FIRST ENCOUNTER TOUR 1996

Cluster regrouped several years ago after a long hiatus, releasing "Apropos Cluster" and then several live albums. First came "One Hour", then this double disc appeared a year or two later. Another live album, recorded in Japan, appeared later (I haven't heard it). My reaction to all of these albums is ambivalence; most of the tracks seem pretty good, but I don't feel that Moebius & Roedelius were particularly inspired at any time. There's an additional problem with the live albums: everything is in the center of the stereo field, with very little sense of space. The cover art's pretty darned lame, too! Stick with the earlier albums, or some of the solo/collaborative works.