Klaus Schulze X (Rerelease)

Here we have the fourth album from the first batch of Schulze re-issues by SPV. This, for the uninitiated, was an album which built upon the massive international success of the, 'Mirage' release in 1977 – bucking all convention and trends, blasting his musical status into the heavens and beyond……….well maybe.

The album is now presented to us in a double gate leg card folder with most all of the original artwork reproduced as per the 1978 vinyl version. Photographic reproduction of cover art is presented here by high quality transfers. The enclosed 24 page booklet provides more photos from the 'X' era, a section of interview with the great man himself in 2004, and also a two page write up about the album itself.

On the musical front we are treated to a 21.32min bonus track,( all re-issues will be released with additional material, from the same era whenever possible) and as if this weren't enough we also find that a piece from the 1978 vinyl which was edited down to 5 minutes to fit on the original album is now presented here in all its glory at its full playing time of 26.04mins!!!! I think it's now fair to say that you haven't heard 'X' until you've heard this definitive version.

This is a pretty monumental album anyway, the set now with a total playing time of 2hrs, 40mins. Time to get yourself strapped in and prepare for a cosmic flight around the mind and imagination of one Klaus Schulze.

We open up with a hoste of off the wall, heavily treated synth FX and white noise blasts, topped off with a deceptively simple sequence trickling into the picture as 'Friedrich Nietzsche' gets into motion. Harald Grosskopf on drums featuring throughout the duration of this 24.50min opener,( as well as on much of the rest of the 'X' set).

Rather wonderful choral treatments create a huge backdrop as the first of the solo's arrive adding pace to the music as another sequence overlays the first. Klaus follows his tried and tested A/B/A compositional style allowing the choirs back into the picture – so far a pretty much run of the mill Schulze track, nothing particularly new or innovative. However, towards to finale of the piece l think Klaus must have had the same feeling and slams much of the audio through his favourite phaser together with the drums and really cooks up a storm.

'Georg Trakl' is a real gem for this release presented here in its unedited form at 26.04mins. Once again a simple, but quirky little sequence starts with delicate improvised Moog soloing . A synth pad fizzes to life in the background and straight away you just know this is just genius at work. Klaus steps lightly throughout the entire piece introducing other sequences and solo's as the drums take on a jazz brush feel using a great deal of top set.

Track three crashes into play at a mere 10.51mins!!! The drums struggle against the power of the driving heavy duty sequence that is 'Frank Herbert'. The electronics run amok as FX come and go at a frenetic pace. A very aggressive sounding piece to be sure.

Paradoxically 'Friedemann Bach', commences in a sombre neo-classical way as Schulzes off the wall FX again pull in a truly cosmic direction, whilst violin refrains play their own merry tune. All rather odd, but works brilliantly. The synth backdrops used both here and later in the album have an otherworldly quality about them. Has 27 years really aged this album – not abit of it.

Back in 1978 - on the face of it, l'd have to say l've just heard the best Schulze album ever, but wait – that's only disc one, the best is yet to come.

'Ludwig II Von Bayern' at 28.39mins opens up disc two, starting just like disc one with a mass of synth FX and noises prior to a real string orchestra picking up the baton and running with it in the form of a classically inspired main theme. Schulze takes a backseat on this one firing up all manner of random electronic sounds and FX until the theme peters out and we are left with a large bridging section, sounding completely cinematic as the last of the strings depart leaving a deserted sonic landscape for Klaus to work with. The strings are now demoted to a tape loop and Klaus resorts to throwing all kinds of noises around the stereo soundfield. Though alittle protracted this section ends by returning us to the main theme as played earlier in the piece. Now the drums are added together with even more FX, but as the piece winds up it's the strings you'll remember.

'Heinrich Von Kleist' at almost half an hour was the final track on the original album, making its presence felt in a classical way once more courtesy of Wolfgang Tiepold's cello work. Haunting motif's pop up time and again in this a piece like no other that Schulze had yet produced. Again it's Klaus and his use of monolithic slabs of sound and FX that pepper the piece, its minor key sustaining a suspense that is maintained superbly. A slight shift of key introduces a whole new world, the like of which the electronic pioneers of the day had not come anywhere close to achieving before. One can imagine 'Zeit' to have sounded like this if Tangerine Dream had continued playing freeform music for another seven or eight years.

The choirs arrive and depart, the mood becoming more anthemic – all brilliantly abstract stuff. What more could any self respecting electronic cosmic synth nut ask for.

Finally the bonus track is, as intended, somewhat of a curio, 'Objet D'Louis',( a full explanation is given in the sleevenotes). With a playing time of 21.32mins, it is basically a live recording of 'Ludwig II Von Bayern' complete with string orchestra. Naturally the studio recording is the superior of the two, the live version being interesting by way of the fact that Klaus appears to be having a wail of a time in synthland whilst the ill prepared strings must have been struggling to spot at which bar their playing was due to cut in on events.