Klaus Schulze: La Vie Electronique 4 (2009)

La Vie Electronique 4  (1975 to 1976)

Track Listing (CD 1):

1.

Just an old-fashioned Schulze track

73:28

1975  Live

Track Listing (CD 2):

1.	Shadow Piece	13:10	1975-76  Live
2.	I sing the Body Electric	49:15	1976  Live
3.	Das Herz von Grönland	14:16	1976  Live

Track Listing (CD 3):

1.	The Andromeda Strain	41:46	1976  Live
2.	Make room, make room!	28:57	1976  Live
3.	Darkest Steglitz	07:43	1976  Live

Rating: 5 Stars

The fourth album in the La Vie Electronique series is made up entirely of live recordings.

"Just an old-fashioned Schulze track" was probably recorded at a concert in Fürth, Germany on 4th October 1975. That's what the writing on the tape box says, but KDM isn't 100% sure.

"Shadow Piece " was recorded at a concert in 1975 or 1976.

"I sing the Body Electric" was recorded at a concert in Rouen, France on 20th April 1976.

"Das Herz von Grönland" was recorded at a concert in Oberhausen, Germany on 7th November 1976.

"The Andromeda Strain" was recorded at a concert in Rotterdam, Netherlands on 9th May 1976.

"Make room, make room" was recorded at a concert in the Netherlands in May 1976.

"Darkest Steglitz" was recorded at a concert in Berlin, Germany on 15th December 1976.

The recording quality is first class, with the exception of a couple of tape faults on "I sing the Body Electric". Apart from this the music is indistinguishable from his studio recordings. There are no audience sounds. It was usual for Klaus to have state-of-the-art recording equipment on stage, and I assume it was plugged directly into his instruments.

The music is all excellent, but the outstanding track is the (supposedly) old-fashioned track on the first CD. It's the most exciting piece of music I've ever heard from Klaus.

I've just reviewed four LVE albums in a row, all from 2009. When the LVE series began KDM promised four albums a year from 2009 to 2012. He kept this schedule for the first eight albums, but in 2011 the releases slowed down. I'm reviewing Klaus Schulze's albums in order of their release, so it means that the LVE albums will begin to interweave with his newly recorded albums.

---

La Vie Electronique 4 Liner Notes

Listening to Klaus Schulze's catalogue in the 21st century, re-experiencing the gargantuan works that defined both his illustrious career and the much-heralded genre of electronica loosely defined as "space music", does anything emerge on point? Only that where others dared follow, Schulze fomented the lead, and he's barely looked back since. Oh, stylistic frontiers are sometimes explored again in order to yield further riches, concepts established in the bygone days of the 70's rear their heads again, but more often than not, Schulze epitomizes what many consider to be the pinnacle of 20th century Teutonic electronica. Rather than truck in calcifying prog-rock or degenerate into the stultifying realms of "new age", Schulze harnessed all the great instrumental tools of the era (Moogs, ARPs, EMS, and other names that evoke ancient analog heaven) and essentially forged his own musical niche. In so doing, he amassed a back catalogue with few rivals, single-mindedly pursuing a creative course that one could spend the better part of a lifetime absorbing.

Even now, the mind reels when considering that Schulze's auspicious debut, IRRLICHT, is well over 35 years old. The charmingly primitive electronic organ and orchestral processing that makes up that highly provocative work, though no doubt redolent of its date and place (the evolution of instrumentation and its attendant technology is a potent dating system, especially in the realm of electronic music), manages to broach levels of awe, for it still sounds like nothing else. Id-altering, suffused with the purple twilight of psychedelia, Schulze is right in appraising IRRLICHT as resembling "musique concrète" more than the traditional "space music" he would soon become tethered to. Of course, that very sonic construct would emerge full-force on CYBORG, and proceed apace through BLACKDANCE, PICTURE MUSIC, and TIMEWIND (all three of which sport some of the finest faux-Dali covers ever to grace an electronic music record jacket), culminating in the now-classic sequencer matrices of MOONDAWN. Stunning and genre-defining as these records are, Schulze's subsequent work was already making tentative moves away from the tyranny of the sequencer grid that rubberstamped his early material, and, with the advent of digital synthesis (and the baby steps of MIDI) came whole new worlds to conquer. 

But let's face it: the man was already boldly going where none had gone before. The hallucinogenic freak-outs that imbibed Schulze's tenure with Ash Ra Tempel, and even his early days with colleagues Edgar Froese & Co in the first incarnation of Tangerine Dream, sowed the seeds and provided impetus, but it was only when he struck out on his own did many realize a potent form of electrified sonics was being birthed. Previous volumes of these newly reissued portions of the massive ULTIMATE EDITION box set have made it painstakingly clear that Schulze in studio and Schulze live were two related but contrasting propositions. Undoubtedly, all of the pioneering initial Schulze sides are stone-cold classics, yet the numerous, live-recorded pieces scattered across this spate of new issues is testament to how totally magnetic (and historically important) the artist's multi-tiered sound canvases, painted in front of spellbound audiences, truly were. 

This all makes for some expansive listening marathons. Patience is required but rewarded; on the first disc of this set alone, "Just an Old-Fashioned Schulze Track" (from 1975) peaks at a seemingly daunting 73 minutes, but getting from A to B (or, more clearly, from beginning to end) is what makes Schulze's music absolutely gripping in totality. It also helps to understand from whence come his imagistic titles. An avid follower of science fiction film and literature, Schulze has referenced authors on past works (see "Study for Philip K. Dick" on LVE 2), but the correlations run wide and deep on this set. As well they should; science fiction indeed can find its sonic analog ("pun" most intended) in electronic music's labyrinthine genres and sub-categories, but nowhere are futurist concerns more abundant than in the Germanic synth orchestrations of Schulze and his colleagues.

 

In this edition, the referents eclipse numerous sources. CD Three finds Schulze originating his own themes for "The Andromeda Strain", using his signature coalsack atmospheres and metallic hues to paint a phenomenally vivid environment of dark viral menace, the direct antithesis of Gil MeIle's laboratory experimentations yet every bit its other-dimensional twin. "Make Room, Make Room!" opens out of a sea of dirty pulses amidst clanking machines and misfiring pistons, effectively mirroring from Harry Harrison's source novel the angst of an overpopulated society on the brink. CD Two tackles no less an artist of similar Schulzian stature than Ray Bradbury, the centerpiece of which is the near-50 minute piece titled after one of the author's most famous story collections, "I Sing the Body Electric". This six-part suite, recorded at a solo concert in France in 1976, is a simply glorious piece of sonic art, as reflective of science fiction imagery as the technological ends that Schulze uses to justify his aural means. Here, his synths simply sing; they ascend, They soar, they glide on infinitely rising thermals. Were it not for the unfortunate baggage that visually accompanies the word "spiritual" when describing atmospheric electronic music (it's where that term "new age" tends to be uttered), one could easily define this piece in such a manner. Grandiose, in the best sense, complex and quite exploratory, these sounds feel both timeless and ageless, regardless of the instruments used in their creation. If there is any more apt a title for a Schulze piece than "The Machineries of Joy", I'm at a loss to come up with one; it perfectly describes both its primer and subsequent sonic alchemist, the technician and his equipment operating in blissful synergy. 

The phrase "music of the spheres" is defined as "a music, imperceptible to human ears, formerly supposed to be produced by the movements of the spheres or heavenly bodies". Schulze's legacy – considered from either his halcyon days or drawn from contemporary quarters – is most definitely perceptible, but it's easy to draw parallels between the gravitational forces of his immense sonic constructs and the motions of astral bodies. Both connote great scope, broker galactic vision, requirements that should hold Schulze's work in just as everlasting accord. 

(Darren Bergstein, August 2008)

---

Lisa Gerrard - Come Quietly (2009)

Lisa Gerrard (vocals)

Klaus Schulze (keyboards)

Rating: 4 Stars

This is a CD that was originally sold at Lisa Gerrard's concerts. Later it was available from Lisa Gerrard's website. It was listed on Amazon, but marked as "Currently unavailable". I waited and waited, but it was never available, except as an MP3 album for download.

Unlike the other collaborations, this album is all about Lisa Gerrard. Lisa's voice dominates while Klaus provides backing music. Nominally, Klaus has two solo tracks, but it's still backing music, because the CD's seven tracks are just one piece of music with track breaks at relevant points.

I'm curious when this album was recorded. Klaus and Lisa lived on opposite sides of the world and only came together for concerts. Was it recorded when they had a few hours free before a concert? If anyone knows, please leave a comment below.