ZEIT

This is the very first cd I ever bought. It was 1988 and it cost me 14 quid from Virgin! Therefore, I was under some serious pressure to enjoy this because that was a lot of money for a student back then.

My initial reaction was shock. Shock and bewilderment at the bloody awful sleeve that it came in. Looking like a scene from 'Tron' - it was an artistic blunder in every sense of the word. Not only that but their first 4 albums all had the same basic design - but with a different colour washed through it. Mercifully, this problem was rectified on subsequent editions. I however, am left with the original 'ugly' version. Pass me the sick bag...

However, as far as the music contained within went, I needn't have worried. After the first listen I was hooked. What were all those creepy sounds and strange filters that they used? It was all a big mystery to me back then and I couldn't get enough of it. The first track is the 'tuneful' one (ahem!)... which has lots of cellos put through strange delays and flangers - almost 'Kluster' like, before calming down into prototype 'Lustmord' or 'Lull' territory for the remainder of the double LP. By the time you reach the 4th and last track you'll either be fast asleep or wondering how a record label would take such a risk on a sprawling, mostly tuneless, certain commercial failure. It beats me, but I love this kind of stuff. A triumph, but the best was yet to come where, during the next 4 years, not a duffer was in sight.