this is a must, the lay-out is also very special because Ren�?�© De Haan has designed it himself. About the music, "read my words", that is my conclusion about the music on this daring musical project and the stunning lay-out.

My rating: 3,5 star.

In case PA keep on mentioning zero social comments, this review has 2 social comments.

Pythagoras sophomore LP after the quite promising debut "Journey Through The Vast Unknown" (1980) was released from a major recording company, (the first one was an independent release. This time René de Haan decided to have more than just drummer Bob de Jong to help him out with After The Silence; in fact he had several musicians with "real" instruments to play his new compositions, like guitar, bass, violin and flute. Among the people who played the guitarist was a very young Arjen Lucassen (of Ayeron fame and several other side projects nowadays), who took a little time from his band Bodine to record his firs professional session.

The results are quite interesting, helped by the better production. The sound is still basically a mixture of electronic with a more "classic" prog rock vein. a bit like early Pink Floyd. In fact, After The Silence is far more conventional sounding than their debut, although the electronic element is very much the basis of most of the tunes. The violin and guitar solos gave Pythagoras music more variety and colors, but the music in general here ended up being more tentative than convincing to my ears. The songwriting here seems to be still a little green, but they were in the right direction as far as I can tell. Still, some parts are very good and it´s obvious that the project had a lot of potential. It´s really a shame they did not record a follow up. And, considering the time it was put out, it is really a feat they did even managed to have a major recording company backing it.

Listening today, I feel this CD to be really pleasant and interesting, Nothing to write home about, but good anyway. If you like electronic music mixed with traditional rock instruments you should try this one. Tangerine Dream did it better, but this one has its merits.

Rating: 3 stars.

The aftermath of ''Journey to the vast unknown'' was so strong a few thousand copies were additionally pressed to fullfill the needs of the requesting market.Towards a second album the duo of Rene de Haan and Bob de Jong worked in a more professional way.Guest musicians were recruited so the project could sound like a normal band, among them a young Arjen Anthony Lucassen on guitars and bass pedals and Plackband's keyboardist Michel van Wassem on Novotron (a variation of the Mellotron).Also Nick Blaser paricipated on violin, Martin Knaap on bass and Carolien Krul on flute.''After the silence'' was recorded between September and December 1981, released in 1982 and distributed by WEA in a clear move towards a better selling result.

The new Pythagoras album was split in seven movements, the first three capturing the first side of the LP.Unlike the expectations the production remains quite muddy, typical of an underground than a professional album, and the music is grounded in the field of Electronic Prog with obvious tendencies towards more symphonic textures.De Haan's spacey synthesizers are still the driving and undoubtful force, but the strong use of dual keyboard soundscapes like the Mellotron/synth combination and the intelligent use of downtempo guitars now remind a lot of PINK FLOYD or even compatriots FOCUS with a bit of KING CRIMSON in the more orchestral passages.The second side is more balanced and propably slightly better than the first.The fourth movement is a grandiose Electronic Prog opus, like the synths of KLAUS SCHULZE meet the ethereal Mellotron of TONY BANKS, while the fifth is characterized by the mournful opening violin work of Blaser, followed by an intense Orchestral Prog with guitars, keyboards and bass in the forefront, before the powerful, cinematic outro covers it all with de Haan's unbelievable work on Mellotron and synthesizers.The short sixth part is highlighted by Lucassen's melodic CAMEL-esque solo, giving birth to the peak of the album, the 6-min. long ''Grand finale''.Excellent balance between keyboards and guitars follow the flute-driven intro in a depressing movement, also including pessimistic violin tunes, but the result is absolutely wonderful.

To call this better than Pythagoras' debut is propably excessive, sure thing is ''After the silence'' is certainly a nice little pearl of Electronic/Symphonic Rock with an old-fasioned, irritating style.Warmly recommended.

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.

Dutch band PYTHAGORAS was formed around 1980 when drummer Bob De Jong hooked up with the young and aspiring keyboardist Rene De Haan, their self-released debut LP from 1981 hitting an unexpected nerve with the Dutch audience resulting in the initial pressing of 500 copies eventually expanded to 5000 copies sold and label interest from WEA. Following a slightly less successful second production and a few occasional live performances the band disbanded quietly, the release plans for a third installment never realized. Until 2011 that is, when the remaining material recorded back in the 1980's was given a lavish vinyl release courtesy of the band themselves, while Musea Records issued the CD version.

Pythagoras make a welcome return with this slightly reworked version of material recorded back in the first half of the 1980's. A production of interest to existing fans as well as keyboard and synthesizer aficionados in general, and those who have a deep affection for vinyl releases will also enjoy the lavish vinyl edition, where the album cover can be made into a triangular piece of exhibition art and the full package includes a single, an EP and an LP, in addition to the CD version of the album. The slightly deteriorated sound quality and the distinctly 80's electronic drums are the main drawbacks, nothing major, but at least in the case of the latter an element that will take a bit of effort to get familiar with.

Arjen Lucassen's debut album, no less.

Well, Pythagoras was not a band he dominated. His soaring guitars is present on two of the seven socalled movements here and I do not think he rate this album as one of his best albums. But we all have to start somewhere.

This is supposed to be a symphonic prog album, but do not get too carried away. This album is as much Genesis clone as I am a basking shark. The music is a mix of space rock, some folk rock, a healthy dosage of symphonic prog, some neo prog and a lot of krautrock. It is not a million miles away from Ayreon though and their fans should check out this album. This album is certainly spacy enough.

The main instruments are keyboards, violins and Arjen's guitar. There is no vocals here. The violins is used for creating a somber mood. The use of the violins here is excactly like My Dying Bride used violins on their more somber albums. I wonder if they got that idea from this album ?

The music is suffering from a bit too much sameness and the lack of variations. The music sometimes feels like funeral dirges and sometimes like the band is on too much LSD and experiences things the listeners cannot hear. But the music is generally good and a worthy listening session or two.

3 stars

Btw. Me too is very surprised that the Pythagoras albums has not been re-released by the many re-releases record labels. They most certainly deserves it and the inclusion of the Arjen Lucassen name/brand should make these investments risk free.

The one and probably only claim to fame of this album is that it features a very young Arjen Lucassen on guitar, somewhere around the same time he was putting his first licks down on vinyl with Bodine and well before he would hit the big time with his ongoing Ayreon. Otherwise this is largely a instrumental experiment in keyboard and synthesized progressive meandering that is kind of fun to listen to, but not particularly impressive or complex.

Lucassen’s guitar work here would appear to be heavily influenced by David Gilmour, although some of the heavier parts (and there aren’t many) wouldn’t be out of place on a Deep Purple album. There’s also some flute playing and violin, with the most prominent violin track being in the 3rd movement “Endless Hymn”, which I would also rate as the most impressive track. The 5th movement is also heavy on violin, but here the instrument competes with too many keyboards to be as effective as it is on the earlier track.

Other noteworthy instrumental passages include a synthesized choir section on the 4th movement played by Michel van Wassem on something called a Novotron. I’ve no idea what that is, but I assume it has circuit boards of some sort and a keyboard or two. Steve Hackett played one on ‘Spectral Mornings’, which is the only other time I’ve heard this instrument mentioned.

Lucassen makes his presence known on the 2nd movement, and then seems to take a back seat for the most part until the 6th movement, which is where he gets a bit heavier and more along the lines of Ritchie Blackmore with somewhat shorter sustains and more chord progressions than Gilmour was known for. At this point the music seems to take a turn away from space rock and more toward heavy prog, although the dominance of the various keyboards keep it from turning into a full-fledged hard rock album at any point.

The ‘Grand Finale’ 7th movement predictably emphasizes mellotron choir and violin after a brief rhythmic buildup, and a typically bombastic finale that ends abruptly to close the album.

I’m a little surprised this hasn’t been picked up by one of the major progressive reissue labels. The only place I know of to get it is from the Korean mini-LP company Media Arte, who released it earlier this year, most likely only because Lucassen’s name is in the credits.

This is a mildly interesting album if you’re into seventies keyboard-driven spacey prog, or if you want to hear what Lucassen sounded like before he hit the big time. Otherwise you probably won’t be too interested. The music is well done though, even if the production is a bit amateurish, so three stars is not overly generous. And that’s what we’ll go with for now.

peace

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.

www.progwalhalla.com