Klaus Schulze: Vanity of Sounds (2000)

Klaus Schulze - Vanity of Sounds

KS Canon 84

Track Listing:

1.	Vanity of Sounds	17:08
2.	Sacred Romance	23:13
3.	The Wings of Strings	14:47
4.	From Words to Silence	23:40

Rating: 4 Stars

The album consists of a single piece of music, recorded between 1999 and 2000. The track boundaries have been placed where the mood or the style changes.

This is the 34th solo album recorded by Klaus Schulze. There's a jump in the album number from the last solo album I reviewed, "Dosburg Online", which was the 78th album. The reason is that KDM's official numbering of the Klaus Schulze canon includes the last five discs of the Ultimate Edition, which was released in January 2000. The Ultimate Edition was a limited edition 50-CD box set, which was made up of the previously released Silver Edition (10 CDs), Historic Edition (10 CDs) and Jubilee Edition (25 CDs), combined with an additional five CDs. This was a welcome box set for Klaus Schulze fans who were unable to purchase the older box sets, but it was annoying for fans like me who had all the box sets and just wanted the five new CDs. As a slight help, KDM sold the last 10 CDs of the Ultimate Edition in a separate mini-box set, so that the fans only had to repurchase five of the CDs they already owned. Still annoying, though.

Of course, the Ultimate Edition was also soon sold out, so KDM decided to rerelease all of the music from the Ultimate Edition in the form of three-CD box sets, La Vie Electronique, sorted into chronological order. These rereleases were essential to me, because all my Klaus Schulze CDs were stolen by Thomas Kuzilla of Dearborn Heights, Michigan in June 2000.

In October 2000 yet another box set was released, the 10-CD set "Contemporary Works 1". This consisted of six Klaus Schulze solo CDs, one Wahnfried album, two collaboration albums, and one CD with short pieces of music recorded over a period of years. The Klaus Schulze solo CDs were defined as canon by KDM (the numbers 84 to 89). These CDs were later released unchanged as solo albums, with the canon numbering on the spine.

This is a good album, though not one of Schulze's best.

In the original version of my review I claimed that this is a live album. That was a mistake, caused by a misunderstanding of an online description. My thanks to Olaf Lux for pointing out my error. The CD's musical style itself should be enough to prove that it isn't a live recording.