Klaus Schulze Live (Reissue) Double CD / 5 tracks / 72.24 + 78.18 mins Please go to the Store to buy this item.

As with most all live albums the sound and production quality suffers to one extent or another. This was a factor which concerned Klaus so greatly that a 'live' album as such was never issued back in the seventies. So with some arm twisting and gentle persuasion some of his personal tape recordings of the shows were selected and compiled for this long overdue release. I've just listened through the whole two disc set once again and l have to say that this is simply a superb album, l thought this more than twenty five years ago and l'm sticking with it. Some of the things Klaus is doing with the equipment is just amazing and of course you must remember that for much of the time this is just Klaus performing unassisted, improvising with just afew prepared sequences.

'Live' is neatly packaged in a gatefold card slipcase in the standard re-issue design together with a plethora of photo's strewn throughout accompanying 20 page booklet. There's an excellent write up from Schulze in there too, together with some finely tuned facts from Klaus D Mueller on the back page. If it's Berlin school you want, here it is.

Onto the music and 'Bellistique' get's the show on the road. It's twenty one minutes of faultless performance from Klaus at one of his shows back in 79'. When he hits the stage infront of a rowdy audience he subdues them quickly with a devastating run of classic sequencing that hurtles along at a galactic pace barely pausing for breath. Familiar sounding soloing gets underway within the first few minutes, the single synth improvisation reaching a heady climax some ten minutes later. Events gradually letting up into the last seven minutes of the piece as we drift off into space for more cosmic developments in an 'X' type fashion together with the odd dissonant synth slam,(ala Vangelis's 'Beauborg'). There's a steady build to a mighty choral finale and suddenly it's all over. A truly inspiring and unbeatable performance from Schulze, what a way to start!!!

The fifty one minute 'Sense' from a show in 1976 is up next starting with the gentle swash of the sea and subtle electronics in a 'Mindphaser' kind of way. From here Schulze graduates to a single arpeggiated note sequence that echo's from the PA with a synth backdrop that wouldn't be used again until the following years 'Mirage' album. The way that Schulze builds up the synth textures seamlessly changing between synths is just amazing; it's true that back then there really was nobody that could get close to Schulze in the live performance arena. We get just the slightest hint of the 'Ways of Changes' sound from 'Blackdance' before the main sequence arrives. Again the sequencer build from Schulze is superb; it's absolute fluid genius at work; focused and flawless.

Grosskopf's drums have arrived in the mix and work their wicked way into events, the intensity of play growing along with developments from Klaus. It's eighteen minutes in before the soloing from Schulze kicks in, the drums just playing along in this section to help beef up the electronic rhythm. Things settle into a groove and solo's smoothly erupt from Schulze as the two musician's effortlessly play off one another perfectly. At the halfway mark things simmer down alittle as Klaus starts mucking around with modulation and mix of the synths and sequences, the drums holding off for awhile as Klaus decides what's coming next. The arpeggiations once again become more intense and the drums return with more gusto than before, Harald playing more freely in a jazz style similar to Schulze's own drumming. This section takes care of a further ten minutes prior to Klaus closing up for the night with a return to the opening atmospheres of the piece. Again it's a faultless performance played superbly with a real sense of conviction and purpose - and after fifty minutes the crowd want more!!!!

In goes disc two and on 'Heart'(30.49) there is again variation in the mood created on this 1979 recording,(this one being almost Tangerine Dream/ Edgar Froese in the way it develops initially). It's the spartan sound of a single bass note barely moving that Klaus has set himself up to play against. Needless to say the synth textures and atmospheres created are straight from off another planet, stunning!!! With so little sequencing going on Klaus has to work that much harder and more precisely to get everything right. Eleven minutes in and a harsh sounding metallic sweep heralds the start of the sequences and electronic percussion which uniquely see's Klaus move from the old to the new in one foul swoop. The new digital equipment having that harder edge and is consequently used to play bolder more strident themes. This was to be the future sound of Klaus for several years to come, producing a sound which polarized the opinions of critics and audiences alike. What's your poison? Is this polysynth heaven or polysynth hell?

A hollow sounding synth lead cuts through and with just ten minutes left the tempo is stepped up a gear making way for a wonderful sync lead solo on the synths. You may have been fooled into thinking that this section would see the piece to its close, but afew minutes later Klaus fades up an entire mid tempo submix which rounds things off nicely,( though it has to be said that there has always been abit of controversy about this final section; that it was edited onto the end from another part of the same show, providing a fitting end to the music for the vinyl production. Thus, 'Heart' becomes more of a 'best bits' from this particular show). I've never really had an opinion on this argument really, l just enjoyed the music for what it was at the time as there was nothing else quite like it.

Onto 'Dymagic'(29.31) from 79' which feature's the vocal talents of Mr. Arthur Brown, the music of Schulze acting as a kind of electronic backdrop for Brown's vocal ramblings in much the same way as it did on the 'Dune' album. The mid tempo percussion and sequences plod on arduously as Brown voices line after line of gibberish lyric whilst Klaus interjects at the keyboards to solo between phrases. I've barely caught a word of what he's saying/singing, but l do recognise the odd line from 'Shadows of Ignorance' so l guess that's what it is. Eleven minutes in and we step things up a gear and my interest is regained. For Brown's part in all this it sounds like he's been getting out of hand down at the local pub and now he's being shown the door - if only Klaus can get more noise out of the synths he might just be able to drown him out completely........but no such luck. Suddenly Klaus clicks into a groove that Brown responds to in an instant only to spoil it all by cranking up the tempo once again, neither artist seems to be listening to the other anymore. After a short spell of soloing Klaus pushes the tempo off the scale bringing everything to a screeching standstill and for the closing three minutes things settle down nicely bringing the synths and vocal theatrics to an end.

Finally there's the bonus track,'Le Mans au premier' which on this occasion is more of the concert tape first exhibited as the bonus track on the reissued 'Dune' album. There we heard twenty three minutes of the show; here we hear a further eighteen minutes from the beginning of the same concert. The bonus kicks off in typical 50's sci-fi 'B' movie style reminding me in an instant of Froese's 'Macula Transfer'. Klaus holds the mood and it's all done with a certain panache that is unmistakably Schulze. Seven minutes in and ominous undercurrents start to stir, but it is not until the last five minutes that things really get moving and the soloing starts in a 'Dune' type way. However, this really does seem to be more like an excerpt from the live show rather than a self contained piece, so l elect to reach for the 'Dune' reissue and flick straight through to the bonus track there. Hallelujah, that bonus track kicks off right where the one under review ends!!! That's brilliant, or is it a carefully planned marketing ploy???