Klaus Schulze: Dig It (1980)

Klaus Schulze - Dig It

KS Canon 13

Track Listing:

1.	Death of an Analogue	12:15
2.	Weird Caravan	05:16
3.	The Looper isn't a Hooker	08:30
4.	Synthasy	22:53

Bonus Tracks:

5.

Esoteric Goody

28:21

Bonus DVD:

1.

Linz Steel Symphony

62:22

Notes:
(1) Fred Severloh plays drums on "Death of an Analogue".
(2) Hans-Joachim Berendt plays drums on "The Looper isn't a Hooker".
(3) Tommy Betzler plays drums on "Linz Steel Symphony".

Rating: 3 Stars
Bonus Tracks: 4½ Stars

This is the 13th solo album recorded by Klaus Schulze. It marks the beginning of a new direction. Until now he's recorded his music with analogue synthesizers, but on this album he's recorded everything apart from the drums with a digital machine, the General Development System (GDS).

I was, and still am, very disappointed with this album. It sounds like it was made to showcase the GDS's abilities rather than to make good music.

"Death of an Analogue" features Klaus Schulze's digitised voice chanting slogans like "Analogue is Dead" and "One bit for you, one byte for me". Ridiculous!

"Weird Caravan" sounds like the backing to a jazz song, totally untypical for Klaus.

"The Looper isn't a Hooker" sounds like the instrumental track of a pop song.

"Synthasy", the long track that filled the second side of the LP, starts off well, but the last eight minutes are spoilt by more digitised vocals.

"Esoteric Goody" is a track that was recorded in the same session as "Dig It", but it wasn't included on the LP release. It's better than any of the other tracks. It's Klaus Schulze playing Klaus Schulze music, not Klaus Schulze showing off his new toy.

The 2005 CD release contains a bonus DVD of a concert that Klaus Schulze played at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria in 1980. To quote the original booklet:

The Linz Steel Symphony will attempt, in an exemplary way, to integrate the working world and art by means of a musical project which encompasses the industrial and cultural centres of the city of Linz. From the steel mills and industrial plants of VOEST-Alpine, the sound of machines will be transmitted live into the concert hall and will be used by Klaus Schulze for the composition "Linz Steel Symphony". This will set an example of how an industrial city and a cultural city can be combined.

The concert was broadcast live on Austrian television and radio, but it was also offered free to the people of Linz. Loudspeakers were set up along the banks of the river Danube, loud enough to be heard by everyone in the city. It must have been an incredibly immersive event. The music is excellent throughout, but the video quality is poor. It's the best that can be expected from a 1980 television broadcast of a live event.