One of his best albums and his last great one. I don't think the majority of what he did after this comes close. Still good music just not as exciting as this one. The 1-2-3 knockout of Picture Music - Timewind - Moondawn is some of the best electronic music ever. For the first time Klaus uses the "big Moog" he bought from Florian Fricke(Popol Vuh) back in 1972/73. There is drumming here, but unlike Picture Music, Schulze is not behind the drumkit. Wallenstein drummer Harold Grosskopf does the job on both side-long epics.
I like how Schulze uses percussion as added texture to his music. Unlike Tangerine Dream, who usually just wanted the drummer to keep a beat when they used one. The drums are also pushed back in the mix so they never steal attention from the keyboards. I'm used to an older CD version which has about 30 seconds or so taken off the end of each piece. It was also re- mixed with some keyboard overdubs added.
"Floating" has The Lord's Prayer spoken in Latin or German at the beginning. I like the 'floating' voices you hear. The drumming starts off rather subdued. After 10 minutes a techno-before- techno beat appears. After 15 minutes there is some nice soloing on synth. 17 1/2 minutes there is some great drumming and another cool synth solo. Things get more intense before it starts to calm down at the end. "Mindphaser" begins with the sound of waves. Then a long ethereal section. It gets louder and more intense. I love when the drums come in about halfway thru with the organ; this part reminds me of Pink Floyd for some reason. Love the synth solo that starts before 14 minutes. Near the end there is lots of bubbling sequencers. At 24 1/2 minutes the drumming stops and we are left with ethereal soundscapes.
The drumming and organ gives this album a more organic feel. I rarely like albums which are 100% synthetic. It's nice to add some non-electric or non-electronic instruments to spice things up. One of Schulze's best albums and a good introduction to his work too. Just don't expect lots of drums on his other albums.
With Timewind, Klaus comes as close to perfection as he will ever, as his music has now reached perfection after still searching itself in Blackdance. As usual Klaus handles every instrument himself and the album clocked almost one hour, which was unheard of for a single vinyl disc back then.Adding to the perfection of this electronic space/cosmic rock music is the awesome Dali-esque artwork on this superb gatefold, where the innerfold's illustration is even more spectacular than the outerfold.
The beauty of this music is that (as with previous albums), it was recorded live on a 2-track Revox as a master machine. The opening track Bayreuth is named after the street where Edgar Froese and Schulze had their "studio" (actually an ex-barbershop store), and it is an epic and plunges you into a dreamland where vestal virgins abound to your feet as the music becomes the drug that gets you hooked. Klaus is pursuing the exploration of the Moog's possibilities with this album, but Timewind is absolutely not experimental, IMHO. Both composition are so well written and arranged that despite the still new and groundbreaking soundscape developed by Klaus and TD, it is completely accessible to a wide public and it is sufficiently romantic to be used as cuddling music without the proghead having to put up with these insufferable female-aimed love songs.
Wannfried is filling the flipside, but remains sonically close to its companion track. I think Klaus decided that a bit of humour was needed on this album and he chose to dedicate the album to Wagner, which of course is hilarious as the pompous and bombastic classical composer is completely at odds with the low-key floating and aerial electronic music Klaus was known for at that time. Anyway, Wannfried is at least as good as Bayreuth is.
This already fantastic album lasting almost one hour - this was much appreciated by fans to have to change the next vinyl side in more or less half an hour rather than stopping his girlfriend fondling every quarter an hour or so ? this type of music was quite suited for get involved deeper. But in the second half of the 00's, Klaus remastered and repackaged his early discography, and this album comes with three tracks to fill a second disc. Three tracks (only), but an almost 39 minutes Echoes Of Time track, that seems to be an evolution of the music Bayreuth. Ditto for the 12-mins+ Solar Wind, another (shorter) version of Bayreuth. However the shorter Windy Times is sonically fairly different, louder and more abrupt, than both the original album and the other bonus tracks, but it is a remake of the the album theme recorded in 2000. Not only that, but the album came out in a mini-Lp format on the Japanese label Arcangelo and this version is most likely the definitive version of this masterpiece of Kosmische muziek.
Schulze's first true expression of his classic sequencer style (Blackdance was a step toward it, but it still relied heavily on the organ and Mellotron tones of his first two albums), and easily worthy of the attention given his more popular subsequent releases. The sound is stripped down from the shadowy haze of before, but the reduced instrumentation never sounds inadequate; Schulze's talent for atmosphere is as clear on this album as ever. And the music itself, even at this early stage, is some of his most engaging work ever.
The first side, "Totem", is absolute brilliance. There are only about three or so melodic lines playing at any given point - and on the monophonic synthesizers of the day, no chords to speak of - but they're executed masterfully. The main voice is a drippy, echoing tone that sounds about twenty years ahead of its time, the kind of sound that you'd expect from Autechre or Aphex Twin in the mid-'90s (!), picking out a dark, jagged theme that matches it perfectly, with muted moans and whistles ominously backing it. Analyzed and written out, it comes off as somewhat sparse, but the tones are chosen and mixed to maximum effect - the music's atmosphere is disproportionately vast, bringing up images of the lightless life at the floor of an ocean trench, or maybe astronauts at the edge of their life support against the black void of deep space. It is structured, building into fullness, then rising into a heavy climax before trailing off in a weary coda, but that atmosphere is never compromised by these developments. It's funny that Schulze would wait until now to call his work "picture music", given that impressions and images had always been his main focus, but the phrase is hardly undeserved.
After "Totem", "Mental Door" is a bit of a letdown, but it's still great. It's Schulze jamming against himself, blazing Moog lines fighting manic drumming (his first recorded performance on the kit since Electronic Meditation and sounding none too friendly after being pent up for five years), and this works for and against the album. For, because this kind of energy is always welcome, especially as a counterpoint to the hanging menace of the first side, but against, because after emerging from its foggy introduction, it abandons any hint of atmosphere in favor of that energy, which is disappointing coming from a musician like Schulze. (He'd eventually get both together for X's "Friedrich Nietzsche" and "Frank Herbert", putting this song's one-sidedness into further perspective.) But what Schulze does here he does to the fullest, never once letting up for the entire jam, and never forgetting to keep things varied and interesting. (His coolest trick is to punctuate it every once in a while with a sustained keyboard note while bashing out a straight rhythm on the cymbals; the effect is a bit like the appearances of the little electric piano motif in Miles Davis's "Spanish Key", but aggressive instead of amiable.) When the end eventually comes, it releases the jam's mounting tension in a final cymbal crash and high note (tragically not quite synchronized, but I don't see how Schulze could have fixed that in a tape edit without bringing the rest of the ending out of sync) before settling into a relaxed, fulfilled coda, closing out the album.
It's understandable that Picture Music has something of a low profile among Schulze albums, lacking Timewind's lushness or X's scale (or even the cult appeal of Irrlicht and Cyborg), and generally denied its rightful historical significance in favor of Blackdance ever since the chronology was resolved, but it'll always be a favorite of mine. Hopefully, someday, people will give it its due.
This often overlooked early gem by electronic music pioneer Klaus Schulze was eclipsed too soon by the international success of "Timewind" in 1975, and after more than thirty years still suffers unfair comparisons to the later album (even in the new "Blackdance" CD booklet). Which is a shame, because there's more to this album besides the eerie Salvador Dali-inspired surrealism of its cover art, again by Swiss designer Urs Amann.
"Blackdance" was Schulze's third solo effort (not his fourth, as some fans believe: see the FAQ page of his official web site for clarification), but it represents a milestone of sorts as his first album to use actual synthesizers. And the music departs from other electronic soundscapes of the period by employing some gorgeous acoustic 12-string guitar, played by Schulze himself, and (briefly) borrowing the operatic baritone of Ernst Walter Siemon, recorded years earlier while the singer was rehearsing some Verdi.
The album also has more rhythmic zip than expected, providing a not unwelcome change of pace after the somber industrial drones of "Irrlicht" and "Cyborg". There's a surprising array of (again, acoustic) percussion, likewise all played by Schulze, who keep in mind began his musical career as a drummer, first for the embryonic TANGERINE DREAM, and later in ASH RA TEMPLE.
It's true there isn't much variation or development over the length of each track, and Schulze was certainly fond of longer tracks, wasn't he? And all the various shakers and tablas are played with enough metronomic precision to be easily mistaken for programmed electronics. But the album is, after all, titled "Blackdance", not "Black Contemplation", and the sometimes relentless grooves (20+ minutes long in oices of Syn") actually anticipate by more than two decades the hypnotic techno-trances of the next millennium.
By itself, the 1974 album probably deserves no more than three solid stars. Certainly there's far richer music in Schulze's back catalogue. But the 2007 Revisited Records CD reissue supplements the original disc with top-notch packaging (photos, essays), and a pair of bonus tracks which easily push the extended album into four-star territory.
The two extra tracks were recorded in (possibly) 1976, and belatedly given the somewhat dismissive titles "Foreplay" and (I kid you not) "Synthies Have (No) Balls?" Both actually work in tandem, beginning with what sounds like the ominous whine of an air raid siren. It's an appropriate introduction to the 25+ minute blitzkrieg that eventually follows: a frontal assault of mechanized Krautrock mayhem, not unlike a sneak attack by a panzer tank at full throttle, with Schulze furiously working his drum kit.
The composer himself recalls nothing about the music, probably recorded on the spur of a now long-forgotten moment and never meant for commercial release. But together they add a satisfying coda to the otherworldly raga of the preceding tracks, ending an album too long disregarded (even by its author) with an unexpected and very loud bang.
KLAUS SCHULZE, one of the most illustrious exponents of the kraut-electronic musical current, was born on the 4th of August 1947, right in Berlin, the heart of the entire action. Before getting to know him as a master of electronic music, Schulze proved to be a skillful and talented young musician (with studies in modern composition at the Berlin University), hard to recognize (nowadays, perhaps) in the underground scene of the 60s. He first of all learned to play the guitar, starring afterwards in several bands as a bassist or a percussionist. His evolution in these ensembles can't be considered essential, still shows the consistency of moving up ahead: from the Düsseldorfian dance group Les Barones and cover-bands frenzied about Rolling Stones to the rock group Psy Free and, finally, to the moment when, from being invited by Edgar Froese to perform as a guest in his band, covering for the absence of the original drummer(I don't know if we're talking yet of Tangerine Dream, perhaps it actually concerns The Ones), he became a full, "registered" member of the group. TANGERINE DREAM's debut, though mainly a first solid album launched three years after the band (or the concept of it) started to form, is Electronic Meditation, the only one including Klaus Schulze. In a nebulous, experimental work, noisy and stoned, such as this one, the best thing we can notice is how Schulze adds flavor and intensity, through hallucinating percussion cliques, to a music that's anyway minimalistic, chaotic and instinctual.
Immediately after his singular appearence in Tangerine Dream (there's a mention about a similar guest appearence in AMON DÜÜL II, in a 1969 concert) - a specific moment turning out to be just as unique in TD's music - the next big step for Schulze is founding the band called ASH RA TEMPEL, together with two other young masters of that time, Manuel Göttsching and Hermut Enke. The boys bought equipment that was very similar to that used by Pink Floyd, a super-band for which the three had, apparently, a special affectio. The Ash Ra Tempel debut is however much more "drenched", being a stimulating example of kraut-rock, on the space, slow experimental, acid side. Many concerts follow afterwards. Schulze leaves though again after just one year, due to some disagreements about orienting towards blues, a style in whose popularity Schulze couldn't recognize himself. Although Ash Ra Tempel don't visibly slip towards that style which was desired by the other two founding musicians, it seems, anyway, that the album on which Schulze contributed is one of the band's best, if not actually the top one. Göttsching and Enke stick to Ash Ra Tempel for the next years, Schulze making a return only in 1973, in a "reunion album" called Join Inn, which is good, although perhaps arriving too late, after Seven Up, branded clearly by Göttsching, Enke and Timothy Leary, that's superior in every way. Instead, once stepping outside Ash Ra Tempel, Klaus Schulze is closer than ever to electronic music, which is exactly the next, "progressive" step, done by most "kraut-rockers", soloists or not. The electronic music of the renowned Berlin School (or, perhaps more broadly, of the German cult) flourishes powerfully, and Schulze is in the front line, subscribing to the current.
Many could imagine how the move from playing guitars, drums and bass towards using synthesizers and the pure electronic mechanics happened, so we shan't meditate at all over how Schulze created his universe of instruments and techniques (from the first synthesizer to the great Moog, up in 1974 or 1975), we can more likely cover the music itself. A first phase, composed of two albums that don't sound at all like initiating works but, on the contrary, unimaginably hard and minute, keep Schulze in the space-kraut-acid zone, much alike Tangerine Dream having quit their "underground expressionism" and bringing forth immediately cosmic, abyssal, electro-psychedelic and tensioned music. Schulze stays under contract with the Ohr label, releasing in 1972 Irrlicht, a drone album, tough and impersonal, experimental and processed at the same time. Bomb number 2 is dropped one year later - and we're talking about Cyborg - a monumental double-album, in which the same rough drone language has, this time, a more mechanical, robotic, metallic, somewhat lifeless, still intense and severely hallucinating sense. Out of personal experience, I can comment that the first album is a hostile one, the finale of the Satz:Ebene epic being a compressed apocalypse for the human ears, whilst Cyborg is even more of a challenge, given the force of four epics that exceed 20 minutes and adopt, separately, four expressions, rhythms and agressive atmospheres from the same machined and hard-hitting style.
Schulze eases on the drone style after these two works, although the same happened to many groups of the fresh electronic genre. The valences of the synth music are fully discovered, attenuating, as we could critically say, the old psycho-acid art. Schulze steps from Ohr and Brain to Island. Picture Music is announced in some places (including the official site) as the third album, dating 1974, while in other places (including...the official site!!) it is counted as the fourth, released in 1975. Nothing to comment if the first mentioned order is the good one, but in the spirit of evolution, Blackdance actually preserves some dark flavor, while Picture Music is mellow. In fact, this album has nothing special whatsoever, soaking a lot of expressionistic electronic sound with the repeatability that inspires reveries, hallucinations; worse, though, is that both of the album's epics come from the same material, which is really dull. Looking back (or forward?!) to Blackdance, here recitative vocals are introduced, an element sure to displease the electronic purists, though a lot less controversial than Cyclone by Tangerine Dream, four years later, or even unremarkable in comparison with, I should say, the total transcend into songs, regardless of styles, made by Ash Ra Tempel, when they introduced the famous Rosi. Anyway, though, Blackdance contains some savoring percussions, dark electronic "sequences", plus has a more special piece, called Voices Of Syn.
During this period, it can be mentioned that Schulze contributed, as a collaborator, in the works of other artists such as SERGIUS GOLOWIN, WALTER WEGMÜLLER and especially THE COSMIC JOKERS, aka the band that in a single year, and after a lot of LSD, came with a fabulous sequence of kraut-rock albums, easy to rate from incredible to miserable. Schulze's involvement in CODE III's sole album is a bit bigger, that brave experimental record having a bit of "electronic pattern" easily creditable to him. In 1975, Schulze's biography reminds us that he produced two albums of FAR EAST FAMILY BAND, a group which included KITARO, a much more simplistic and "aroma-therapeutic" future electronic soloist.
The year 1975 is, though, grand for Schulze's solo music, as much as it was a referential year for electronic by and large, composing Timewind, doubtlessly among his three fundamental creations. The album receives the French prize "Grand Prix International", in detriment of Edgar Froese's own nominated solo of that year, Epsilon In Malaysian Pale. Bayreuth Return and Wahnfried 1883 are unmistakably popular references and, most likely, any big Schulze fan can comment upon them on the spot. The sequencing is soft, hidden, glacial, much like how it sounds in Rubycon by the Tangs (and, off-topic, I often find enough similarities between that band's evolution and Schulze's own, inside the 1972-1975 years); meanwhile, the space-synth atmosphere utterly dominates, not at all fevered or dry, but in true ambient, ethereal forms. There's already a noticeable conceptual affectio for Wagner, a thing that's under no circumstances incidental. The impulse towards Nietzsche will arise soon enough too. If the first piece contains dynamics, the second side of the album is in a complete gassy state, gathering sounds, effects, impressions and "inner voices".
In 1976, Schulze releases Moondawn, following the same cosmic, synth-loaded style. He also releases the soundtrack for an erotic film called Body Love, a score that's not to be missed, especially for its sequence-loaded epic P.T.O., which sounds absolutely stunning. In this period, Schulze joines the big project led by Stomu YAMASH'TA, Steve Winwood and Michael Shreeve, Go, the album itself, plus a beautiful live, Go Live From Paris, being released that year.
977 is again a year of reference, thanks to the second album of, most likely, the top three: Mirage, an album that's belissimo, and in which the synthesizing, sequential and ambient-marked electronic touches unbelievable expressions. After a non-vertebrate Velvet Voyage, aerial and yet sunken in an encumbered ambiance, Crystal Lake is of great interest, with a polyphonic sequence that brings more alike percussion - bells and xylophones - and leaves you breathless. Also in 1977, Schulze launched Body Love Vol.2, as good as the first one.
1978 is perhaps, in the view of the majority, the last major year for Schulze's electronic Berlin-school music, when he releases a conceptual (programmatic, I'd say) and ambitious X, considered an electro-symphonic work thanks to the adding of a string orchestra and through the seductive sound of the cello, mastered by Wolfgang TIEPOLD. Many memorable things in this third essential album, starting off directly with Friedrich Nietzsche, where the combination of sequences and percussion (played by Harald GROSSKOPF, member of ASHRA that time around) is tumultuous, continuing with the short Georg Trakl, where the repeated rhythm solely crowns the moment, then with Friedmann Bach and Heinrich von Kleist, dark-ambient pieces. Ludwig II von Bayern combines an elaborate ambient-symphonic start with a 10-minute long soft and "langsam" endless repetitive, variation-less vibrato (challenging as a listen, as it's perhaps just a tough moment to survive, or much more, such as a musical moment in which you have to look inside simplicity and stagnation and break their teasing spell). Anyway, at the end, in comes Grosskopf with the drums, making the finale a fantastic one.
Starting with Dune, from 1979, Schulze creates his own label, IC. The album itself, the only one that year, is beautiful, dark-ambient, matching up with the desert loneliness from Arrakis, but developing much more music-derived sentiments, through the weep of the cello (the same Tiepold playing it) on the first part ("side") and with Arthur BROWN's lyrics on the second one. The great Brown becomes a friend and a collaborator of Klaus Schulze even since 1977, though it results, from more selected recordings, that the two didn't approach a fantastically rich repertoire at all. Important remains the already mentioned Dune, as well as possibly Time Actor, the first album of the RICHARD WAHNFRIED set, a side-project launched by Schulze that's far from the glow of his "own products"(?!), still makes you look into certain collaborations with certain big names: Brown, Tiepold, Shrieve, Michael Garvens and...Santana, as rumored! Time Actor is, very likely, one of the two better albums released under Wahnfried.
In 1980 we finally get an official live, called just like that: ...Live..., the recordings from 1976, in Berlin, and 1979, in Amsterdam and France (later, during the 90s, Schulze & manager & co. will get back on their classic database of concert recordings, stretching from 1974 up in 1979-80, issuing them in huge box-sets). The music is fantastic, a piece to try being the mega-saurus Sense, that lasts 50 minutes and is charged with A-class sequences.
If the rhythms of this kind, from this live, sound suspiciously open towards a more commercial (or, anyway, light-dynamic) electronic, nothing compares to the upcoming pleiade of beats and synthes from the 80s, years in which many classic bands faint for good, a thing that Schulze can't be accused of, even if his music isn't as good as back in the old great days anymore. Dig It (1981) adventures with prejudice into electro-digital, registering only here and there a combo of ambiance and synth-pop. Trancefer (1982) makes us suffer with the same uninspired stagnation that, in the middle of a full career explosion, Picture Music presented, but it's generally more experimental and concentrated. Things arrive to Audentity (1983), a double album that means and secludes a lot, including an avant-garde piece called Sebastian Im Traum. Besides this, one more work, a soundtrack actually, titled Angst, is released in 1984, sounding diffuse and simple, but having a dark color, with a pop expression that's, after all, electronic.
We stop to mention two new Richard Wahnfried albums, the rock-oriented Tonwelle and the disastrous Megatone. Schulze also collaborates with RAINER BLOSS, coming with Drive Inn, Bloss being also mentioned in the live album that samples a tour in Poland from 1984, Dzekuje Poland, though not even to this day I don't get what's Bloss's big contribution, since the music that's played is by Schulze, and Schulze plays it. Released in 1984 are also Aphrica, reuniting the efforts of Schulze, Bloss and Ernst Fuchs, an excruciating miscarriage, plus Transfer Station Blue, an album oriented towards synths + guitars, done together with the Shrieve brothers, something reminding of Ashra and sounding nice 'n' easy.
Schulze can yet again be accused of having stepped too hard into electro-pop when he creates Inter*Face, in 1985, but his next work, Dreams, is remarkably profound, consenting to refined electronic programming and containing an eclectic-ambient epic. A fourth Richard Wahnfried, Miditation, finally sounds more like good Schulze music, going on ambient and old-stuff.
At the end of the 80s, Schulze launches a very interesting conceptual album with Andreas GROSSER, titled Babel, a 60 minutes epic in three big parts, given the concentrated, sequential repetition of the themes, plus releases his own 23th solo album, En=Trance, very consistent. Shockingly, he is a co-producer for Alphaville! This is a period of many interviews, retrospectives, limited edition samples and other diverse stuff. After disbranching of the independent labels IC and Inteam, a return to Brain is made.
The next decade debuts both awkwardly, with an annoying Miditerranean Pads, and very good actually, given a new studio/live combo, The Dresden Performance, which is a hard listen but also tells you a lot about Schulze's new idea of a style: I don't know if it's globally acknowledged as "sampling", but anyway that's how I always call it, because it brings out the collage of sounds, mixes, voices and effects of all sorts, all paving a full way of expression and artistic experiment, a heavy alternative to the banal "digi-sequencer" dynamics and to the so-simply melodic, New-Age or ambient music. Almost every album up until 1996 - Beyond Recall (1991), Royal Festival Hall Vol.1 & 2 (1992), The Dome Event (1993), Das Wagner Desaster (1994) and the massive In Blue (1995) (with Göttsching as a guest, playing guitars) - are "sampling" albums - launched by Virgin, except the last two, which are released udner XYV, a private label, I think. From my point of view, in a really retro or new-age-y decade, what Schulze has chosen for his music keeps in mind artistic, representative, sometimes weird and othertimes insinuating valences, even if it's not the best music to follow up with or understand.
Less valorous albums of this period are the Moulin de Daudet soundtrack, though miniaturist, the electro-opera Totentag, flawed in its depth, and especially the transpositions from Goes Classic, where Schulze really hits a low, achieving nothing by comprising the essence of classical music works in the shallow variety of keyboards, MIDIs, Moogs and others. All these three were released in 1994!
Since 1993, Schulze collaborates with PETE NAMLOOK, a modern exponent of the eclectic electronic music, creating the mega-project Dark Side Of The Moog, that stretches so far to 11 albums. This style of project-music belongs more to Namlook, yet Schulze perceptibly contributes in the music, although tasting forbidden stylistic fruits such as techno and environmental. The project is tangently programmatic by paraphrasing a lot of works by Pink Floyd, as the name of the project(=of the album titles) suggests itself.
A sense of daringness is manifested in this period with the release of two box-sets, each made out of 10 CDs filled with music till the very last minute! Silver Edition is a fastidious incursion in more "sampling" works of the 90s, meant more for an expert than for a novice, culminating with the biggest concept epic ever, Picasso geht spazieren, that overall sums 160 minutes; the Edition also offers, however, two sessions of Berlin electronic music, extracted from 1975-6 concerts, plus from older recordings, dating back to 1972. The third CD, Was War Vor Der Zeit, is superb, highlighting great music from the mid 70s. Two years later, in 1995, Historic Edition is released, very inspired in offering, this time, an incursion into the pure, self-referenced as Golden Age concerts and compositions.
Schulze's next stylistic mutation is also his most commercial, as he finally leans on trance-techno clear variations and on electric-infused music, alike "dub" and "dance" (sometimes). Are You Sequenced? is a pretentious, virtual-centric double-album, while Dosburg Online is surprisingly more acclaimed, though, in a true sense, weak. But anyhow, summing all the official albums, we've reached Schulze's 80th album!
Three Wahnfried albums from the 1994-1997 period don't rehabilitate the modest quality of the side-project, Trancellation being a dangerous lick of trance-dance, Trance Appeal being artistic, but lacking any..."appeal", so that only Drums 'n' Balls is, in a late hour, the good-rate fusion of trance, ambiance, new-age and mixes, sounding relaxing, typical, nice.
A third box-set, Jubilee Edition, is released in 1997, marking, indeed, 25 years of solo career with...25 albums, which cover everything! Sure, we can talk already about exaggerations, but the essential is that every Edition, in its own way, uncovers facts about how much music Schulze truly composed, in 25 years, even if sometimes relying purely on stereotypes and programmed sounds, from the beginning. The level of the schulzerian art isn't reduced, this way, to just concrete albums, but to music composed/recorded tirelessly, for all tastes, inspired in deep steps or born out of simple impulses and experimentall results.
The Trailer compilation, from 1999, is solid, but basically announces the launch of The Ultimate Edition, the compilation of all compilations and the box-set of box-sets, one year later, all the 45 albums from the previous three Edition being re-issued, the extra thing consisting of 5 new CDs, one of them offering "alternative versions" to the classics Friedrich Nietzsche and Georg Trakl from X, both longer than the original. An excellent recording, under any circumstance!
The taste for huge compilations doesn't stop here, but, true, tempers, when two new Editions of (just [sic!]) 10 CDs each, called Contemporary Works, bring color in Schulze's activity from 2000, respectively 2002. The difference is, however, that Schulze already thinks in terms of present music, offering a new millennium style, which can largely be described as modern ambient, trance and meditational.
In 2000, the ASH RA TEMPEL reunion takes place, with a live adn a studio being released (Gin Rosé + iendship); it isn't at all surprising that Schulze and Göttsching agreed on adopting a modern-ambient largo language, because both worked on this style during the same contemporary period (Göttsching released Die Mulde). The live is of a good quality, while the studio can divide its listeners. They're, nonetheless, of the same caliber, no matter from what perspective you look upon them.
In modern tempo, Schulze plays his own live concerts too, releasing the double offer Live@KlangArt Vol.1 and Vol.2, music that's generally very good. A new studio, long awaited, is Moonlake, unfortunately it inspires an artistic coldness, affecting especially the marks of sophisticated, modern ambient and sequencing.
Major health issues push forward a hiatus, sort of, from 2004 to 2007, Schulze being even forced to stay away from the stage. A massive re-release of the previous official albums kicks off, under the Revisited Records SPV brand, a banal act, if the beauty of it wouldn't consist of original bonus tracks, taken out of the archives almost every time. Right now, almost all the official albums have been actualised, a thing that practically doubles the collection of old fans & experts or refreshes, effectively, the offer for those who are just discovering (or want to discover) this music. A bit more arguable, for me, is decomposing the previous Contemporary Works collections into individual albums (Vanity Of Sounds, The Crime Of Suspense, Virtual Outback, Ballett 1-4 so far), although the original box-sets were, indeed, all!, limited.
Klaus Schulze finally came back with new music though in 2007, releasing acclaimed Kontinuum, where the feeling of old 70s is precious, but there's also modern music, with more attention given to details and outlines, with more richness implemented in the essences and dynamics, making out of the album something worthy.
2008 was equally inciting, first off with the unexpected 11th Dark Side Of The Moog (done, of course and as always, together with Namlook). In addition to a random compilation (Muting The Noise), another round of re-release focuses this time on rearranging and offerring once more the valuable but ended materials from the Editions, in a cycle of compilations titled La Vie Electronique.
But even bigger and better than expected ended up to be the collaboration with singer Lisa GERRARD (ex-Dead Can Dance), whose primary result was Farscape, a double-album presentation from what both artists called a serie of long, valuable, ad-lib improvisations, with a primarily mutual and ultimately surreal level of artistic expression. The album resorts to a languid ambient enclosure. What's truly grand about this collaboration is the follow-up (though not connected in any obvious way) Rheingold, foremost a testimony of Schulze's grand return to concerting (within the Lorelei summer festival), while assuredly an extremely-well received and incredible to hear electronic exposé, shrouded in the mysticism of the concept, and the deep aura and surround to which Schulze capably resumes, most of elegantly, preeminently. The more operatic, absorbing, impassioned and ensorcelled vocal poems done together with Gerrard represent themselves, almost beyond doubt, the real peak of the kind of matching artistry and vital essence that was sought after. This Lorelei concert was also released on DVD, Schulze's arguably first ever, completing the experience with a biographical story and interviews. The collaboration continues to this date, its fruits being apparently well savoured. Dzekuje Bardzo-Vielen Dank (2009), as a third release of this kind, is of the same ambitious caliber (if tad less profound and spot-on), highlighting two concerts in Poland and Germany. The touring fever itself hasn't yet gone cold - and the same can be said about Schulze's sparkling enthusiasm.
The title of KLAUS SCHULZE's 1972 debut album translates, perversely, as "Will o' the Wisp", an ironic tag for some of the purest, most powerful noise ever recorded.
SCHULZE was of course a founding member of both TANGERINE DREAM and ASH RA TEMPLE, a Krautrock drummer in those days but with higher aspirations. So he traded his drum kit for a small roomful of primitive synthesizers, and proceeded to wage war on the more polite strain of meditative electronic music then coming into vogue.
Keep in mind this was during the age (at least in Germany) of the big cosmic drone: think of TD's "Zeit", recorded in the same year but sounding nowhere near as sophisticated as their ex-drummer's first solo effort. The album is subtitled "Quadraphonic Symphony for Orchestra and E-Machines", but SCHULZE was no RICK WAKEMAN (thank God), and his orchestra couldn't hope to compete against the sustained hum of his generators during the awe-inspiring 29-minute opening track. It goes way beyond the limits of a simple drone: this is ambient music for titans.
Imagine yourself attending a formal concert hall symphony. The woodwinds and strings are quietly tuning; the conductor is approaching the podium.when out of the ether some sort of otherworldly buzz gradually begins to overwhelm the auditorium, fading in and out, while the hapless musicians try in vain to play through it. That's the experience of "Ebene, Gewitter (Energyrise-Energycollaps)", before the track surrenders to a mind-bending, monster movie organ, played loud enough to scare away even the toughest headbanger, and about as far removed from New Age navel-gazing as synthetic music can get without threatening your sanity.
The remainder of the album (another 21+ minutes, very generous in its original vinyl format, but it needs to be heard on CD) is no less frightening, but on a much quieter level. "Exil Sils Maria" is music for contemplating the void, the soundtrack to an endless alien abyss recalling the cyclopean vistas of an H.P. Lovecraft cosmology.
These days, the popularity of serious electronic music is in direct proportion to its level of discernable melody: witness the very mixed reactions in this forum to the often amorphous, groundbreaking work of the earliest TANGERINE DREAM. Be forewarned, the 25-year old KLAUS SCHULZE was crossing the same sonic terra incognita, although his subsequent, sequencer-laced efforts were (not unlike the later TD) more easily accessible.
Final verdict: this is ideal Halloween music for misanthropes who hate trick-or-treaters. It's should be one of the cornerstones of any well-rounded electronic music library, but I wouldn't recommend the album to borderline manic-depressives for late night headphone relaxation.
01. The Song Remains the Same 02. The Rover (introduction) / Sick Again 03. Nobody's Fault But Mine 04. In My Time of Dying 05. Since I've Been Loving You 06. No Quarter 07. Ten Years Gone 08. The Battle of Evermore 09. Going To California 10. Black Country Woman 11. Bron-Y-Aur Stomp 12. 1White Summer 13. Black Mountain Side 14. Kashmir 15. Moby Dick 16. Guitar Solo 17. Achilles Last Stand 18. Stairway To Heaven 19. Rock and Roll 20. Trampled Underfoot
LED ZEPPELIN – The Coliseum – April 27
It took those over two years to do it, but Led Zeppelin finally reached a Cleveland area stage once again last Wednesday night at the Coliseum. This show in particular, as well as their current tour in general, is nothing less than a re-assertion of their status among the Rolling Stones, Who and any other acknowledged deities of rock. It presents a challenge – as well as a set of standards to equal – to new wave heroes such as Aerosmith, Frampton and Blue Oyster Cult.
Zeppelin’s three-hour set passed with flying colors my personal shorthand estimation of a concert’s quality. It didn’t seem that long. The amount of material played, the musicianship involved, and the internal and external (special effects) manifestations of their music merged into an impressive, at time awe-inspiring, whole. The width of styles, moods and atmosphere, paired with consistent authenticity, crossed one of the widest spectrum of which any current combo seems capable.
Zeppelin’s show, considerably revamped since their ’75 appearance in the same arena, was in general an effective mix of blues-ended structures such as In My Time of Dying, Nobody’s Fault But Mine and Since I’ve Been Loving You. The maximum amount of instrumental stretching-out however came on No Quarter. Working from both electric and acoustic pianos, John Paul Jones again impressed with his general versatility. Jimmy Page later joined in for what to me was his apogee of an evening’s worth of standout soloing. It was one of the best rock jams I’ve ever witnessed.
About midway through, Zep revived something they haven’t done in concert since the early 70s – an acoustic set. The founders and main perpetrators of the heavy metal music form sat themselves down and ran through delightful versions of Battle of Evermore, Going to California and Black Country Woman, even reviving the rockabilly Bron-Y-Aur Stomp from Led Zeppelin III (with Jones on stand-up bass).
Some more electrically oriented playing led into the visual highlight of the evening; a rotating, smoke-filled laser light cone surrounded Page as he spun out his famed violin bow work, with lasers behind him shooting arrow-straight beams at the ceiling at well-timed intervals. The show wound up with more conventional crowd-pleasers such as Kashmir and the Zeppelin signature song, Stairway to Heaven (with the biggest mirrored ball in rockdom used to wind it up.
John Bonham consistently kicked ass on drums, Robert Plant was 100 percent improved in voice and stage demeanor since their last time here, and a warm, lucid in-group chemistry projected even across the Coliseum’s vast terrains. A surprisingly sedate and mature crowd did their part to create something I had previously thought was unique to small-hall presentations – a general warmness and intimacy of feeling emanating from the band and its reception by the listeners. It’s an attitude much more difficult to project over 20,000 seats than it is over 3,000. Such was the strength of Led Zeppelin’s performance, an in-person proof of why they still rank as one of the top viewing experiences in rock.
(C. Michalski / Scene April 1977)
This show gets criticized a lot, but it is really a good show, with lots of energy and intensity. The playing is great and the versions of Kashmir, Achilles Last Stand, and Ten Years Gone are exceptional, as is No Quarter. A really enthusiastic crowd feeds off of Zeppelin's energy, making for a memorable show. Plant sometimes complaining of monitor problems, especially during the acoustic set.
The soundboard for Led Zeppelin’s April 27th, 1977 show in Cleveland first surfaced on vinyl in the 1980’s on the European release Destroyer (DRGM 505), listed as being from Seattle and packaged in a color jacket with a picture of Page on the cover. This was copied in the U.S. with the same title and matrix number but comes packaged in a plastic carrying case and the tape has a different mastering which many consider inferior, and releases have the songs out of proper sequence. The Swingin’ Pig issued the four LP set Destroyer and other vinyl titles released in the late eighties include Sweet Jelly Roll (Rock Solid Records), Nobody’s Fault But Mine (Sad Song) and Hard Way To Heaven (UNI), which is incomplete and includes the Live Aid set.
When CDs first began to be manufactured this was one of the very first tapes to come out. The Swingin’ Pig copied their vinyl release on Destroyer (TSP-CD-059-2), a 2CD set released in 1990. Neutral Zone issued The Destroyer (NZCD 89013), containing “Going To California” to “Rock And Roll” and with “Stairway To Heaven” dropped, and Nobody’s Fault But Mine (NZCD 89015) containing the first hour of the show from “The Song Remains The Same” to “The Battle Of Evermore.” Destroyer (Archive) is a 1989 West German production in “perfect soundboard quality” but attributes this show to August 1977. Coming Back To The Murder Stage (Buccaneer Records BUC 021/2) is a 2CD set erroneously attributing this show to April 28th, and also includes the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary reunion set.
Destroyer (BGS009-2) is a 2CD 1992 Italian release which claims to be re-mastered and replicates the artwork on the earlier Archive release. Australia issued this tape at least three times beginning in 1993 with Led Zeppelin Live (Apple House Music SL-23 and SL-24), two CDs with the songs out of sequence. The second disc of the Apple House production was copied on SW 39, and both were issued on the Banana label as Last Stand Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 on (BAN-025-A & B) Destroyer (Silverbird ZLNCD29) with correct date and a bonus track “Hey Joe” from Band Of Joy demo.
The early nineties also saw the release the first of four separate Tarantura releases on The Destroyer 1st Day (Tarantura T6CD-1). This box set was issued in 1993 containing both the April 27th soundboard and the April 28th audience recordings. The label issued the soundboard again two years later on The Destroyer Gold (Tarantura TUDCD-004~006).
Destroyer: Final Edition (Cobra Standard 004) is a 3CD set issued in a cardboard sleeve with same lettering as first TSP vinyl. The Pot label issued The Original Stereo Destroyer (POT-001/002) on two discs and Antrabata includes this on three discs in The Final Statements, a 9CD box set that also includes the September 4th, 1970 Los Angeles and July 28th, 1973 New York tapes. The Destroyer (Last Stand Disc LSD-16/17/18) is a three disc set released in 1997 with excellent three disc set with 24-bit re-mastering in excellent quality.
Shout To The Top also released Destroyer (STTP 055/056/057) about this time. Empress Valley released The Destroyer (EVSD-40/41/42) in 2000 in an LP sized case with the front cover replicating the old Smilin’ Ears vinyl edition of the audience recording from the following night. This version is, by almost unanimous consensus, the best sounding and most complete version of the tape. Several years later Tarantura issued two separate six-disc box sets simultaneously with both Cleveland shows. The Destroyers (TCD-10-1~3) and The Destroyer (Flesh/Trade Mark Of Quality TMQ 20021 1-3) are two different remastering jobs and are singled out to be among the very worst titles released by Tarantura.
In 2004 Empress Valley released the tape again in The Supreme Destroyers (EVSD-276/277/278). This is a 9CD box set released with two separate covers that contains also the audience recordings from the April 28tg Cleveland show and the May 30th Largo, Maryland show. This show also appears on the DVDR-A title Destroyer (Genuine Masters GM-27.04.1977-DVD-A-18) which is superb.
Destroyer on the SODD label is the latest release and a rare non-Rolling Stones title. The sound quality compares favorably with Empress Valley’s first release which is considered to be the best version of them all. The familiar cuts are still present with the tape beginning at the first verse of “The Song Remains The Same.” Also there are two faint digital faults on disc one that can be found at 4:22 in “Sick Again” and at 18:11 in “No Quarter.”
These sound like speed bumps, not very loud and don’t eliminate any music. For the pickiest of collectors this is an issue, but for those who are more forgiving it won’t be. With that said many do hope that the SODD people will fix these errors and make the correction available as Scorpio has done with their Ultimate Studio Sessions box set. If that were to occur, then this release would be the definitive version of this often pressed show which is a solid concert despite some criticisms. That this is a soundboard recording betrays many of the mistakes that are made on stage particularly by Page. In the first hour of the show in particular he misses some cues and plays some bum notes.
What this concert really needs is a good audience recording to hear how the music was being received in the venue since the echo oftentimes covers them up. Plant is in good voice and the rhythm section is solid as usual. This night is right by the end of the first of three legs of their massive 1977 U.S. tour and would be followed by another night in Cleveland and the massive, record setting concert in Pontiac (whose clear audience recording was released only once by TDOLZ which runs way too slow).
SODD package this in a basic fatboy plastic jewel case. The label usually issue bonus discs with their Rolling Stones titles, but there is no such bonus discs with this one. Destroyer utilizes the font and graphic design first used by TSP in the eighties with a Madison Square Garden shot on the front cover. The overall design is basic but effective and this version comes so very close to being definitive that we all hope the label will fix the errors.
Led Zeppelin April 28, 1977 Richfield Coliseum Cleveland, OH
Destroyer 40th Anniversary EVSD 506-505 Audienc
01. Introduction 02. The Song Remains The Same 03. The Rover Intro / Sick Again 04. Nobody's Fault But Mine 05. In My Time Of Dying / You Shook Me 06. Since I've Been Loving You 07. No Quarter / The Nutcracker Suite 08. Ten Years Gone 09. The Battle Of Evermore 10. Going To California 11. Black Country Woman / Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp 12. White Summer / Black Mountain Side 13. Kashmir 14. Over The Top / Moby Dick 15. Guitar Solo / The Star Spangled Banner 16. Achilles Last Stand 17. Stairway To Heaven 18. Encore Call 19. Rock And Roll 20. Encore Call 21. Trampled Underfoot
This audience recording remains, despite the cuts and flaws, one of the outstanding documents from Zeppelin’s eleventh tour. It captures the same kind of sound that Jimmy Page was trying to achieve on the studio recordings by taking into account, not only the instruments, but the effect it has upon the room it is played. This tape pick that up perfectly and displays the power and mystery of Led Zeppelin in concert with one of the best live versions of “No Quarter” on record.
There are also little mysterious little fragments in the show like the impromptu “Surrender” before “Since I’ve Been Loving You.” Since it is cut before and after the context is missing and one hopes that another tape source were to surface in the future which would provide the missing information. Before “Black Country Woman” Plant mentions “Dancing Days” and sings the first line of “Bob Dylan’s Blues” (Well, the Lone Ranger and Tonto / They are ridin’ down the line / Fixin’ ev’rybody’s troubles / Ev’rybody’s ‘cept mine / Somebody musta tol’ ’em / That I was doin’ fine). This is the only recorded instance of Led Zeppelin ever quoting Dylan on stage and raises the interesting issue of the relationship between the two. Robert Plant would also mention Dylan on stage when he introduced “In My Time Of Dying” since Dylan covered the same tune for his debut album in 1962. Jimmy Page also mentions Dylan’s 1978 show in Nuremberg in a long interview before the Knebworth festival in 1979, but otherwise there is nothing.
Although Dylan collaborated with and admired many artists, he has never said anything about Zeppelin and the only hint of his attitude of the band comes from the famous story from the Los Angeles Swan Song party in 1974. Manager Peter Grant introduced himself to Dylan as the manager of Led Zeppelin and Dylan’s reply is “I don’t come to you with my problems, do I?” It gives the impression that he didn’t (and still doesn’t) think much of our four heroes. Nevertheless the second night in Cleveland is one of the legendary concerts in Led Zeppelin’s live history and the EVSD isn’t a bad version of the tape
Led Zeppelin April 28, 1977 Richfield Coliseum Cleveland, OH
01. Introduction 02. The Song Remains The Same 03. The Rover Intro / Sick Again 04. Nobody's Fault But Mine 05. In My Time Of Dying / You Shook Me 06. Since I've Been Loving You 07. No Quarter / The Nutcracker Suite 08. Ten Years Gone 09. The Battle Of Evermore 10. Going To California 11. Black Country Woman / Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp 12. White Summer / Black Mountain Side 13. Kashmir 14. Over The Top / Moby Dick 15. Guitar Solo / The Star Spangled Banner 16. Achilles Last Stand 17. Stairway To Heaven 18. Encore Call 19. Rock And Roll 20. Encore Call 21. Trampled Underfoot
In early 2019 the Tarantura label released Destroyers, a nine CD box set featuring recordings from both concerts Led Zeppelin performed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1977. This box set was the first to utilize a newly surfaced recording of the second performance on April 28, 1977, a recording that had been kept in a very tight circle of people from Cleveland. Apparently the recording was not released with permission and to make matters worse, suffered the effects of heavy handed mastering. The decision was made to release the recording on an internet Led Zeppelin fan forum site so fans could here the unaltered recording, so it’s no surprise when Empress Valley announced this new title shortly after. As usual the label released it on two packages, Destroyer Newly Discovered! Cleveland Rocks is a 3 CD version containing just the new tape and Destroyer a nine CD box set featuring the well known recordings from both nights plus this new tape and based upon the CD matrix numbers, the label uses old discs for both. In typical EV fashion, the 9 disc box set comes in two different covers.
The recording itself is very good and just a notch below the first recording, it is clear and very atmospheric. The taper was position in section 210 on the right side of the stage and managed to capture a perfectly balanced, clear and detailed recording. He used a Phillips portable tape recorder and Memorex Tracs 90 and 120 cassettes, he was positioned on a platform usually used for a television camera for sports broadcasts. The batteries were loose in the machine and thus the recording suffered from speed fluctuations, the majority of these were fixed although some issues can still be heard during In My Time Of Dying, No Quarter and Ten Years Gone. The taper did an excellent job of tape management and managed to capture the complete concert save for a few tape flips and pauses during the encore cheering. The only real detriment to this recording is it does have some audience interference sporadically, conversations asking about getting a copy of the tape, having a baby on the way, and some serious coughing are some of the topics. Empress Valley did a nice job on the mastering and pretty much left the tape alone to stand on its own merits.
In a 2008 interview with Uncut magazine, Robert Plant spoke of the 1977 tour: “By 1977, I was 29, just prior to Karac’s passing, and that sort of wild energy that was there in the beginning had come to the point where we were showboating a bit. Unfortunately, we had no choice. We were on tours where places were going ape-shit. There was no way of containing the energy in those buildings. It was insane. And we became more and more victims of our own success. And the whole deal about the goldfish bowl and living in it, that kicked in”. The first minute and half of this recording conveys this image, the recording picks up the depth of the arena and the massive ovation and anticipation and the lights going out and band taking the stage.
This concert is easily one of the best from 1977, the atmosphere captured on this tape rivals the first source as well as confirms this performances legacy. The playing is laid back and yet intense, this is one of my favorite 77 versions of Since I’ve Been Loving You, Plant and Page tease the crowd while Jones adds these flourishes on the keys that are outstanding, and Bonham’s drumming is superlative, the band does not force a thing. No Quarter is also a standout, the theramin section has a bit of tape speed issue and someone close to the taper coughs a lot, surely partaking for the mystic journey that is No Quarter. The audience cheer and Jones begins his solo and goes into the Nutrocker portion, the piece is somewhat of a novelty and does not compare to the proper solo section, Page attacks his guitar with a staggered fury of leads adding to the dramatic effect. The whole piece is sometimes soft and luxurious, sometimes aggressive and angry, the results will blow one’s mind.
Despite a few firecrackers, the acoustic set is nice, the audience are respectful and the band manage to get an intimate feel with a crowd of 18,000 in a large arena. Plant tells the audience “It’s really nice to do acoustic stuff because it breaks the um…it makes the music flow a little more so you don’t know what the hell’s gonna happen next…we really enjoy it”. After the upbeat combo of Black Country Woman and Bron-YR-Aur Stomp, Jimmy’s Black Mountain Side seems to have the audience in a lull and Kashmir catches them by surprise. The recording is powerful, Bonham’s drumming is incredible and the song retains its grandeur. While Bonham’s Ode To Excess does get tedious, Page’s guitar solo is focused and to the point, as with many performances on this tour, it includes the Star Spangled Banner and leads into a blistering take on Achilles Last Stand. This song is best heard on audience recordings, I find the soundboard versions fall rather flat, the hall ambiance adds greatly to the songs depth. Great version of Stairway to finish the set, the audience seem to relish in the song, the hard rock section is quite powerful and well delivered by the band, Plant tells the audience “Thank you very much, we had a really great time…thank you. We hope you enjoyed it too…Good Night!”, the ovation seems to raise the rafters of the Coliseum.
Really great recording and for the 3 CD version I purchased, the packaging is very minimalist. A simple glossy cardboard sleeve with common pictures of Page on the front and the band and their entourage in front of Caesars Chariot on the rear. While this minimalist packaging has kept the price down, it could have been nicer, the original download files of this tape came with a seating chart overview of the area showing the tapers position, an information sheet with recording and mastering notes, pictures of the master cassettes, not to mention a huge file of pictures from these concerts by Cleveland Rock Photographer Janet Macoska. Any of this could have been used to embellish the cover, nonetheless this is a really great addition to my collection and for the price you cannot beat it.
Gafa worked extensively as a session musician for recordings in the mid and late 1960s in New York. In jazz he worked in that decade with Kai Winding, Michel Legrand, Sam Donahue, Duke Pearson, and Carmen McRae. He worked with McRae until 1971, then played in the 1970s with Dizzy Gillespie, Mike Longo, and Yusef Lateef. Gafa put together his own small groups in the decade; his sidemen included Kenny Barron, Ben Brown, Al Foster, Steve LaSpina, Andy LaVerne, Dave Shapiro, and Richard Wyands. He worked with Johnny Hartman from 1978 to 1982 and in the early 1980s with Susannah McCorkle and Joe Albany, Sammy Davis Jr., Sylvia Syms, Morgana King, Shirley Horn.
I must admit that until a couple of days ago I had no idea who this cat was, saw a bootleg cd in a second hand shop close to my home, and the cover got my attention, I checked it out and some pretty well known names where backing up this dude, so I took it home and it blew me away!. The only info I have on the guy are a couple of lines I found on Wikipedia and that I copied above. If anyone has some more info on the man, please let us know!
Recorded live at the discotheque « La Folie » (Annecy) on 30 October 1986.
Mixed at Studio Dagobert from 14 to 15 November 1986.
It's a real shame Anamorphose have never released a proper studio album, the only recording available from this french group is this live performance, which took place in October 1986. Although you can definitely feel the tremendous energies coming out of these guys, and aside from the audience clapping at the end of each song, it's hard to notice this was recorded live. The production and recording is surprisingly clear and fresh, and the performance is near flawless, indicating that those guys were playing together quite a lot or they are simply professional. The line up includes bass and drums, violin, sax, flute, piano and keys. Nope no guitars this time to interfere with their smooth sound, but don't get the wrong picture here, guitar or no guitar this one really cooks! It's one of those albums when you don't miss or don't need any guitars. The band began playing together in 1982 when François Dumont d'Ayot met Olivier Lamorthe in a jazz concert he played in, and decided to play more creative sort of music with asymetric rythms. In 1988 when Philippe Villiot left, they were reduced to a quartet, playing together for a few years until teaming up with guitarist Eric Minen, Anamorphose finally disbanded for good in 1997, leaving us with only this live recording.
The music is mainly instrumental Jazz Rock Fusion but not the bla bla kind, there's no pointless endless soloing, and the songs doesn't sound the same, something that happens a lot in this genre. Each song is built around one or two ideas, which is being explored and improvised on. The performance by each member is simply stellar. Nathanaël Veyrat is a very competent bass player, he delivers some excellent workouts and can be quite funky at times. François Dumont and Philippe Villiot are maybe the most dominant members, playing the sax and violin respectively. They're playing most of the solos and deliver a dazzling performance, every one of them takes the spotlight when needed and lights up the place. I can't tell who's performance I like better and that's already a good thing, the sax has all kinds of moods from quiet jazzy playing to intense shrieking sounds, my favorite is when he goes into a playful mood and just swings like a cool cat. Same goes for the violin who simply smokes!! Olivier Lamorthe is handling the keys and piano and doing a spectacular job delivering cool jazzy keys and some inspiring piano runs. Of course it all wouldn't be perfect without a good drummer on board, Christophe Torion is very creative and handles the asymetric rhythms so easily, it's a pure joy listening to him. As I mentioned, this is not a soloing fest, there's a lot of playing beyond that which explores all kinds of ideas, melodies and themes and that's why it all sounds very varied and never tiring to listen to.
What makes this album so unique are all the spices added to the main dish, this is not just straight forward modern jazz improvisation, there are all kinds of influences mixed inside, the arabic/middle eastern flavour is popping out every now and then, and gives an extra zing to the music, there is also some traditional spanish influences that adds a lot of character to the overall sound. There are more flavours I detect but can't put my finger on them exactly. There are no weak songs or any weak moments through the entire album, it's all essentially constructed and carefully organized and played. I love how they control their rhythm, going from pastoral beautiful interludes to very intense jamming, where saxophone and violin are tossing the ball from one to the other. It's clear that these songs were carefully and precisely written, leaving every member the exact amount of space to shine and improvise as he pleases.
While there are many jazz rock fusion albums out there, I don't think anything sounds quite like Anamorphose, this is so unique and fresh that it quickly became one of my top albums in this genre. So if you come across a copy, this would be a serious addition to your jazz rock fusion collection.
Originally released only on cassette in 1983, “Dogs’ Ears Are Stupid” by Chicago trio Care of the Cow is a fascinating blend of psychedelic folk, minimal electronics and post-punk weirdness. Acid fuzz guitar, incredible vocal harmonies, drum machines, analogue synths…
One of Chicago’s best kept secrets, Care of the Cow’s history goes back to 1974. A trio formed by Victor Sanders, X Baczewska and Sher Doruff, they had a very unique and eclectic sound, experimental yet very melodic, mixing psychedelic folk-rock with art-rock and DIY / post-punk. Their influences were very diverse: Beatles, Fripp, Eno, Joni Mitchell, Carla Bley, Pauline Oliveros, Eric Dolphy…
Care of the Cow debuted in 1975 with a 10” followed by their first LP album in 1981. By 1983, the band was adding drum machines and synths to their sound, highlighted by Victor’s amazing guitar playing and X & Sher’s perfectly blended vocal harmonies, resulting in “Dogs’ Ears Are Stupid”, the second Care of the Cow album, released only as a tiny cassette edition in 1983.
For us, this is a lost gem from the ‘80s underground which really deserved a LP/CD reissue. Here it is, done in collaboration with Steve Krakow of Plastic Crimewave / Galactic Zoo fame.
“Experimental folk-rock music into minimal synth depths. What a gem!”
-Archaic Inventions
“An absolute unique psych/folk/new music/post-punk blend. Strongly recommended to all open-minded listeners”
–Tony Coulter (WFMU)
Mental Experience presents a reissue of Care Of The Cow's Dogs' Ears Are Stupid, originally released only on cassette in 1983. The album is a fascinating blend of psychedelic folk, minimal electronics and post-punk weirdness. Acid fuzz guitar, incredible vocal harmonies, drum machines, and analogue synths make it one of Chicago's best kept secrets, with a history that goes back to 1974. A trio formed by Victor Sanders, X Baczewska, and Sher Doruff, they had a very unique and eclectic sound, experimental yet very melodic, mixing psychedelic folk-rock with art-rock and DIY/post-punk. Their influences were very diverse: The Beatles, Fripp, Eno, Joni Mitchell, Carla Bley, Pauline Oliveros, and Eric Dolphy. Care Of The Cow debuted in 1975 with a 10" followed by their first album in 1981. By 1983, the band was adding drum machines and synths to their sound, highlighted by Victor's amazing guitar playing and X and Sher's perfectly blended vocal harmonies, resulting in Dogs' Ears Are Stupid, released only as a tiny cassette edition in 1983. For the Mental Experience, this is a lost gem from the '80s underground which really deserved a reissue. Here it is, done in collaboration with Steve Krakow of Plastic Crimewave/Galactic Zoo fame. Remastered from the master tapes, includes insert with liner notes Krakow and photos.
Care Of The Cow was formed in Chicago in 1974 by Christine Baczewska, Victor Sanders, Sher Doruff and Kevin Clark. From 1974-1984 Baczewska, Sanders and Doruff produced an album “I Still Don’t Know your Style” (1981) and an album length cassette Dog’s Ears Are Stupid (1983). There are many live recordings and an promo LP from 1975.
The album I Still Don't Know Your Style captured COTC's amazing eclectic musical style. With their psychedelic folk, art-rock, strange manipulations and collages with humouristic lyrics COTC remains one of those well kept secrets from Chicago's 70's and 80's underground. Some people remember them from festivals in the mid-sevnties and some remember them from a later period in the eighties. Nevertheless their music lacks attention from listeners, since it's musically too unclassifiable for many.
COTC's even more hidden cassette Dogs' Ears Are Stupid collects some other sounds than you would expect. Apparently the band began to experiment with synthesizers and drum machines in the eighties and started to poor their experimental folk-rock music into minimal synth depths. They managed to achieve their musical warmth in a cold way. A great way only real groovy people that were active in seventies could crossover with into the eighties (Daevid Allen could be another example) What a gem! I think the track European Trains has some of the best minimal synth potential of the album, while the folk elements are still there.
Care Of The Cow ceased to exist by the mid-eighties and the members allegedly got scattered over the US and Europe. The singer Christine Baczewska released a compilation CD in 1993. Maybe someone knows more.
