Continuing both the Revolver records tape haul and my unashamed love of Cluster, comes their last entry under the Cluster name. Never purchased until now, this seems like a terrible oversight on my part - why did I chase the Neu's and Amon Duuls when these incredible records were available? On the cover Hans and Dieter are chilling by the lake, in the inside cover (of the CD version at least) they're hanging out at what appears to be a building site. Gone are the feverous drones and aggression of the last two albums and in their place is a contentment.
The title track is 8 minutes long and sounds a bit like Popol Vuh but with a rhythm and more synths. It's incredibly beautiful and for something which basically goes pretty much nowhere, feels a little on the short side. Halwa continues the trend of mixing guitars and synths in a twangly way and then Dem Wanderer ups the twang factor, including comedy twangs a plenty. Umfeitung is more rhythmic and more plinkety plonk. Zum Wohl is nice but Es War Einmal is stunning - sounding a bit like Boards of Canada but with much more clarity and vision, for me it's the masterpiece on the record. The last track In Ewigkeit is the most laidback of them all, Cluster manage to make so much out of so little.
And then it's gone. Cluster seem to be overlooked a little in Kraut round ups which seems a little unfair. They don't have the magisterial psych of Amon Duul, or the electronic influence of Kraftwerk. They are simply getting on with making stunning electronic music that is both ahead and behind it's time. As I've said before, I think Cluster, more than any other Kraut band, hang outside of any convention within the genre - they stand unique. I'm really glad I revisited these records, and took the effort to own them rather than having them on bootleg cassette.
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