Wahnfried: Megatone (1984)

Richard Wahnfried - Megatone

Wahnfried 3

Klaus Schulze (synthesizers)
Michael Garvens (vocals)
Harald Katzsch (guitar)
Axel-Glenn Müller (saxophone)
Michael Shrieve (drums)
Ulli Schober (drums)

Track Listing:

1.	Angry Young Boys	14:15
2.	Agamemory	08:45
3.	Rich Meets Max	20:22

Rating: 3 Stars

This is the third album that Klaus Schulze made using the pseudonym Richard Wahnfried. I have difficulty rating this album. It's so un-Schulze, if you understand what I mean, even more un-Schulze than the first two Wahnfried albums. Today was the first time I listened to it for more than 20 years. I'd forgotten what it sounded like.

The first track begins pleasantly enough, a sequencer rhythm overlayed by a rock beat, and I even enjoyed the electric guitar, but as soon as Michael Garvens started to sing my jaw dropped. I couldn't take the lyrics seriously at all. Summing the album up, the first three minutes of side one are good, and from then on everything slides downhill. "Agamemory" is boring, and "Rich Meets Max" sounds like it's not intended to be taken seriously. There's a short excerpt of "Ludwig II von Bayern" from "X", immediately followed by a rock guitar. I don't understand what Klaus is trying to do with this album. It's the weakest of all the Wahnfried albums.

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Michael Shrieve - Transfer Station Blue (1984)

Michael Shrieve (drums)
Kevin Shrieve (guitar)
Klaus Schulze (synthesizers)

Rating: 4½ Stars

Klaus Schulze appears on Michael Shrieve's first solo album, together with Michael's brother Kevin. It's a pleasant album, highly percussive with interesting electronic layers. This is what a Wahnfried album should sound like.