DUNE

After a pretty amazing run of ten albums from 1972 to 1978, Dune marks the end of Klaus Schulze's golden age. Schulze's first solo album, Irrlicht (1972) which featured processed organ drones, could almost be called "musique concrète." He added synthesizers on the followup, and through the decade included less organ and more ARP synthesizers. By 1975 he was using sequencers and a drumkit; in 1977 he added Moog synthesizers; and his 1978 album featured a string orchestra. On top of these ten albums, two of them double-albums, the first six La Vie Électronique 3-CD sets, and most of the seventh, were recorded between 1972 and 1978 - - meaning that there are about thirty CDs of "golden age Schulze," most of it top-notch. It's true that things went downhill from there, but the quality and quantity of Shulze's output from 1972 to 1978 is more than enough for a career.

So what's not to like about Dune? To be frank, it's the second side of the original LP, "Shadows of Ignorance." Both sides of Dune are somewhat similar in sound to the excellent X (1978), although neither is as inspired. Perhaps realizing that his new album might possibly sound like a knockoff of its predecessor, Schulze decided to have a vocalist on side two. But whereas he'd already had a guest vocalist on Blackdance (1974), this time he'd have the vocalist sing, or speak, actual lyrics. And whereas he'd had someone recite a prayer, in Arabic, over the first 48 seconds of Moondawn (1976), this time wrote an 800-word English poem to be performed by Arthur Baker. The first 8:20 of the track is instrumental, followed by Baker reading the first eighth of the lyrics ("Face to the future ? so across the sands I go") until the ten-minute mark. Over the next ten minutes, Brown sings the almost all of the rest of the poem, and this is the section that gets on my nerves! I'm sure the idea sounded good on paper, but Baker's phrasing and choice of notes just doesn't fit the music. After several instrumental minutes, Baker's voice can be heard in the background, over the final two minutes, singing the remaining lyrics.

According to the Prog Archives rubric, two stars means for "collectors/fans only," and I think that's about right for Dune. But I also arrive at two stars by averaging the three-star "Dune" on side one with the one-star "Shadows of Ignorance" on the flip side. To anyone interested in Klaus Schulze's earlier music (i.e., his 1970s and 1980s output), I would suggest starting with Timewind, Mirage, or X - - his three highest-rated albums on Prog Archives.