Klaus Schulze & Solar Moon: Ultimate Docking (2000)

Klaus Schulze & Solar Moon - Ultimate Docking

Klaus Schulze (keyboards)
Tom Dams (keyboards, vocals)
George Solar (percussion, bass)

Track Listing:

1.	Let the rain come	22:42
2.	You get what...	22:17
3.	Strong	14:52
4.	Sugar Mode	16:46

Track Listing (Bonus CD):

1.	Strong (Dub Version)	24:36
2.	What you deserve (Poly Dub)	28:55
3.	What you deserve (Instrumental)	22:34

Rating: 3 Stars
Bonus Tracks: 3 Stars

I almost didn't include this CD in my full reviews of Klaus Schulze's albums. I felt inclined to relegate it to collaboration status and list it as an "extra album", as I did with "Go" and "Go Live". It was originally released as the fifth album of the "Contemporary Works 1" box set, with a slightly different title. The CD was simply called "Docking" in the box set. I assume that it's become "Ultimate" by the addition of the bonus CD. Additionally, the musicians are credited on the box set as "Klaus Schulze vs. Solar Moon". In the 1990's Techno scene it was common for the equal collaborations of two artists to be published as "X vs. Y", as if the musical session is a fight. If "Docking" is seen as a fight between Klaus Schulze and Solar Moon, Klaus lost the fight. He's so far in the background that Solar Moon could have hired a session musician to fill in for him.

This is a bare bones release, compared with the other recent rereleases of Klaus Schulze's albums. There's no booklet with notes and thoughts from Klaus and KDM. This reinforces my opinion that I should consider the album to be part of the Klaus Schulze apocrypha. It seems that Klaus distanced himself from it between 2000 (when it was recorded and first released) and 2017 (when it was rereleased).

Due to the lack of liner notes I know almost nothing about the album, apart from notes written on the MIG label's website. My assumption is that the bonus tracks were mixed by Solar Moon without input from Klaus Schulze.

It's not a bad album. The music is pleasant but forgettable. I returned to it today because I'm listening to all of Klaus Schulze's albums in chronological order, but I doubt I'll listen to it again.