This was Heldon's last studio release, although the reissued Rhizosphere CD includes a 1982 Heldon concert recording with slightly different personnel. Stand By features the classic trio lineup of the brilliant Francois Auger on percussion, Patrick Gauthier on keyboards and Pinhas on guitars, keyboards and electronics, with some additional assistance from Didier Batard on bass, Didier Badez on sequencers and Klaus Blasquiz doing voices. The two long pieces on the CD are an interesting contrast. The title piece starts with some nasty distorted fuzz guitar from Pinhas over ponderous, menacing bass and drums. King Crimson at its most aggressive could be considered a model, but this track is also very close to the so-called "zheul" sound of Magma, another French prog-rock band of the period, which shared Pinhas' interest in science fiction motifs, among other things…

Richard Pinhas, the founder of 70s progressive legends Heldon, is one of the most uncompromising artists on the international rock scene, having remained constantly innovative and true to his personal artistic vision for 40 years and some 35 full length releases. Oren Ambarchi is a guitarist, drummer and sound-artist who has performed and/or recorded with a huge array of artists, including Fennesz, John Zorn, Jim O'Rourke, Otomo Yoshihide, Evan Parker, Merzbow and others. Since 2004, he has worked with the avant-metal band Sunn O))), contributing to many of their releases and side- projects. The music on Tikkun, which consists of three very lengthy tracks, comes across as a very tasty cross between the heavy, synth-driven, sequencer beats of classic Heldon and the much more noisier aspects of Pinhas' work over the last decade.

Guitarist, ideologue and SF fanatic, Pinhas has influenced a wide assortment of contemporary musicians and electronic composers. Though primarily remembered for his uncompromising work with industrial rock pioneers Heldon, Pinhas' solo recordings are vital expressions of his own personal commitment to the intersection of rock with philosophy, science fiction, technology and revolutionary politics. Metatron finds Pinhas in relatively calmer waters than on previous solo efforts - though not without a few brain-searing guitar leads for which he's well known. But overall, the twelve pieces on Metatron show Pinhas' maturation as a composer of sound as opposed to a composer of songs…

Heldon's real excellence as a band is dramatically demonstrated with this fine recording. A dashing young left-wing intellectual, Richard Pinhas was something of a cult figure in his native France, or at least had the potential to be one, but he wisely rejected the role of rock & roll guitar hero with backing band, in favor of something much more interesting and radical. Patrick Gauthier on moog and Francois Auger on percussion had played with Pinhas on and off for the previous several years, and at this point they had developed into a solid sympathetic unit with a strongly rhythmic orientation. The intricate interlocking rhythms, created by percussion and several synthesizers, have a proto-techno quality at times, and suggest both the German group Can and, on at least one piece, early Ash Ra Tempel…

Heldon were one of the quintessential European progressive groups of the 70s. Led by Richard Pinhas they released 7 albums from 1974 to 1979. Some of this is the most mellow and spacey Heldon material, while other parts burn with a nasty intensity. "Allez Teia" (1975) was the second Heldon album - it features Pinhas' trademark instrumental sound: waves of distorted post-Frippian guitars, ARP synthesizers, VCS3, tapes and mellotron into a monstrous, swelling mania. Searing instrumental space music, bridging electronics & psychedelic guitar excess in unique & legendary fashion.

This album starts to take a different direction to the groups first three albums. Leader Richard Pinhas is not doing as much Fripp-inspired guitar playing as on other albums, but drumming and percussion is now more important than before. There is also more of a 'rock' feel to some of the songs. By incorporating more of a rock sound, Heldon doesn't try to streamline their sound but the complete opposite: it makes the music more aggressive and sinister sounding. The line-up is never consistent and other than Pinhas, the only really noteworthy name is keyboardist Patrick Gauthier, who was a member of Magma at the time.

This is one of Heldon's most impressive recordings. It offers the continuity of a group sound throughout, with Pinhas' keyboards and guitars supported by Francois Auger playing drums and percussion on most tracks, and additional assistance from Patrick Gauthier on moog synthesizers and either Didier Batard or Janick Top on bass. Stylistically, it's a great leap forward from previous Heldon releases, and much closer to the fusion jazz of Mahavishnu Orchestra, than to conventional psychedelic or prog-rock. The five pieces (one in both a live and a studio version) have no real melodies or themes; rather, they use simple patterns and chord sequences as guidelines, and let the musicians improvise around them…

Between 1974 and 1982, Frenchman Richard Pinhas recorded at least twelve LPs either under the Heldon name or his own, alternating between guitars and keyboards himself and accompanied by a variety of associates on guitars, drums and analog synthesizers. This double CD reissue includes Heldon's very first release, Electronique Guerrilla, and their third, It's Always Rock 'n' Roll (itself a double LP originally). These releases are sometimes referred to as Heldon I and Heldon III (Heldon II, otherwise known as Allez Teia, was recorded earlier in 1975). In spite of the rather aggressive album titles, these early recordings are mellow to the point of ambient, and inscrutably (or perversely), there's very little music in the entire program which would be considered rock & roll by any stretch of the imagination…