Klaus Schulze
Trailer
Most of the tracks from this CD are taken from the just issued ‘Ultimate Edition’ and as such acts as a sort of promotional release for that massive project but it is also of interest because three of the tracks contained on it don’t appear on that set or any where else for that matter.

The first track is an extract from a 1998 concert called ‘La Tolleranza’. Cosmic blips with high hat accompaniment are given a suitably 90’s production but then we move into a very fast sequence over twittering / squelchy effects. Some lovely dense and expressive synth pads are then added to the brew but the best bit of all is a ‘Moondawn’ type lead line, superb. ‘In Praise of Idleness’ is a short studio track recorded last year. It is very moody and is one of the tracks which is unique to this album. ‘Crazy Nietzsche’ is an outtake from 1978. Starting off with manic but very tight drumming, after three and a half minutes the rhythmic pyrotechnics subside and we are left with delicate atmospherics bringing to mind wind swept worlds. At just over the half way mark synth pads with a faintly vocal quality to them become the main focus and we drift along serenely. ‘Darkest Steglitz’ is from a concert in 1976 and is made up of a dark complex collage of sounds, effects and drones, moody synth pads becoming more prominent as the track progresses.

‘In casa crede chi non crede?’ is another track unique to this CD and is from a 1976 sound-track. There are some gorgeous organ sounds reminding me a little of ‘Black Dance’, the recording quality shows its age but this is my second favourite track on this album, incredible that it didn’t make it on to 'Ultimate'. ‘Discover Trakl’ is an outtake from 1978 so I assume it was a track which didn’t quite make it on to the ‘X’ album. Amazing, as its a real cracker featuring multi layered sequences and a rhythm that becomes more prominent as the track speeds up. This is exciting and energetic stuff, my favourite track here. ‘Just an old Fashioned Schulze track’ says it all in the title really. They think it was taken from a concert in 1975. Superb mesmerizing sequences bubbling away under a thick but gently shifting bed of synth drones. At two minutes a beautiful melancholy lead line comes in and the sequences become louder, lovely stuff. Again, the recording quality does leave a little bit to be desired but I for one don’t get hung up about that sort of thing as long as the music itself is up to it. This piece is just too good to be left in the can.

‘Der Optimismus’ is a studio track from 1993, starting of as fairly typical of what he was doing at the time but then develops into a melodic piano dominated number before returning to more conventional realms again. ‘Man at Work’ is the third otherwise unavailable “track” and is really Klaus messing about, I think, giving a very quick lesson on how to control synths. So to sum up, there are some fine tracks here and it will no doubt be snapped up by Schulze completists because of the three otherwise unavailable numbers but it would also be a good purchase for those fans who can’t quite afford any of the ‘Ultimate Edition’ boxes. (DL)

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