Klaus Schulze The Crime of Suspense (Reissue)

Recorded in 2000, this is the second disc to be extracted from the now deleted set 'Contemporary Works' box set. Here again the CD has been maxed out with the addition of two short tracks from disc number ten of the same set taking the total running time up to just under eighty minutes.

So, a change of modus for Mr. Schulze as we hear him drifting into a style that suits the aptly named 'Contemporary Works' title to a tea. Think Enigma, Deep Forest, System 7 and you won't be far wrong. It's one of those occasions where only you the listener can decide at what stage ambient becomes chill out/trance, where dance stops and world music starts. This rather convoluted musical episode see's Mr Schulze step to one side to share the limelight with his happy go lucky helpers Julia Messenger on vocals and Thomas Kagermann on flute. Not having heard the album before, l had it earmarked as a largely collaborative work with musicians and those folks of dubious, thinly disguised musical ability that pass themselves off as DJ's. Playing the album reveals that true to form Klaus hasn't budged an inch from his then regular sequencer style, his playmates this time around certainly having to dance to his tune. To all intense and purpose this is a Schulze album, period. The original three long pieces all crossfading into one another to create one long musical trip.

In the sleevenotes Klaus makes issue of the fact that this 'so say' different style might not be to every synth purists liking, mentioning his experimental phases over the years and makes no bones about the thinking behind bringing in new idea's, (some being more successful than others) Schulze differentiating only between what he considers to be good and bad music. Again, good and bad………another huge can of worms opened there l think, personal taste and perception may have been more appropriate. Anyway enough of this tittle tattle lets move onto the album proper.

Packaged in a rather attractive looking gatefolded card slipcase, sporting artwork similar to the 'Vanity of Sounds' release, 'Crime of Suspense' is littered with live show photos of Klaus infront of his 'big wall' of modular Quasimidi synths. I also note that this is number 85 in the re-issue series!!! Have we got some albums to come!!!

'Good Old 4 On The Floor',(24.00) doesn't take too long to get into full swing, a pair of mild interweaving sequences, Schulze gently playing along in an off key percussive manner. Messengers' largely wordless vocal improvisation getting underway right from the very start. Two minutes in and light topset percussion kicks in followed shortly by that good old four of the floor beat. A typically Schulzey light string refrain enters the picture and by the seven minute mark all the building blocks of the piece are in place, all bar one that is, as a wonderful bit of heavy sequencer work overrides all it its path. This is a track that drifted in slowly but is now showing great potential. The heavy sequence subsides as Klaus starts an analoguey solo, the vocals following on again shortly after. This 'Crime of Suspense' album already seating us in that musical no mans land of the descriptive coming over as all very 'trancey' and 'Miditerranean'!!! Question:- Ever been up at 6am overlooking the sea and a sunrise over Ibiza??( No, nor me – though l did have an early start in Southend-on-Sea once). It's an interpretation that the music inspires, this is most certainly a contemporary work from Schulze.

Okay we're halfway through the track now, what comes next? It's usually a big solo and you guessed it a solo is what we get alright, but like everything else in the track so far it is kept relatively subdued and low in the mix. Again the vocal improvisations replace the solo in a cyclical fashion before everything dies away leaving just the beat and sequence patterns up until the percussion dies in the last few minutes, only the strings and vocal strains remaining.

The seventeen and a half minute 'J.E.M' swoops in with the sound of Thomas Kagermann's flute work sounding oh so very refreshing and full of eastern promise. Like some crazed Shakuhachi player he improvises over a mid tempo analogue sequence. This is an edgy piece which is supplemented several minutes in by a hard hitting pattern of hand drums which force an unusual time signature dropping a beat. Kagermann wrestles the situation superbly turning in a very accomplished performance throughout the piece, his vocal ad libs in the last few minutes all adding spice to the ethnic swing that the albums just taken. Klaus preoccupies himself constantly stepping around the arpeggiated rhythm with little filtered tweaks. An unusual and intense track, can't really fault it.

At little short of a full half hour 'Overchill' kicks off with a stripped back Schulze sound, initially coming across as the sort of fare you might expect from a group such as Massive Attack. The pace is decidedly more lethargic but engaging, producing a musical mantra that stay's with you. Five minutes in and the vocal improvisations of Messenger make their return. Light soloing from Klaus keeps us firmly rooted in Schulze territory, but never once does Klaus really stick his neck out from the tracks plodding pace to step things up a gear. Everything is kept busy but restrained, over chilled maybe? In the latter half of the track the vocals become more pronounced singing some half baked lyric to a song that goes nowhere over the remaining ten minutes. That said, Messengers voice is actually excellent and works well with the given style. However with a great deal of often repeated and relatively unlinked phrases sung l can easily see this vocal addition annoying some folks sooner or later.

The first of the bonus tracks,' Ruins',(4.34) is upon us, a fast heavy sequencer underpinned by a sharp bass synth which punches notes into the track in typically eighties fashion. We're almost into Chris Franke sequencer mode again,( as on the 'Vanity of Sounds' release). A simple percussive break halfway through see's the beat return briefly prior to the final fade. Not so much a track as a sequencer run that's been worked upon alittle and recorded 'on the fly'.

'Castles',(4.15) brings the CD to a close with a lilting synthetic flute sound playing over a pair of heavy analogue sequencer patterns. An awkward sounding drum loop joining late on in the track seeing the piece to it's close.

So to use Klaus's musical criteria - a good album or a bad one? Not difficult to sum up really – technically very good, though my immediate thought's are like that of Schulze in the sleevenotes. I'm thinking that this modernesque approach to the music is something that may fail to connect with many of you hardened synth nuts out there, hell bent on 'Berlin School' or bust. For those folks this album hasn't too much to offer given its contemporary nature. The short bonus tracks should get a positive thumbs up from most all you SMDers that care to listen. Of the three main tracks nothing jumps out at you as being absolutely fantastic, though there's not a bad track amongst them. 'Crime of Suspense' is an undemanding listen if that's what takes your fancy. I did use the term 'convoluted' to describe the album in that like the previously released 'Vanity of Sounds' CD l'm left at the end of it thinking that so much more could have been done with these great long tracks. As it is Klaus gets into a groove early on in each of the pieces and sticks with it throughout providing intricate solo's that never really break free of the basic rhythm and flourish. A slow burner of an album it might be, but does it ever really ignite?? It's over to you Schulze fans to make up your own minds. (B22)