Klaus Schulze Are You Sequenced? (Reissue)

Disc one is an album that see's Schulze in blistering form with a heavily sequenced set from the EMMA, ( Electronic Music & Musicians Association) show in 1996. It's tracks are all crossfaded into one another with some precision to produce one long eighty minute piece of audio that does most everything that one may ever expect from Schulze. It's a busy sounding montage that actually shines most brightly during its more sedate moments; here you'll find great depth in material that was initially meant to be the next studio recording from Klaus. Presented in a gatefolded card slip case with inlaid transfers highlighting the original cover art, the accompanying 20 page booklet containing many more images of Schulze and his story behind the putting together of the music for the CD.

A sumptuous slice of electronica is a many splendoured thing and Schulze is here to show us how it's done with a certain panache opening the set with the fabulous,'Welcome to the Moog brothers'. At six and a half minutes duration it covers a lot of ground, it's probably the single most dynamic track of the album. 'Vocs in the dark' parts one and two bring up the rear at a total running time of about fourteen and a half minutes, laced with sequencing that sets the tone for the bulk of the album. The percussion coming in with the arrival of part one; part two seeing Klaus improvise away with a hybrid trumpet sound, giving the music a slightly jazzier feel. 'No fret – no bass', (9.39) hammers away, the steady thump of kick drum rhythm and slightly heavier sequencing move the track forward like a variation on a theme from the two 'Vocs' pieces.

Suddenly there's a change of mood with 'Valle de la Luna' as we take off for a further nine minutes with a structured, but drifting pastiche of 'X' proportions. Reverberant sampled Cello sounds leading the way, this is a side to Schulzes work we just don't get enough of these days. It's a classy sounding track that has plenty going on, there's a multitude of tweaks and changes occurring throughout – the sort of minute details that are sometimes missed in the busier passages.

Speaking of busy - the title track is upon us. It's a short run three minute affair that has us in action adventure mode with a Bladerunner styled sequence and off-the-wall effects galore as the track drives forward straight into the excellent 'Moogie Baby goes solo',(7.18). It's a rip roaring success as Klaus's Moogie baby goes solo over the pulsating sequence as he modulates the living daylights out of the thing in a truly frenzied way that lay's waste to most all that surrounds it.

'Moldanya',(10.21) see's an end to the manic soloing and the arrival of decidedly grey sounding strings again taking us back to his seventies heyday with a hint of 'Timewind' meets 'X' in it's minor key. 'Moldanya' has a real cosmic beauty about it as the chords lift and fall over a backdrop of odd ball analogue effects. Without a doubt, for me the most emotionally charged piece of the entire album, quite possibly the highlight with its dreamy yet grandiose edge, a track that stands out on its own merit rather than those of the album collective. Fantastic as he pulls in those Jarrish qualities, too short by far.

'Vidanya',(2.11) is the shortest of tracks which see's the return of percussion and a staccato sequence acting more as a bridge into 'The Wizard of Doz',(10.22). The pounding kick drum fires up again, sequences rumbling away ready to fly off in another direction at any given moment. Klaus elects to hold the suspense in a single key that works up into a super heavy cycle of effects that sounds intimidating as it thunders along creating an air of unclear expectancy. At six minutes fifty,' Are we getting lost?',(……….no we're still in Derby Klaus, what are you smoking!!!) is a no nonsense sequence which emerges from the whirlwind of effects carrying this chameleon like set to it's final moments as Klaus throws more sampled effects into the fire. The only thing this whole set lacks is a big crash bang wallop finale which would have seemed so befitting in place of the gentle fade away, in the process missing the audience round of approval. With the careful edits you'd never guess that you had just listened to a live album, but l don't know, maybe l'm just old fashioned but l still like to hear the audience reaction at the beginning and end of live album sets.

The bonus CD hits the hifi next with the seventy seven minute, 'Vat was Dat?',(77.25). This was originally designed as a sequel to some of Schulze's other tracks 'Opera Trance' and 'Borrowed Time'. It springs to life with a sequence that sounds like Boris Blank of Yello had a hand in its construction given its driving but bouncy over the top rhythm and effects. Overlaid with some really archaic orchestral and operatic voice samples which run wildly on for about five minutes, a sequenced bass joins the festivities and the piece is really motoring along. Switching to a higher register with the synth voicings changing to a well placed harp sound to lead the sequence, the track is progressing at breakneck speed. A minute or so later the piece switching again, surprisingly to that of a string quartet before flipping back to the main sequence by the ninth minute. Inventive as this all is the track then proceeds to cycle around, these patterns occurring and recurring with either synth voice changes or slight augmentation in a pretty structured, predictable manner over the course of the next hour. I must admit that the constant chopping and changing of the sequences does come across as being alittle mechanical at times, Klaus still showing the odd sign of genius whilst at the same time having put together a random pattern of sequences that l just couldn't fathom. Suffice as to say that by the seventy minute mark l was pretty bombed out with it all.