TIMEWIND

Timewind is a good album, but it's probably the weakest of Schulze's 1970s records. Its pieces contain most of Schulze's hallmarks of the era, although there's no drum kit on this one. Timewind is said to include Schulze's first use of a sequencer, and while this might be true in a technical sense, some of his earlier works had used repetitive synthesizer patterns. Interestingly, Schulze would later use one sequence in the middle of "Bayreuth Return" on "Crystal Lake," the b-side of Mirage. The sequence is prominent in the eleventh minute of "Bayreuth," but also appears elsewhere.

The sequencer on "Bayreuth" plays a role similar to that of the guitar on "Way of Chances" from Blackdance: a rhythmic backing pattern which adds to the drone-like atmosphere of the track. It makes sense, then, that Schulze would not play additional instruments (i.e., non-keyboard instruments) on Timewind, as he had on his prior albums, and would not engage outside musicians. That he employed drummer Harald Großkopf for four of his next five albums is probably indicative of his interest in rhythm as a component of his music during this period.

Nonetheless, "Wahnfried 1883," the second side of Timewind, is one of Schulze's evolving, generally rhythmless tracks; if "Wahnfried" uses a sequencer, it's very hard to detect. My issue here is with the pace of the evolution. Unlike, say, the hypnotic "Crystal Lake," which changes slowly, "Wahnfried" seems to introduce one or two variations each minute. Like "Bayreuth," it comes across as overly busy to me.

While Timewind doesn't quite meet the expectations Schulze established with Blackdance and Picture Music, I wouldn't classify it as "for fans only." In fact, if it were Schulze's only album, I'd probably assign it four stars. But the other nine of his first ten albums are better.