Heldon IV: Agneta Nilsson

AGNETA NILSSON, named after mainman Richard Pinhas' then-girlfriend, is widely considered the most experimental item in the Heldon catalog. Pinhas dazzles the ear with a monstrous assault of mellotron, mini-Moogs, electric guitars, and shuddering bass that projects images of the sort of music Stockhausen might have produced had he fronted a rock band.
The epitome of the album resides in the nearly 22-minute "Perspective IV." The track begins with Pinhas' quavering, Fripp-like intonations (who'd have thought that Crimson's RED would be so influential?), eventually giving way to a steaming cauldron of sequencer rock punctuated by Coco Roussel's dynamic percussion, Gerard Prevost's guttural basslines, and Pinhas' own meteoric guitar-storms. These must be the sounds of the universe collapsing into the ultimate black hole as the stars scream in decaying agony. And the listener sits in the starship's lounge, watching, in awe of it all.