- Audio CD (7 May 2007)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Format: Extra tracks
- Label: Revisited
- ASIN: B000OPQ00K
- Other Editions: Audio CD | MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 140,252 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
If you have any other KS re-releases in this series, you will already know about the quality of the packaging and the booklet that comes with each one. Blackdance is no exception and provides `photos from kdm's archives plus notes by KS and kdm about the music and events of the time.
`Ways Of Changes' opens with a quite haunting harmonium like sound, which is then embellished by KS playing a 12 string guitar. I never knew he could play guitar and his booklet notes suggest he regrets using it - not a bit of it, it sounds beautiful and sets the scene for some good keyboard work on a foundation of driving percussion with VCS3 swirls (great stereo effect on headphones). I think this is the best track of the original album.
`Some Velvet Phasing' is a gentle piece of atmospheric music which is pleasant but not spectacular.
`Voices Of Syn' starts with an opera singer for about 40 seconds before KS adds an underlying keyboard `swell', adding organ before moving on to a pulsing beat with percussion and keyboard highlights. Another track that is OK and worth repeated listening but doesn't really grab me to make it first choice if I fancy some KS music.
The bonus tracks have been given facetious titles of `Foreplay' and `Synthies Have (no) Balls' but the latter in particular is exceptional atmospheric music that gradually adds a drum beat and up tempo lead keyboard with an underlying pulse. This is possibly the best track on the disc and it's only in the last minute or so where KS appears to be messing about with the speed that it goes off the boil (in my opinion, but others may love it). The tape box and notes suggest that KS recorded these whilst helping at The Manor in Oxfordshire in 1976. kdm doesn't think KS was in Oxford at that time but KS confirms it is definitely his work. It hasn't been worked on for hours and hours, so there are some rough edges as an indication that these are straight one-off recordings - even so, I believe both are very worthy of regular listens.
Overall, a worthwhile purchase if you don't have the album and certainly better than any version without the bonus tracks, but in my opinion, not a `must have' in the Schulze collection if money is tight.
`Ways Of Changes' opens with a quite haunting harmonium like sound, which is then embellished by KS playing a 12 string guitar. I never knew he could play guitar and his booklet notes suggest he regrets using it - not a bit of it, it sounds beautiful and sets the scene for some good keyboard work on a foundation of driving percussion with VCS3 swirls (great stereo effect on headphones). I think this is the best track of the original album.
`Some Velvet Phasing' is a gentle piece of atmospheric music which is pleasant but not spectacular.
`Voices Of Syn' starts with an opera singer for about 40 seconds before KS adds an underlying keyboard `swell', adding organ before moving on to a pulsing beat with percussion and keyboard highlights. Another track that is OK and worth repeated listening but doesn't really grab me to make it first choice if I fancy some KS music.
The bonus tracks have been given facetious titles of `Foreplay' and `Synthies Have (no) Balls' but the latter in particular is exceptional atmospheric music that gradually adds a drum beat and up tempo lead keyboard with an underlying pulse. This is possibly the best track on the disc and it's only in the last minute or so where KS appears to be messing about with the speed that it goes off the boil (in my opinion, but others may love it). The tape box and notes suggest that KS recorded these whilst helping at The Manor in Oxfordshire in 1976. kdm doesn't think KS was in Oxford at that time but KS confirms it is definitely his work. It hasn't been worked on for hours and hours, so there are some rough edges as an indication that these are straight one-off recordings - even so, I believe both are very worthy of regular listens.
Overall, a worthwhile purchase if you don't have the album and certainly better than any version without the bonus tracks, but in my opinion, not a `must have' in the Schulze collection if money is tight.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
T. Braddick makes some good points in the other review here. However, we're all slightly different, and I wanted to spread a little love around. For me, this is THE KS albumt to get. Then again, it was my introduction to his music.
Firstly I was a Tangerine Dream fan, and came across KS's name from their first album. I must have seen this album (yes, vinyl) in the stores at the time. I picked it up because of the glorious cover art, and of course the TD association. I was hooked from the get go.
The two elements that set this music aside is the guitar on the first track, and singing on "Voices of Syn". The vocals are very haunting and add another dimension to the sound. The mixture of electrinics and classical voice is fascinating, and reachs deep inside the ambiance. It's an juxtaposition that has stuck with me over the last 20 years or so.
Of course, I already owned this title on vinyl and CD. So to answer a question that might be on some peopled minds, I can assure you that these reissues have indeed been remastered. You might wonder what this means in the context of KS's music. Some of it is subtle, and none of it conventional. However, I must say, the sound is now fuller, closer to the listener. There are fine details that can be heard for the first time.
In other words, these reissues (I have a few of them now) do indeed justify their cost based solely on the jump in quality. It's there, and easy to hear.
As to the music - this album is ESSENTIAL music, wjile some might think it lesser KS, I wholly disagree. This is a great palce to start the journey, or can serve as a stop along the way.
Firstly I was a Tangerine Dream fan, and came across KS's name from their first album. I must have seen this album (yes, vinyl) in the stores at the time. I picked it up because of the glorious cover art, and of course the TD association. I was hooked from the get go.
The two elements that set this music aside is the guitar on the first track, and singing on "Voices of Syn". The vocals are very haunting and add another dimension to the sound. The mixture of electrinics and classical voice is fascinating, and reachs deep inside the ambiance. It's an juxtaposition that has stuck with me over the last 20 years or so.
Of course, I already owned this title on vinyl and CD. So to answer a question that might be on some peopled minds, I can assure you that these reissues have indeed been remastered. You might wonder what this means in the context of KS's music. Some of it is subtle, and none of it conventional. However, I must say, the sound is now fuller, closer to the listener. There are fine details that can be heard for the first time.
In other words, these reissues (I have a few of them now) do indeed justify their cost based solely on the jump in quality. It's there, and easy to hear.
As to the music - this album is ESSENTIAL music, wjile some might think it lesser KS, I wholly disagree. This is a great palce to start the journey, or can serve as a stop along the way.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Difficult but Rewarding
13 Feb 2008
Format:Audio CD
Blackdance, Schulze's exploration of ethnic sounds in a wholly electronic context, is a challenging and difficult listen, but extremely worthwhile. It's an album most have to listen to several times before it can be genuinely appreciated. Schulze's (rare) use of acoustic guitar, congas, tablas and piano give the pieces on Blackdance an earthy, organic feel. This is especially the case on the heavily percussive "Ways of Changes" where Klaus's congas provide a rhythmic pulse that anchors his synthesizer sweeps and electronic effects to terra firma. The eerie "Some Velvet Phasing" almost reminds one of a track from the previous year's Cyborg: a dark, surreal ambient soundtrack for somnambulists. And then there's the spiraling "Voices of Syn," which creates an atmosphere of trance-like stasis. Huge washes of VCS3 synth rise and fall like electromagnetic waves on the oceans of interstellar space. It's almost as if Terry Riley had composed "A Rainbow in Curved Air" on a synth instead of an organ. Blackdance isn't an easy listen, but if you give it time, you'll grow to appreciate it as one of Schulze's rare delights.
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