Klaus Schulze: La Vie Electronique 8 (2010)

La Vie Electronique 8  (1977 to 1983)

Track Listing (CD 1):

1.	Dans un jardin	40:02	1979  Live
2.	Faster than lightning	29:55	1979  Live
3.	Phonetisches Plakat	06:56	1979

Track Listing (CD 2):

1.	Hitchcock Suite	40:12	1977-78
2.	L'Affaire Tournesol	19:38	1979  Live
3.	Bona Fide	14:33	1979  Live

Track Listing (CD 3):

1.	Keep up with the times	16:13	1981
2.	I remember Rahsaan	05:22	1981
3.	A Quick One	03:51	1981
4.	Count me in	04:04	1981
5.	The Martial Law	31:23	1983  Live
6.	Zugabe Timbales	12:27	1982-83

Notes:

(1) Arthur Brown sings on "Faster than lightning".

(2) Steve Joliffe plays saxophone and flute and grunts on "I remember Rahsaan".

(3) Michael Shrieve plays drums on "I remember Rahsaan", "A quick one" and "Count me in".

(4) Rainer Bloss plays keyboards on "The Martial Law".

Rating: 4½ Stars

"Dans un jardin", "Faster than lightning", "L'Affaire Tournesol" and "Bona Fide" were recorded at a concert in Brussels, Belgium on 24th October 1979.

"The Martial Law" was recorded at a concert in Katowice, Poland on 2nd July 1983.

The contrast between "Dans un jardin" and "Faster than lightning", played on the same evening, is extreme. It shows Klaus playing in different styles with and without Arthur Brown. Arthur sounds in better form than he was the following night on LVE 7's "Avec Arthur". "Dans un jardin" is a beautiful piece of music, but it's spoilt by the amount of coughing in the audience in the first eight minutes.

"Phonetisches Plakat" is an untypical piece of music for Klaus, but still very good.

"Hitchcock Suite", my favourite track on the album, is an atmospheric piece of music with little rhythm. It's a long lost piece of music that wasn't found until KDM was compiling music for the JUBILEE EDITION in 1997. Don't attach any importance to the title. As in almost every case, the track was named by KDM, not Klaus. Sometimes the title sounds like a wildly random selection, but this time it's an appropriate choice.

The third CD documents the beginning of Klaus Schulze's transition from analogue to digital instruments. It's interesting to compare "Count me in" with the mid-section of "The Martial Law". (Both titles are wildly random). "Count me in" is an early version of "Tango-Saty", which was included on the 1983 album AUDENTITY. "The Martial Law" contains a live version of "Tango-Saty".

Most of the album is perfect, but my overall rating is only four and a half stars because I've rated "Dans un jardin" and "I remember Rahsaan" lower.

As was the case with the previous albums, the playing surface of the discs is black.

The liner notes for LVE 8 are written by the Dutch journalist Wouter Bressels.

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La Vie Electronique 8 Liner Notes

During the years 1997 to 1983 Klaus Schulze recorded some of his more introspective works. Albums like MIRAGE, DUNE, and DIG IT saw a significant change in his style of playing and his way of composing. While Schulze was quickly expanding his collection of synthesizers, that ultimately had its effect on the outlook of the music and the possibilities of performing in a more exquisite way. Play a track like "Synthasy" and notice that Schulze has come a long way since TIMEWIND and MOONDAWN. On this 8th part of LA VIE ELECTRONIOUE there's a selection of stuff that was archived besides his official albums in those years.

A large part of this 3-CD set forms the appearance of concert recordings (made on a cheap stereo radio cassette recorder) from Klaus' 1979 tour with singer Arthur Brown. Besides the recordings that made up three sides of his monumental LIVE album that was released in 1980, there were plenty of other versions available of the material that Schulze played during the fall of 1979. The concert that the two did on October 24th in the auditorium of the Technical University in Brussels captures the energy and passion of what the unique combination of Schulze and Brown was about. "Faster than Lightning", that formed the second set that night, says it all. Before the intermission Schulze is certainly in the mood during "Dans un jardin", while crafting musical landscapes, playing soulful solos on his Minimoog, also on a pair of electronic bongos, and setting a darker tone during the last two movements. There's more of this beautiful gig elsewhere in this set.

The "Hitchcock Suite" must have been something of a buried treasure in the KS archives for many years. A four-part composition, in which all the elements of Klaus' 70's sound are to be found. From the eerie sounding first two parts to the more sequenced orientated latter parts, it's like an transitional piece altogether. There are moments that are reminiscent of material from BODY LOVE 2 and MIRAGE, but also DUNE. Recorded around 1977/1978, you can actually hear that Klaus is looking for a new direction and is trying to head for the more experimental phase in his late 70's analogue years. For instance, the opening sounds of the first part originate from the Yamaha CS 80, a synthesizer that was a real revolution in the year that it was released, 1977. I suspect that the "Hitchcock Suite" is one of the first pieces in which Klaus is using this mighty (and heavy) instrument. From then on, the CS 80 was used by Klaus extensively on records as well as during concerts, mostly as solo instrument (for instance the hard attacks during "A Few Minutes After Trancefer" on the 1981 TRANCEFER album) or as a way to set the tone or the pace of a lengthy and enduring concert piece.

After forty minutes of studio glory, the second CD of this three-CD set features more concert recordings from the 1979 tour. Both "L'affaire Tournesol" and "Bona fide" are encores of concerts played respectively in Brussels (October 24th) and Aalst (October 26th). Both share the same type of sequence, but obviously bear their own signature.

In "L'affaire Tournesol" Klaus builds up the basic track step by step, making room for an almost choral sounding Minimoog solo, which doesn't sound as harsh as some of his solo playing during concert performances in the early eighties, but it does have the power and the climaxing notes to round it off and bring the rhythmical piece to an extraordinary ending, using string sounds coming out of the Korn PS 3300. Klaus must have had a jolly good concert that night. On the contrary, "Bona fide" is not as prolific and significant and gives the feeling that Klaus was probably a bit in a hurry that night.

Inn 1980 Klaus Schulze was just at the start of his long journey through the digital age. The DIG IT record was a child of its time and opened doors for more experimentation on synthesizers such as the CS 80, PPG Wave and Fairlight, all recorded in glorious digital sound.

In addition, Klaus got more into drum programming too, partly due to his work with percussionist Michael Shrieve, as heard on CD 3. "I Remember Rahsaan" and "A Quick One" are variations on "Silent Running", the mighty second side of his monumental TRANCEFER album that came out in 1981. Also worth of mention is the flute and sax playing of Steve Jolliffe, the guy that was part of Tangerine Dream's 1978 line-up and left the band after a fight on stage with TD's mastermind Edgar Froese during the last concert together in London in March 1978. The 'little things' that Jolliffe did with Schulze (and of which a longer part was released on the Wahnfried MIDITATION album in 1986), are nice, but not of great mention. They lack a certain 'click' between Steve and Klaus. "Count Me In" features elements from "Spielglocken" and "Tango Saty", which appeared on the AUDENTITY album (1983), including the Simmons drums and the EEH drum computer, played and programmed by Shrieve. "Zugabe Timbales" is actually the backing track of the encore that was performed by Klaus and his guest Manuel Gottsching on the fall 1981 tour throughout Europe. "Keep Up with the Times" is reminiscent of the backing track that was used for the first main part of that same concert tour: a powerful endeavour and the ideal soundtrack for a long Autobahn drive. Finally, how far Schulze went during concerts can be heard on "The Martial Law", where he gives it his all on the Minimoog. What a contrast, compared to the elegant "L'affaire Tournesol" on CD 2. Just listen and be careful: this is angry, but melodic stuff in the typical Schulze eighties way!

The late seventies/early eighties work of Klaus Schulze is often overlooked and underrated by many. Hearing the material featured on this 3-CD set, one can discover the other side of that particular period when analogue was still there, but digital was about to become the power to be.

(Wouter Bessels, July 2008)