Klaus Schulze: Dune (1979)

Klaus Schulze - Dune

KS Canon 11

Track Listing:

1.	Dune	30:28
2.	Shadows of Ignorance	26:22

Bonus Tracks:

3.

Le Mans

23:03

Notes:
(1) Wolfgang Tiebold plays cello.
(2) Arthur Brown sings on "Shadows of Ignorance".

Rating: 3½ Stars
Bonus Tracks: 3 Stars

I bought this LP a few years after it was released, after other albums that were released later. The reason is simply that I didn't know it has been released. If I remember correctly, I first noticed it on sale in 1982.

Klaus Schulze met Arthur Brown in the cafeteria of Island Records. It was a place where the label's artists could eat food for free. Klaus was a big fan of Arthur Brown, especially his single "Fire" (1968), so he approached him and said, "I make music as well. Can you sing with me?" Arthur agreed immediately, even though he knew nothing about Klaus and his music. The result was a few concerts together in 1977. Arthur improvised the words while Klaus played. Two years later he recorded "Dune" and went on tour with Klaus, 38 concerts in seven weeks. According to Klaus, Arthur was unreliable. Sometimes he would forget a concert was planned and not turn up, but they were still great friends and had a lot of fun together.

Arthur Brown is a singer that I greatly admired in the 1970's. I saw him perform live twice in 1974. I was surprised to see him team up with Klaus Schulze, and I regret to say that I don't consider their partnership successful. "Dune" is an album that I could never relate to. As I remember, I rarely listened to it. The instrumental track on the first side is good, but not up to the level of Klaus Schulze's previous albums. I only enjoy the first eight minutes of "Shadows of Ignorance", before Arthur Brown starts to sing. My rating is the average of 4 stars for the first side and 3 stars for the second side.

The bonus track is an excerpt from a live concert in the French city Le Mans. The music is interesting, but the recording quality isn't very good.

---

This is the text of "Shadows of Ignorance". Supposedly Klaus wrote it himself and Arthur Brown corrected it, since he was an English speaker. Klaus said on the cover of "Mirage" that he's a musician, not a poet. This attempt at poetry proves he was right.

The past will cling and gather to us,
Face the future, free from all,
Look beyond where nothing gathers,
Where no voices ever call.

There we stand and look upon it,
There we are and here we stand,
Looking down on ourselves,
Either of us on both hands.

It is love that gathers
And love that falls
And love that delusion shatters for us.
There the sunbeams shine so brightly
Through the shadows of ignorance.

And there lies my call beyond it all
To return in every single word,
And learn that nothing ever
was created without a purpose,
And ignorance is the choice not to know,
So across the sands I go.

Water runs, the sunlight glistening
Like a jewel across the pearl,
Water runs, the sunlight glistening,
See the sunlight dally home.

From the mountains
you can hear the voices calling,
From afar you can hear their echoing,
And now you look upon the stars
Gaily brightening, brightening, brightening
From the light of the sun.

Every star and every planet shall be heard,
Every word shall be spread
Across the universe.
Every gathering, every man,
Everyone who'd ever heard
Himself calling to them,
Oh Lord, upon the God of all
Behind the universe,
Everything spells your name,
Everything calls your verse.

Every word and every tree.
Every land and every bee.
Every bird, every beautiful woman,
Every strong man, every understanding
That is you and the living too,
We know that we're coming through,
Ooh ooh, coming through,
Ooh ooh, coming through,
Across the sand, coming through,
Across the sand.

Daylight glitter, no shadows,
Daylight glitter, no shadows,
See the pattering, feel the turtle,
Across the desert to the snow
From where lands of sunshine birth
To the snowclad cold wide earth.

There is nothing to believe,
Nothing that behind you be,
Everything is one, the same,
And the future is your game.
Choose your future, make your life,
Reading now and understand
Beyond all where fate will lie,
There go I, there go I,
Travelling high.

Dancing blood upon the feet,
Feel the rhythm of the beat,
Dancing as the planets go round,
Hear the rhythm of the sound,
Feel the touch of all the earth,
Since the time that had its birth,
Believe the sky.

Empires have no hold on me,
Nor the pull of history,
Rich is delusion, cast the shed,
I will dance upon their head.
Rich is delusion, beckon confusion,
Telling my heart where it must go,
I can be seen upon the screen
Of the television scene
That you've always ever been,
That we forgot to know.

Empty's the power, empty's the glory,
Empty the vision that can see,
Empty the season, empty the story,
Empty the reason to be.

Onwards, ever onwards going,
Onwards, ever onwards going,
Onwards, ever onwards going,
Sometimes the future knowing,
Still having to be growing,
Onwards, ever onwards going,
And loving to be knowing
The time, the time,
The time to change your mind,
To expand with your hand,
Feel the future, every land.

Now it's growing, now you see
Where the future ought to be,
It's the reason you must know,
Got to be and let it go,
Got to be, let it go,
Got to be, let it go,
Got to be, let it go,
Got to be, let it go.

This was a dream, let's make it real,
Everything knows what your heart feels,
And though the sun should shine at night,
Though the stars should not be bright,
I'd hold you with my hands and see you grow.

Call me with your special voice,
Let me hear your soul rejoice,
Let the people of the world all know,
Time for evolution comes,
Throw off the yoke and the sound of drums.

The love, the love, the love that flows!

Throw off the mountain yoke,
See the sun that rises on the hill,
It's there still.

So you walk the line of time,
And you dance the beat of your heart,
You walk the line of your mind,
To where it never could start.
To where all is arrayed beyond you,
Beside you, round you, wherever you go.
Looking in love for a reason.

You know it's all, all, all, all,
All is love and all is growing,
All the destiny you knew,
All is love and all is showing,
Destiny is what you do
When you're you,
What you are before you were!

And that means all I give to be,
And that is why sweetness and mercy
Every day of my life will follow on
Faster than the horses,
Swifter than lightbeams,
Drifting by.

That is the place.