DIE GLÄSERNE WAND / SCHLEIFEN

This album contains material from 1988 ? 1989, before Arne Schäfer became involved with Versus X. Apogee has always been intended to push the boundaries of what could be accepted as prog, so Throbbing Gristle and Kraftwerk have as much influence as VDGG or King Crimson. On this double CD set he is joined by vocalist Gerald Heimann, and while all of the vocals are in German there is an English translation of the lyrics in the booklet. I really wasn't sure what to expect from this album, as although I have albums by all four bands mentioned above in my collection ? how would it all fit together? Also, when I saw that the five songs on disc one (and the first song on disc two) were all described as movements of the same piece. Now, when someone states that it is a movement (as opposed to a section or individual song) they raise the stakes as normally movements are associated with classical music ? so just how good is this?

Well, to be honest, not very. There are some sections where it is really very good, but that is overweighed by the times when I was wondering just how much longer it had to go on. Some of the keyboard sounds being used are incredibly dated, even allowing for the fact it was recorded more than 20 years ago. There are times when it reminded me more of some of the worse elements of electronic music that was around twenty years ago ? but there again I don't believe that I am the intended audience as this is part of a series of releasing some of Arne's archives, so there must be people out there who are demanding this. To me this just sounds like a series of demo recordings that I am unlikely to listen to again. www.mals.ru

German project APOGEE is the creative vehicle of composer and multi-instrumentalist Arne Schafer, a solo vehicle for material that doesn't fit in his main band Versus X. Since the first Apogee disc appeared in 1995 a total of six full length productions have been released under this moniker, of which "Waiting for the Challenge" from 2012 is the most recent. The double feature "Die Glaserne Wand & Schleifen", also released in 2012, isn't truly a part of the Apogee project. But as this is solo material by Schafer as well, the Russian label MALS Records opted to issue these archival recording under this already established moniker.

These archival recordings courtesy of Arne Schäfer, released under his Apogee moniker, document an ambitious musician with a need to cover and explore a lot of ground in terms of structures, arrangements and style. Some technical and instrument details do come across as fairly dated, and a certain taste for 80's style sounds will be needed to enjoy this double CD. But if you don't regard that as a major drawback and tend to enjoy a fairly eclectic and demanding take on the symphonic art rock universe, then you might want to inspect this production, alongside existing fans of Arne Schafer and his musical escapades.