CLUSTER & ENO

Brian Eno spent a lot of time in Germany in 1976 and 1977, making music with David Bowie but also hanging out with Roedelius and Moebius otherwise known as CLUSTER. Eno was a big fan of HARMONIA and so even though they had already disbanded they got back together to create one last studio album with Eno. HARMONIA by the way consisted of the CLUSTER duo plus Michael Rother from NEU!. That was in1976. The next year in 1977 CLUSTER and Eno once again hook up in the studio without Rother this time and create this album I'm reviewing today.

This was recorded at Conny Plank's studio in June of 1977. Then lastly we get "After The Heat", another CLUSTER/Eno collaboration released in 1978. While the HARMONIA recording is my favourite of the three, that final one is right there too. I really like that one a lot. This record from 1977 is special though. I always enjoyed putting it on, and the mood it created kept me coming back. Very uniform sounding. Lots of piano. More ambient than electronic that's for sure.

The two tracks that do stand out from the rest are "One" where we get Dutch keyboardist and sitar player Okko Bekker adding sitar and this one is experimental. We also get electronic veteran Asmus Tietchens adding electronics on that one. "Die Bunge" is different as well, sounding like an early HARMONIA track. Of course that opener has Holger Czukay adding bass. This is such a beautiful fabric of sounds. That second track is a nice blend of krautrock and ambient as sounds echo. Sounds like mournful strings on that third track. "Selange" is great for that determined sound. Percussion here as well, as synths help out. The closer is melancholic with piano and atmosphere.

This is all instrumental and quite relaxed. I like the mood it creates. A low 4 stars.