AUDENTITY

With "Dune" I concluded that 80's work of Klaus Schulze might be worth listening to. So I picked up this "Audentity" which contains almost 100 minutes of synthesizer music on a double vinyl, containing three side long tracks and one side filled with three shorter tracks. Klaus Schulze still collaborates with Wolfgang Tiepold on Cello which have been proven to be very succesfull (X, Dune). Michael Shrieve takes care for the drum computer and Rainer Bloss adds some "Glockenspiel" and soundeffects. Klaus Schulze is giving more sounds out of hand!

The opening side filling track "Cellistica" shows Schulze in a less abstract form then I'm used too. This is due to more clear melodies and the all flattening drum computers (no, I'm not too fond of these!). Because of some strange sounding "organs" and space effects this composition is still quiet listenable, but doesn't leave me too enthousiastic. The second side - which is filled with three tracks - I find almost unlistenable because of the first and third composition on this side. The first ("Tango - Saty") should have been funny, but I find it the weakest track I've heard so far by Klaus Schulze. The third composition I find quiet boring because of the drum computers in it. The second composition may be quiet good, like other reviewers have pronounced, but cannot save this side for me.

The third side is filled with another side filling track, named "Spielglocken". This composition I find a bit too predictable, because of the constant use of drum computer, which flattens the sound and lack of abstraction. The last side contains the last track "Sebastian im Traum". This I find actually the only compostion worth listening too. It is far more abstract, lacking any form of percussion or drums, and contains some nice glockenspiel and space effects. It also contains some more horrifying parts.

In total I cannot say I'm very fond of this double record. There is a lot of mediocre/ weak material on it and just one composition that stands out, but this one is still not one of Schulze's best works. Because of the huge amount of material on this album this could however be a nice addition for fans.