BEYOND RECALL

The ever prolific Klaus Schulze has always been keen to embrace new technology, and as the 80s turned into the 90s samplers and associated devices started becoming more prevalent in his work. This offering from 1991 sees Schulze embracing digital technology and using it to add new dimensions to his work. This album was sufficiently cutting edge to make it onto the playlist in chill out rooms at early 90s raves, and the Future Sound Of London even included a sample on their excellent Life Forms album.

For all the new technology, this is pretty much business as usual for Schulze - there are no acid house rhythms or trance-ambient-dub remixes here. The opening track is 26 minutes of what sounds like samples of ethnic flutes and tropical wildlife woven into the kind of electronic tapestry that has been a mainstay of the synth maestro's output since the 70s. This piece sets the tone for the whole album, and therein lies the one problem with a lot of Schulze CDs - while the sound is great, it is possible to have too much of a good thing. There's a fair amount of repetition - or perhaps minor variations on theme is a better way of putting it - and after a certain point all the tracks seem to blend into one.

This is a fascinating and diverting album for fans of the electronic prog genre, but ultimately it would have benfitted from some judicious editing. Worth checking out, but not essential.