HANS-JOACHIM ROEDELIUS

We begin with "Am Rockzipfel" a catchy and rhythmic track with the guitar soloing over top. Bass and drums a minute in as it picks up some. The tempo will continue to shift. Spacey winds end it. The title track is almost 14 minutes long and we get repeated themes and I love the ideas here like that repetitive sound of crashing waves over and over as piano and synths help out along with other sounds. This section maxes out after 5 minutes then a new section with vocal melodies, synths and more takes over. It turns haunting after 6 minutes and it sounds like organ briefly before spacey synth sounds take over and it's dark. Electronics to the end.

"Johannesluste" is such a melodic and beautiful track with picked guitar, synths and more. I like the two synth players combining their talents on "Glaubersalz". The only misstep for my tastes is "Dr. Livingstone" with those Asian traditional sounds coming through too strong. The closer opens with wind as a slow beat joins in along with keys, synths and what sounds like samples. Pretty cool anyways. This sounds even better when it turns fuller 3 minutes in. It all fades out after 5 minutes but then ends with the sounds of wind and fire as thunder claps. Cool that this was co-produced by Hans-Joachim and Conny Plank. The latter adds guitar, electronics and synths. Another guest adds guitar and bass while Dieter Moebius himself adds synths on the closer helping out his buddy.

Simple and melodic, as said, and even naïve synth and keyboard patterns. Sound is pleasantly "earthy" if that makes sense and rather lo-fi for today's standards which I like just fine. Track lengths vary between 1-8 minutes and even the longest ones don't overstay their welcome despite the simplicity. This is good for both attentive listening and background music for reading or just doing nothing.

Sky Records reissue of this (and other Roedelius, Moebius and related albums) comes in simple stylish digipak with no unnecessary bonus tracks or anything fancy, just liner notes by Asmus Tietchens and good remastering.

Zen electronics not for the jaded, the virtuoso-worshipping or the cool.

Roedelius' straight forward conception of his own ultra-refined musical language, takes free course via his piano and "electronic" arrangements in this his 1981, sixth solo album, "LUSTWANDEL".

The acoustic piano plays a major role, as usual, but the arrangements around it are more than mere accompaniment to embelish it. The extraordinary arrangements become more than once the main voices of the songs. And its songwriting is close to pure genius, more than once.

As if it to explain somehow his musical language to newcomers, it will be absurd not to relate them to "modern classical music" but also unwise not to mention its "german medieval folk music" roots or the sometimes "latin" syncopated flavor. In fact it is so well balanced, that any kind of "stylistic border" disappears by its sheer good and bright music composition and its precise and elegant arrangements.

So, travel into the far evocative past, without leaving your present day comforts and its modern "charms".

For prog/acoustic piano buffs a must, for the rest of the proggers an easy ****4 PA stars!

This second solo album ("Fool's Garden") is a serene and innocently naive but profound Ambient album balancing elegantly between acoustic and electronic instrumentation. It was produced by Peter Baumann (ex-Tangerine Dream, solo). A couple of citations from the extended 2009 re-release: "... a thoroughly romantic album, bursting with joie de vivre and unadulterated joy. In the very best sense of the word, this is 'foolish' music (...) incredibly personal, not only due to the fact that Roedelius as worked the voices of his wife and newly born daughter Rosa into the album, but also because he confronts the listener with his unfiltered, open perspective on how he sees things."

The opener 'Fou Fou' featuring soft electronic sounds is a happy little etude-like piece (the melody sounds familiar). 'Toujours' pairs together classical piano and Electronic Music in a simple but emotionally deep composition. Then comes a carousel-like piece I rather skip. The 4th track is a beautiful, melancholic acoustic piano solo with some electronic colourings. Electronic 'Cafe Central' is a waltz, and in 'Le Jardin' delicate piano is backed with birdsong. This is peaceful, introspective music that a Zen Buddhist would enjoy too! The next equally serene piece features guest appearances for flute and cello. JADE WARRIOR at their calmest feels quite similar but here the soothing harmony is deeper. 'Etoiles' has female voice albeit in a very briefly.

With an exception of a couple of Carousel tunes I enjoy this 33½-minute album a lot, but in a wrong mood its minimalistic serenity probably wouldn't make an impression. There's bonuses for a half an hour's worth. Every other is a remix of album tracks; I'm not interested to spot the differences. But the three other, slightly longer bonus tracks are excellent additions, especially the romantic 'Tempera'.

Warmly recommended if you enjoy peaceful, electro-acoustic Ambient.

Ex Animo, H.J. Roedelius's, 2010 album, makes it quiet clear, that his music can only be rated according to his own discography. This is how extensive, mature, and masterful, Roedelius's musical composition skills, have evolved, into more than strict Prog borderlines. This music has no limits but the ones he decides on.

Wide open inspiration, intriguing and masterful performances. Rich in instrumental arrangements and details, yet balanced toward simplicity. The songwriting is so perfect, it could survive without any of its decorations, that is why it feels so amazingly spacious, but so intimate and human at the same time.

The rating is the hard thing. Not for everyone (that explains the crowd), more for people who have at least a notion of this musician's value, and even better if you are not afraid of contemporary classic/electronic composers.

****4.5, "inches away of the next PA star",stars.

In a few words, it has been a while since HANS JOACHIM ROEDELIUS, found his own, self aquired musical language. From then on, his works are hard to single tag.

"King of Hearts" is close to the so loved, here in PA, "contemporary classical music" canons (which are not neccessarily symphonic, although this work is full of them). And understanding, also of course, that classical music has been using "electronic gadgets" since 1922 (more or less).

A very intimate and expanding trip into the world of evocative and intriguing electro/acoustics. Hypnotic and haunting piano melodies, surrounded by imperceptible electronic atmospheres, that are enhanced by the whispers of an almost invisible flute or "robotic" voice offs, or a fiddle or harp or vibraphone, or a "dirty" electric guitar. or bass, leading their way here and there, adding touches of substance and beauty. Daring instrumental, almost symphonical pieces and arrangements, which close the gap between contemporary classical and experimental electronic music composition writing. Threaded by a mysterious environment, that makes the work itself so intimate, eerie and yet inviting.

As the rating goes: For Prog/audiophiles that "welcome" different pictures in their prog-ears. And of course for anyone who KNOWS, this musician's relevance to Prog as such.

****4.5 PA stars.

It's certainly the best introduction for newcomers to the vast library of his solo work, revealing yet another colorful side to the multi-faceted gemstone of German electronic music. While his erstwhile Cluster compatriot Dieter Mobius was busy with his energized, electro-dub deconstructions alongside ace producer Conny Plank, Roedelius was working to refine his already simple keyboard technique, here playing (for the most part) little more than a solo acoustic or electric piano, sometimes with sparse percussive accompaniment (likewise acoustic and / or electric).

But unlike the amniotic New Age ambience of his endless "Selbstportrait" series, there's more of an edge to this collection, with a level of melodic invention in some tracks surpassing many of his later albums in their entirety. You'll notice a striking resemblance to the intimate musical palette of Erik Satie (imagine the 19th century French pianist employing a mellotron in his "Trés Gymnopédies"), although at least one of the tracks, the stark medieval dirge of "Wilkommen", wouldn't sound out of place on an early GRYPHON recording.

Depending on how you choose to hear him, Roedelius is either a Krautrock minimalist, a neo-classical miniaturist, or just a dedicated keyboard doodler scribbling away quietly in the corners of his own little musical canvas. At a time (the early 1980s) when mainstream musical culture was fast becoming defined by arena-rock bombast and New Wave clichés, such introspective grace was (and still is) like a small breath of fresh air.

If you are familliar at all with and appreciate the later Cluster material or the Begegnungen compilations (especially the Roedelius tracks), then you will probably enjoy this. To me, Roedelius was always the less avant garde of the two Cluster musicians, and both the Moebius solo albums (bar the Blue Moon Soundtrack) and Roedelius solo works reflect this idea. Some may say that Lustwandel is new age (although this would be considered more experimental), and they probably aren't very off in saying it. The difference between this and say, a later Vangelis or Yanni album, is that this is highly evocative and engaging, where some of the other more famous names in the genre produce vapid and lifeless material (that's not the case for all Vangelis albums, however).

The title track and "Legende" are probably my favorite pieces on the album, and to be honest there is no really bad track here. On "Wilkommen," Roedelius incorporates some Middle Eastern elements which seem a bit out of place, but it's definitely interesting. Like I said in the beginning of the review, I tend to prefer the acoustic tracks, but the electronic ones are very enjoyable nonetheless. This is a pretty mellow and soft effort in the vain of Sowiesoso. If you like Cluster, you'll probably like this; that is unless you only like the edgier, more experimental albums. I really enjoy it, and like I said this may be my favorite Roedelius solo effort so far, and IMO it's an excellent starting point, four stars.