BLACKDANCE

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I liked very much the fine atmosphere on this record! The paintings on the album cover contain perfectly the elements and the moods on SCHULZE's work: Oppressing sound walls paint a large and abstract space, which is habited by surrealistic, organic entities. If you are interested of psychedelic art, surrealism and non-soothing and artistic ambient music, check this album out!

The third album in Klaus Schulze discography,titled Blackdance,is,in my opinion and judgement,similar to the album made (in the same year) by Tangerine Dream,Phaedra,the transition between the experimental year,represented in Klaus Schulze's discography by his previous two albums,Irrlicht and Cyborg,and his new (or I would say his main,most succesful and most used in albums) style. A transition album between the two styles and periods and not an album clearly framed in the new style/period that we are refering to because,again similar to Phaedra,both types,the evolution and the precedent,are mixed and combined,resulting in the most simple way to say,the album Blackdance.The mix and combinations are represented and appear in two shapes:separated,as main themes and combined,with the new one appearing more proeminent (although not necessarily,that happens only in short few minutes section).

What is new in the album Blackdance and is innovating compared to Cyborg,making it the first album of Klaus Schulze new style (while what has remained unchanged compared to Cyborg makes him the last of Klaus Schulze previous experimental style) is not so hard to notice,it is the introducing of rhythms,of strict and synchronic sequence,used as beat in two of the tracks,Ways Of Changes and Voices Of Syn.Unlike the rhythm and sequence in Cyborg on the Conphara and Neuronengesang, which can still be considered beat and rhythm,the new one used in Blakcdance is related to percussion and not mechanized shynts of accelarating pulses (Irrlicht - Satz:Ebene)

The armonical style,called wrongly by me precedent,when in fact in fact it continues to sustain the melodical structure of every "next" album and every "next" phase of Klaus Schulze,is interpreted separately only in the middle piece,Some Velvet Phasing, used in a way that reminder of Synphara and Satz:Exil Sils Maria (a little less related to the last one although),pieces composed in a similar way.

If there are two things that I think of when I hear about Blackdance by Klaus Schulze,it is two special caracteristics,again compared to Irrlicht and Cyborg,but also with his next release: the guitar melody in the (unofficial,just in my head) Part One of Ways Of Changes,which is a great work and the vocals starting five minutes of Voices Of Syn,which,comparing to other vocal themes,used on further albums like Dune or Dosburg Online,I consider them one of the best from Schulze's work,regarding the flaoting with the concept of both the piece and the album Blackdance.

Klaus Schulze played for the very early Tangerine Dream, and it is clearly noticeable here: this album is between the Phaedra and Alpha Centauri albums; the music here is a bit better than on the Zeit and Alpha Centauri albums, but worse than on Phaedra.

The track on side 1 starts really slowly and gradually, it becomes a bit more loaded. The acoustic string instrument of the first minutes reminds me the Vangelis' Dragon album, while the background linear texture sounds like an harmonica; after about 4 minutes, a mix of tribal and automatic beat enters, and the background linear texture consists in a mix of organ notes and strident moog, reminding the noise of running shoes on a synthetic basketball floor or even some excited chanting birds. The sound lacks of color and depth: it is hardly stereo.

The side 2 starts with vaguely operatic voices through a linear organ arrangement. Around the 6th minute, an alienating rhythmic beat starts and the still present organ has this time some strange effects.

The overall music is absolutely unmelodic, very linear and minimalist. I feel absolutely nothing while listening to this album: the music is just deadly emotionless and VERY monotonous. This is definitely not a good album: Schulze made quite better albums.

Rating: 1.5 star

I only have listened to two albums by Tangerine Dream:"Cyclone" and one recorded live in the early 80s (maybe called "Dominion"). I have to say that I didn`t like both albums, so I thought that I hardly could like this album recorded by ex-Tangerine Dream member Klaus Schulze.

This L.P. was not played for a long time. It belongs to one of my brothers, and I can`t remember now seeing him playing this record. Maybe he bought it in 1982. I remember that I played it twice then, never to play it again. I tried today again to listen to it, so I played it, remembering very little about it, other than I didn`t like it the first time I listened to it. I didn`t like it again. I`m going to explain the reasons:

The album sounds dated, being recorded in the 70s with the electronic instruments which were then in the fad. It is clearly an experimental album, very experimental maybe. The three musical pieces are monotonous, showing too much time in duration and lacking in creativity, other than to "experiment" with the sounds played on a synthesizer or an organ. Maybe the album was more interesting in the seventies, but now, it doesn`t sound interesting for me.

Now, about the musical pieces:

"Ways of Changes": with an acoustic 12 string guitar, percussion and keyboards, plus "galactic noises" also played in the synthesizer. The 12 string guitar is the most interesting part in this musical piece.

"Some Velvet Phasing": a musical piece played only on keyboards. Really boring, IMO.

"Voices of Syn": the most interesting part in this musical piece is the voice of the singer, Ernst Siemon. With his vocals included, this musical piece promised better things than the previous two, but, when the singer stops to sing his part, the monotony starts again, with Schulze playing sustained chords in an organ while playing scales with the other hand, also synths`(very typical of the seventies) "galactic sounds" and it also has percussion, which appears and disappears. The sustained chords only change their sound using some effects. This lasts until the end of the piece, at almost 23 minutes of duration.

There are some good "sound atmospheres" in this album, but the monotony spoils them. I`m sorry if some fans of Schulze`s music don`t like my review, but, as I said before, I really don`t like Tangerine Dream`s and Schulze`s music. I need more variety in the music to be interested in listening again to albums.

Another good point is the cover design, which I really like, being very "surrealistic" a la Salvador Dalí.

Some things that I imagined while listening to this record were some images of a "modern dance company" dancing to some parts of "Ways of Changes" and "Voices of Syn". I`m not a fan of ballet or "modern avant garde dances", but the music in this album could be right for that kind of dance, maybe.

Passable strings synth inventions by Schulze after the two gorgeous and avant gardist "Irrlicht" and "Cyborg". However we cannot condemn "Blackdance" so easily. The introduction of "Ways of Changes" provides some clever floating synth lines with the combination of some repetitive, simplistic but efficient acoustic guitar notes. This captivating start progressively lets the place to more insistent and evident musical sequences made by analog synths and electronic percussions. As most part of Schulze's albums the melodic line never ends and hardly catches the attention of the listener all track long. This inconvenient will be reproduce in the two following pieces. "Some Velvet Phasing" is an atmospheric, hypnotic synth soundscape featuring classic Schulze's synthetic ambiences. "Voices of Syn " is an abyssal composition, a dark spacey hymn with vocals (a male operatic voice). Despite that Schulze includes some innovative elements, his electronic inventions are less daring and explore only the linear and accessible part of his art...Blackdance seriously presents a scission after the grandiose "Cyborg" and introduces the listener into the imaginary of Cosmic music and accessible but delicate synth ambient sounds.

Yeah, it's a trip.

I cannot give a technical review of this album because I really don't know much about the ins and outs of keyboards and electronics. So I'm not rating Schulze's use of the technology but rather my experience of listening to the album.

This is another title with a very wide range of opinions from reviewers, lambasted by some as crap and heralded as a masterpiece by others. While not a big fan of electronic music myself I must say I've always enjoyed this album on an occasional basis. This is not the kind of music I choose for cruising in the car with, but as something to have on in the background while writing or working, it works for me along with stuff by Popul Vuh.

"Way of Changes" begins with mellow synth before we get some acoustic guitar adding nice texture. There are also some hand drums and percussion. The mood of the music is mysterious and the layers of keyboards spacey and intriguing. "Some Velvet Phasing" is the short track here at 8 ½ minutes. Again I am reminded of things like Popul Vuh, Eno, Tangerine Dream. No percussion or warmth on this one, this is just very minimal synth rising and falling to trippy effects. I don't mind this at all, it's quite relaxing. "Voices of Syn" begins with some interesting operatic vocals, a very rich and warm touch to music which some consider cold and emotionless. After a minute or so Schulze joins in. The two continue to build tension until around the 6-minute mark when a pulsing beat comes from nowhere. There isn't an awful lot of variety from this point forward, it's more or less a droning landscape of neutral sound that will drive some crazy. The beats finally fall away in the last minute.

Recommended for fans of this genre and 3 stars for the wider site. Nice, otherworldly cover art suits the music well.

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 is still suffering unfair comparisons (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 (possibly the Requiem?).

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; 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" or "Meditation", and the sometimes relentless grooves (20+ minutes long in "Voices 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 (in retrospect) 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 Schulze himself) with an unexpected and very loud bang.

This Klaus Schulze album is quite pleasant to listen to. IMO, it belongs to the very good ones from the artist. But I am biased, I reckon.

I believe that this one offers serious and melodic lines, beautiful and spacey moments, and gorgeous synth music and rather avant-garde when you bear in mind that it was released in '74.

It is of course quite close in a sense to what TD was releasing in the same period of time, but after all, both were issued from the same school and shared the bill earlier on during their debut album.

This album is rather accessible (to my concepts) and should please any fan of electronic music. It is quite enjoyable, varied (even if the opener might sound repetitive to some ears) and delicate.

My preferred track is the long "Voices Of Syn" but none of the songs featured on the original album can be considered as average. They are all damned good and deserve a global four stars.

The remastered version includes two bonus tracks which are quite good actually. It prolongs the experience by some twenty-five minutes of which "Foreplay" is rather moving and intense.

I like this album quite a lot. This is indeed a might trip.

BlackDance is Schulze's third release and sounds as pitch black and hermetic as the preceding ones. However, the addition of a few melodic touches like vocals, acoustic guitar, synthesizer leads and rhythmic percussion make it more accessible. The album marks the transition between Schulze's Kraut years and his more popular 'Berlin school' years which would start in the following years.

It is the last album Schulze would release before he got his hands on a sequencer and would start creating more accessible and melodic music like Tangerine Dream had done with Phaedra. By consequence, compared to Phaedra this comes off a bit primitive in a technological sense.

The music however is the most enjoyable from his avant-garde / kraut years. Waves of Changes sets the mood with eerie synths and repetitive rhythmic percussion. Some Velvet Phasing is entirely different. No rhythmic patterns, just very sparse and desolate organs and synths and something that sounds like a mellotron. It's my favorite early-Schulze piece, similar in atmosphere to TD's Mysterious Semblance and Sequent C from the same year. Voices of Syn starts off great with a synth improvising around a collage of dark opera arias from Verdi. A weird sequenced pulse follows. Hard to say what this sound is, it has no tune and consists of a mix of clicks and backwards effects. Very avant-garde indeed. A dissonant organ weaves patterns around it and adds to the disconcerting effect this track has.

I have the 2007 re-release in my hands here and it features two extra tracks from 1976.

- Foreplay 10:33 - Synthies have (no) balls? 14:42

Foreplay is a non-sequence track that has synthesized voices (probably mellotron) fading in and out on top of a synth-simulated thunderstorm. A bit too long again though. Synthies is a bit different from Schulze's usual laidback approach, it has a bit more punch and aggression and disorder to it. But nothing special again. Besides, the extra tracks don't fit entirely with the original album. In just two years, the use of sequencer and moog had entirely changed Schulze's sound.

The booklet says Klaus himself isn't all that enthusiastic about this album but he tells us his 'buddy' Steve Wilson (good friends with Klaus apparently) really loves this album and I think I see why he does. It has a very distinct alluring weird darkness about it. Typically something for Wilson!