CLUSTER & ENO

Eno sits in with Cluster to produce an album highly reminiscent of Krautrock albums from the early 1970s. There's the Eastern influences dabbled in extensively by Ash Ra Tempel and Popol Vuh, there's the improvisational freakout atmosphere, there's the heavy dependency on synthesisers and keyboards. All the Krautrock cliches are present and correct, but despite all that the album seems to be missing something; it sounds, to my ear, like three synth wizards trying hard to make atmospheric music but not quite working out beforehand what sort of atmosphere they are going for. It's a nicely performed album, but it feels kind of needless and directionless - as if it's trying and failing to justify its existence.