KLAUS SCHULZE

Klaus Schulze released a dreadful album prior to this : "Totentag" was a nightmare from start to finish and the man surely needed to release a much better album to seal back the great respect from his fans. On top of this, I can't say either that his "Goes Classic" and " Le Moulin De Daudet" stuff were encouraging nor really worth the attention. In the meantime, Klaus also released three albums under the "Dark Side Of The Moog" umbrella. I'll review these after the "standard" work.

But the great man came back in shape; with honour and care. This album is a very good piece of electronic music as a Schulze's one ever ought to be. It is a great journey back in the early days.

Gone are those synthetic beats, gone are the classic feels. Back is Klaus as I like him.

This ultra long CD set opens on the longest track I ever have listened to: some seventy eight minutes of music (yes: 78). Before this, "Amarok" from Mike Oldfield was the longest one to my knowledge.

"Into The Blue" starts extremely quiet for a very long time: almost twenty minutes, which is already an epic but only an introduction here. But one has to forget all standard references when listening to this CD set. The start is maybe too long, but extremely tranquil and spacey. A splendid example of soft electronic mania. And I have to say that I'm quite a maniac of this sort of sounds.

"Into The Blue" is probably less melodic, less grandiose or impressive than most of the seventies great songs; but the feeling is pretty close to this period. It sounds as if, one does a giant step back into these fantastic moments for a while. Just the time to revive some great experience.

The second "song" almost starts in the same way. A long waking up, a smooth journey again onto the boundaries of our physical knowledge. Enough for us to try and imagine what' s up there (or what isn't).

What comes afterwards is pure delight?The reincarnation of the early "Ash Ra Tempel" has been reconstructed and the fantastic guitar play of Manuel Göttsching provides a deep sensation. Very similar as well as one could experienced with some mid seventies great TD albums.

"Serenade In Blue" is more delicate, more simple but as effective in terms of "trip". I had a good time today in listening again to this ultra long work to finalize this review. Since I have quite a lot of problems these days, it was a wonderful manner to send all my terrestrial feelings into the stratosphere and forget them for some time.

The third CD is not so interesting. It consists of three tracks of which only "Return Of The Tempel" is valuable. The long (over thirty two minutes!) "Out Of The Blue" is a repetitive song more in line with his work from the mid eighties, which were less appealing to me although the last ten minutes provide some good sensation and are again closer to the concept idea I have of the man's great work.

This "In Blue" is a fine trip back to ancient time. Therefore, and as a nostalgic of these days I rate this work with four stars (but it is maybe more worth seven out of ten). Mais quand on aime, on ne compte pas?

1994 was a prolific year for Klaus, but I can't say that it was a great musical year in terms of quality output. Fully classical albums with "Le Moulin De Daudet" and "Goes Classic" and now this one!

"Totentag" is hard to categorize. Minimalist, avant-garde, experimental, weird, grotesque. You name it. There are some "Grobschnitt" extravaganza in here. But without their genius unfortunately ("Prelude"). "Vocals" are quite ridiculous and avoidable by all means. What happens Klaus???

At this point, one might think: well, this is only a prelude, things will get better. Unfortunately, it is not the case. "Liebeszene" is another classical and annoying number, at least for the introductory three minutes. It turns out to be a more "standard" Schultze piece of music after this. But, gosh! How many people would have just skipped the track before reaching this good part? The problem is that it won't last for long (some five minutes) before the "vocals" come back.

Another major problem with this work is that it is a TWO CD set! Clocking at over hundred minutes of music. Quite difficult to swallow, believe me! At times "Im Bordell" sounds as an electronic opera (but the opera feel is much more dominant, unfortunately).

The whole of this album sounds like a bad joke to my ears. It reminds me of the dark days of "Africa". Yes, it is that bad. The second CD offers no escape to the global feeling.

One star of course.

The title says it all of course.

In 1994, Klaus released two classical albums: "Le Moulin De Daudet" and this one. If the former held still some parts that were digestible, this one is of different texture, I'm afraid.

Of course, I have never been into classical music. The reason to listen to this album was just curiosity; and I should have better never listened to it. Klaus might have fun in releasing this (long) work, but I had a very hard time to listen to this full capacity CD (almost eighty minutes).

The only piece I could cope with (because it sounds somewhat familiar to me) is the Brahms one "Hungarian Dance No 2".

What's left is a travel into the repertoire of some masters (Schubert and Ludwig von B.). Even Klaus wrote a piece: "Quintet For A Lute". But it is just on par with the whole of this album as far as a prog fan is concerned.

this album is meant for classical music fans only. But definitely not for electronic prog lovers (as I am). Depending your addiction, you might love or dislike this album. I belong to the latter category and I only rate this work with two stars thanks to the Hungarian Dance which I quite liked.

I often associate the music of Klaus Schulze with my cats when they are at their most graceful and charming, namely when they're sleeping.

First of all there's nothing more beautiful and irresistible then a sleeping cat. But there is more. If you observe them, they appear to be immobile, completely still and static. However if you look away for a minute and then return your attention to them, you will see that something has happened, a paw is just a tad more stretched then it was, the head is bent in an even cuter posture, the tail not loose now but gently curled around the hind feet, and so on.

So fares the music of Klaus Schulze, seemingly unchanging yet in constant flux, alost by pure instinct it progresses from one gorgeous theme into another, with moogs and percussion serving as waving tails and dabbing paws. In a few cases the sleep seems almost comatose but mostly it is a venture that I can hear for hours.

Right. End trip. Back on my feet again.

Body Love comes in two volumes: "Body Love" and "Body Love Vol 2". Both are excellent. In my review for Vol2 I have given a personal preference for the second album. However, that was before I got the 2005 reissue of Body Love itself, which adds a studio outtake from 1977 that is every bit as good as the regular tracks. The whole package makes this an essential purchase.

This album is based upon the work of a well known French novelist: Alphonse Daudet. His best known work which served as source of inspiration to this release is called: "Lettres De Mon Moulin".

"Le Moulin De Daudet" is certainly the most minimalist Schultze work so far. Classical from start to end, it offers very little of these great synth lines that the man offered previously. As I have said for other instrumental albums, it is quite difficult to understand a "concept" based only upon the music.

It is again the case here. Even if I'm not familiar with all these pieces of literature (the only one we have studied at school and the best known: "La Chèvre De Monsieur Seguin" is not featured) it is impossible to relate the music with the short novels (or letters).

In the same way that the Dante's trilogy has a place apart in the TD discography, I would say that this "Moulin De Daudet" almost featured the same odd nature. If you are into classical, it might hold some interesting parts, but this is not my case (which I have already expressed several times on this site).

Fans of electronic music, this item is not for you. As such I can't rate it with more than two stars.

— First review of this album —

Farscape had Schulze & Gerrard improvising over the course of 2 CDs. On Rheingold it was stretched through 2CD's and a DVD and now on Dziekuje Bardzo, the full option release will add 3CD's and a DVD to your bulgy CD cabinet.

I can't say I was waiting for that and judging from the general enthusiasm here, I'm not alone. So, first conclusion, necessary = no.

But is it any good? Well also for that I have to give a mixed answer. The album contains a new set of improvisations that stick close to the known formula. Some of them sure have their moments. I'd even dare to say that Shoreless One (Schulze alone) is downright excellent and sits close to the opening track from Kontinuum. Shoreless Two is an alternative version that is less successful.

Next I need to mention the first ten minutes of Ocean of Innocence and Bazylika NSJ, where Gerrard joins Schulze in building a petrifying and sacred atmosphere. On the short and almost catchy Spanish Ballerina we hear Schulze playing some flamenco guitar samples which is quite fun.

Just those 4 tracks amount to a bit more then 90 minutes. With some minimal editing, this would have made up one excellent 4-star CD. It is up to you to decide whether you feel a 3 CD format with every improvisation they played in Poland is preferable to just the best 80 minutes. I tend to say no.

Lisa Gerrard joining Klaus Schulze sounds like magic on paper. Would this be an incarnation of Dead Can Dance taking off into space?

After the demise of Dead Can Dance, Gerrard released two excellent solo albums (The Mirror Pool and Duality). Then she gradually shifted away from her melodic and song based approach. Her last two albums (Immortal Memory and Silver Tree) are of a more impenetrable and improvised nature. And so is the approach here.

The vocal improvisation style is impressive for a few minutes but I generally find it too long-winded. The moments when it evolves into something memorable are sparse. But also the music sounds rather plain and uninspired. Certainly not Schulze's best.

It takes more then an hour till I finally hear some chemistry at work. On Part V, the pieces seem to fall in place, but halfway through my attention tends to shift to other things. The slow development of the themes and melodies is too inadequate to keep my interest. However, part 6 is better and sustains a captivating mood for the entire lenght.

I regret to say it but for me, this 2 hour compilation of improvisations never rises much above decent background music. I had the opportunity to attend one of their live performances this year in Brussels (September 25th, 2009) and that was an entirely different experience that I will elaborate on in reviews of the live recordings Rheingold and Dziekuje Bardzo.

On Kontinuum, Schulze reaches back to his 30 year old and defining album Mirage and picks up the trail of lush analogue electronics where he left it since 1978-something. Of course it's not groundbreaking anymore, but for an artist this late in his career that is no requirement. We're totally happy with more of the same, especially if it comes as entrancing as this one.

Sequenzer is a must for all lovers of electronic music, starting with a sequence of synthesized acoustic guitar picking. In the typical Schulze fashion, other themes are woven around it, one on top of the other, till you get lost in the rich texture of sound. There's no other artist that can make computers and synths sound like this.

On Euro Caravan, the sequences are faded out and an eastern female voice is added on top of dark and gloomy synths. Halfway in, an entrancing moog sequence with electronic percussion stirs things up. You might want to crank up the volume here!

After track 2 we're 50 minutes in and there's another 30 minutes of slowly developing themes ahead. As usual, Schulze makes no music for the timespan-impaired or for people that sample albums by listening a minute here and 30 seconds there. This is music you must immerse yourself in.

Kontinuum is a solid album by Klaus. It doesn't come as a surprise though; he had been in a great creative mood ever since he started his cooperation with Namlook in 1995. But if we discard the thrilling music that lies scattered throughout the Dark Side Of The Moog albums, then this could easily be called his best solo album in a good 25 years.

I didn't hear this album until very recently and after I had worked my way through the historic and other editions. Compared to the excellent concerts in those boxsets, this compilation of material from various live performances between 1976 and 1979 disappointed me.

I enjoy 'Bellistique' very much and also the first half of 'Heart'. However, the 50 minutes of the 1976 piece 'Sense', that should have been the main attraction here, don't work at all for me. Way too repetitive. It sure surprises me as this is the favourite track for other reviewers. As I said, it might just be caused by the abundance of 1975-1977 concerts from the boxsets that I had heard just before this one.

I have never been a huge adept of sampling. And even if I could highly appreciate "En=Trance" which was in some way the start of this new era, I am not brought to some sort of third dimension with this album.

This very long album opens on an epic which lasts for about half an hour ("Gringo Nero"). You know that I was quite addicted to his great works from the seventies, but here: I have to say that he doesn't play in the same division.

The music is far from being as creative, on the forefront of electronic prog as it ought to be some twenty years prior to this album. Some might have a peculiar feel for this album, but I am desperately looking for a good and innovative sign. Great melodic lines are alien to this song which displays some synthesized guitar and "drums" which sound quite awkward as far as I'm concerned. At no moment, was I embarked on the dark side of the moog. But this is another story which will be reviewed later on?

I am quite addicted with Klaus's work, but when he is offering such an album, I am much less laudatory. In fact, this long "Gringo Nero" stuff is quite boring with very little (to none) passionate moments.

"Trancers" holds some more emotions, but still: nothing to be compared to the great, great past. I understand that an artist can't remain at such a level of creativity than Klaus during the seventies; but an artist also needs to understand that his fan database can't be passionate with each of his output. And this is my case while listening to "Beyond Recall".

Of course, this is not a bad album; but "Brave Old Sequence" says it all?The last half an hour of this album which is represented by two tracks, is not of great interest to my ears either (and I 'm quite a fan of the man).

Five out of ten is as much as it gets from me this time. Can't upgrade it to three stars. Sorry Klaus.