Well, haven't seen anyone review this yet. A bit long winded...
Klause Schulze: "The Essential 72-93" Double CD
Caroline Records: CAROL1896-2
Disc1: 71:00
1 - 5:16 - Irrlicht, I. Satz: Ebene (from "Irrlicht" 1972)
2 - 6:25 - Totem (from "Picture Music" 1973)
3 - 10:51 - Wahnfried 1883 (from "Timewind" 1975)
4 - 11:30 - Floating (from "Moondawn" 1976)
5 - 14:11 - Stardancer II (from "Body Love Vol. 2" 1977)
6 - 10:00 - Ludwig II Von Bayern (from "X" 1978)
7 - 12:15 - Death of an Analogue (from "Dig It" 1980)
Disc2: 70:35
1 - 5:04 - Weird Caravan (from "Dig It" 1980)
2 - 6:38 - Freeze (from "Angst" 1984)
3 - 14:15 - Miditerranean Pads (from "Miditerranean Pads" 1989/90)
4 - 8:32 - Dresden Five (from "The Dresden Performance" 1990)
5 - 10:56 - Brave Old Sequence (from "Beyond Recall" 1990/91)
6 - 11:54 - Silence and Sequence (from "Royal Festical Hall Vol. 1" 1992)
7 - 12:44 - The Dome Event (Presto) (from "The Dome Event (Live)" 1991/93)
About a year ago, a friend who DJ's at a college radio station decided to
put together an "ambient" set for a show he wanted to get off the ground. He
wanted me to take a listen, and needless to say I was extremely interested
(smugly thinking I wouldn't hear anything I hadn't before -- owning all the
"relavent" ambient CD's there could be). heh...
I heard the usual... Irrisistable Force, The Orb, etc... Then I heard this
strange, obviously alien appregiated riff glide in from the left, then sweep to
the right... it was increadible, insighting that feeling of sheer awe at the
tones being presented in such a solid, yet morphous way. I jumped up,
asked my friend who it was stating "this must be new... I don't have it".
He held up "Phaedra", and at that point I realized that some of what we are
hearing in "new" ambient music was a sort of regurgitation of something old...
from the "freedom rock" era no less ;)
Since then, I've had a passion for older "textural" music discovering such
well known's as Tangerine Dream, Eno, Tim Blake, and of course Klause.
The first CD is probably my favorite... "Irrlicht, I. Satz: Ebene" is a
fantastic introduction to this collection. It begins with worried classical
strings joined soon by a deep metalic analogue pad. The track continues to
wander, in and out of an erie classical texture. "Totem", "Stardancer II",
and parts of "Wahnfried 1883" and "Floating" make this CD worth the purchase.
It shows clearly how much has been borrowed from this era of electronic
composition (early to mid 1970's to be specific). Appregiated baselines,
heavily effected with delays... Looped rhythms of completely strange percusive
"noises"... Floating synth solos, accompanied by bells and other "astral"
instruments. Great stuff. "Ludwig II Von Bayern" begins Klauses classical
works. Not classical in instrumentation, but in feel and composition.
I find most of it interesting, some of it exceptional, and a bit of it dull.
I think it triggers my "classical" sleep centers.
The second disc continues in this vein... Progressing into the "New Age/
Classical" feel the "digital" revolution seemed to have had on this sort
of music (example: Tangerine Dream). There is a clear likness to Tangerine
Dream at several points in this collection, but not so much so as to be
unoriginal.
I recommend this disc to anyone who has been interested in Klause Schulze,
but was afraid to make the plunge. This double pack is cheap (I got it for
$16) so the loss potential is pretty low... If nothing else, it serves as
a fantastic chronological sampler. I now believe I can skip most of Klauses
later works (after 1978) and concentrate more heavily on his earliest (this
artist probably has more albums out than Tangerine Dream, which is saying
something).
Thanks...
Bryan C.
P.S. All spelling, grammar and logic errors are the result of substandard
highschool teachers who didn't call me a "winner" even when I lost.