Moondawn

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

 

 

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Schulze really came into his own on this album.....by adding someone else into the mix....Harald Grosskopf on drums. Recorded over the course of just a small handful of sessions at the now legendary Panne-Paulsen studios in January of 1976, both musicians rose to the occasion of side one's FLOATING to produce a masterwork of improvisation. It shouldn't be possible for Grosskopf to keep such mesmeric time, or to respond so well to Schulze's aerial forays over his vast bank of rhythms and strings, but he does, and the end result is a classic piece of electronic work-out that, if you're in the mood, is very hard to beat.

I give it 4 stars as side two's MINDPHASER begins minimally and beautifully, but once the organ based 'rock' second half begins, there is a lack of ideas and spontenaiety, and you can't help feeling that they were starting to get tired. But back in the days, anyone who spent a year trying to make something that sounded as good as Schulze and Grosskopf did in little more than a weekend must surely have been kicking themselves.

One of the most famous KS albums. The first track, 'Floating', is, as the title says, a floating rhythmic experience. The track is perhaps a little too long, though. The second, 'Mindphaser', builds up a dramatic collage of high-toned voicelike sounds which changes VERY sudden and dramatic after 12 minutes into a heavy, rhythmic organ rock piece. 'Moondawn' is one of Schulze's most rock oriented works. Brilliant work.

Moondawn was recorded by Klaus Schulze in 1976, following the 1975 release of Timewind with its phenomenal Bayreuth Return suite which gained him plenty of international recognition. Moondawn was the first one of four albums recorded by Klaus Schulze, an excellent drummer himself, including Harald Grosskopf playing drums. All of the sudden this electronic music of its grand master became even more alive, beating stronger rhythm of human life. All of their playing was completely improvised and both tracks of this album were recorded within a couple of hours. Obviously Klaus must have been developing the concept in his genius mind for a while because this music is truly spectacular. Whereas Timewind was a bit one sided Moondawn contains a better overall b side composition and it is easy to understand why many admirers of electronic music chose this album as their favorite one. Personally I find Body Love with its three very level compositions more even overall and that is why that album is my favorite one. Body Love 2 is an extension of the theme and it is just as great.

Moondawn's main composition Floating starts with an Arabic spoken prayer which sounded so much more exotic and spectacular to some of us back in 1976. The music develops rather slowly and the strange post prayer background noise consistently persists until close to the 7th minute. The entire atmosphere up to that point might seem almost like a dead corpse being mourned over by the chant and noise. At about 5:30 something is becoming alive or slowly creeping back to life but it is not until about 7:30 when this music finally becomes alive. Harald's drums and cymbals join in and by about 9:30 we are completely floating in the beauty of this creation. Listening to it back in 1976 was truly magnificent because although the Bayreuth Return was spectacular it was not nearly as dramatic. It was hypnotic and Floating is not. Floating in about 13:00 becomes beautifully delayed and distorted. We have Floating chasing Floating and at least to me today, 34 years later, this fragment sounds as great as it did back then when it was close to the edge all over again just in a different form. Harald's drumming becomes amazing at times and this track just keeps on going until about the 27th minute. Perhaps the last 7 of those were not developed to perfection, at least in my mind. Klaus had decided to peacefully fade out the track rather than to crush it, as he did a year earlier.
Following it Mindphaser comes to us upon the waves of some cosmic ocean with the sounds of thunder present. Again, the beginning 11 minutes develop slowly without any breathtaking moments which come exactly at 11:45 brought by the drums of Harald Grosskopf who is really saving that piece. His drums are much more involved this time leading the way Klaus is following at first and starts guiding soon after. It almost sounds as if he needed some waking up. He used to sleep during days and work at night and I have no clue what time of day this was recorded. Because there is still 13 minutes of great music here and the wavy beginning was very interesting as well, I value this side b of Moondawn higher than the b side of Timewind. In the 18th minute this music is becoming truly spectacular again and the end of Mindphaser is its strongest part.

If you are new to Klaus Schulze and need an introduction, you might as well start right here, in between of Timewind and Body Love albums. The in between is not only chronological but applies to the energy level and to the structure of this composition, right on the edge of electronic music and progressive rock.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Schulze.
This cd is excellent, when you consider that it was released in the mid seventies it's quite incredible, other artists were releasing electronic music at this time,the obvious... Read more

Published 9 months ago by micro man

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning and emotional electronic music
This album is truly special. The first track 'Floating' is a first class example of a large scale structure that is constantly being propelled forward and thus never allowing the... Read more

Published 17 months ago by Alexander J. Dunn

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