50: Witthuser & Westrupp - Trips & Traume

Last one! Always was put off this one - the cover isn't great, W&W were never covered in the text so I didn't really know anything about them to be honest. It was always tucked away at the back of things and never seemed that essential. Well, I'm an idiot because it's an incredible record and really tops off the whole project and closes this weird year.

So seven tracks, 40 minutes. The first track translates as Let's go on the journey - and is quite Donovan like at times. Quite folky, quite trad but with a slight kraut psych twist. It has a beautiful refrain and is really pretty good. The next track is very Donovan, seemingly taking the start of Season of the Witch and extending it out over 10 minutes. It's great, all the elements blending well together, going bonkers for a bit and then calming down and a bit of vocals.

Orienta is a guitar and maybe mandolin jam? One of those great tracks that just builds and builds. All the vocals are in German and really lift the record up and over into quality. Illusion I is a guitar thing with swirly organs all over the place.

Karlchen is the stand out track and fast became one of my favourite kraut tracks. Strumming guitar, cymbals and some recorder but so so much space to let the track breathe. Over this incredibly soft backdrop I presume it's Renee Zucker mumbling on in German. It's arrestingly stunning - her reading is perfect and you know it's probably hippy nonsense but who cares. It's just beautiful. Half way through it goes into a waltz with some brass and then back to the reading. So delicate and so pretty.

Then an English Waltz with some creaky violing before the finale of "Nimm Doch Einen Joint, Mein Freund" which almost spoils the whole thing being a song about smoking. Some people say that Hash makes Lash. Hmmm - it's okay. But overall this is a coherent record and it just works together so well. All my music is gone and is either finding a new home with my folks or is (not quite) winging it's way over the ocean to it's new place. I listened to this record everywhere and often and I never got tired, it has a lot to give.

So that's krautrocksampler.

49: Walter Wegmuller - Tarot

Tarot is the record on the list that I had been looking forward to the most - I can recall at least three occasions where I have had the CD version in my grasp only to get cold feet and pull out. I have similar memories of having the vinyl version of the Book of Om (Wah Wah one) in my shopping cart and then deciding that it's just too much of a punt. At the onset of this project, I was visiting a wiser friend, discussing Tarot and within minutes he had a copy of the said same CD in my hands and never had I wanted something more. But good things come to those who wait and this is a good thing. A very good thing. In my optimistic state of mind I think this might oust Zeit as my favourite record on the list - it's both utterly bonkers and utterly magical. Also it has that utterly quintessential krautrock sound of people acting without pretension and going the distance.

So Tarot. Double vinyl, came in a box with a set of Tarot cards, one for each track. Walter Wegmuller's only album, he looks a little bit like Rasputin on the original cover - there's three versions according to Discogs - the original boxed one, an Italian one (above) and a cheapo looking French pressing. The box is expensive, the other ones slightly less so but still pretty much out of reach. There's an old Spalax reissue in a box which comes with a repro of the tarot cards.

The first track introduces the band and lays bare the critical conundrum: What did WW actually do on this record? I love introducing the band tracks and this is a winner - presumably this is WW speaking, in the great Germanic/English mix: "We want you to come with us on the voyage through the time: Tarot". As is traditional each introduction is followed by a short riff - Keyboards yep, Guitar 1 yep, Guitar 2 yep, Drums yep, Bass yep. Then person one who seemingly does nothing: Walter Westrupp? Followed by mumbling. Then Klaus Schulze does his woopy synth noises. Then Walter Wegmuller introduces himself with a cough? Then some swirly vocals with tons of echo.

Anyway the music is great - mixing some fairly up tempo Cosmic Jokers style sounds with Walter's occasional intonations all in German. Some are Zeit-like ambient drones, some are funky, all the tracks are incredible. Der Herrscher we've heard before on one of the Cosmic Jokers 'albums'  and it sounds fantastic in the proper context. And is followed by a beautiful recorder piece, which would not be amiss on any acid folk album. Then they're off veering from out there electronic drones and noises to more standard rock and psych type sounds. The incredible thing about it is that as a double album it a) doesn't feel too long and b) stays fairly coherent - there's a nice flow to the whole thing and it hangs together as a whole. Which, considering the CJ involvement is pretty incredible.

So Tarot. It's everything I wished it would be, and so much more - a real eye opener for me. I now must track one down. One more record to go and I'm almost sad that this isn't number 50 as it would have been a perfect ending to the project. Hopefully Witthuser and Westrupp can match the incredibleness of this, but I doubt it.

Tarot might just be one of the most eye opening records I've ever heard.

48: Klaus Schulze - Blackdance

Klaus, now on Brain, seemingly recording with proper synths for the first time. The art reminds me a little of the Saturday Night Suit 45 but it's clearly way more serious. Klaus is a busy man - Discogs lists 68 releases for him and given the high standards on this record and irrlicht, he may warrant a little more investigation.

So Blackdance - standard Kraut fare mark 2 - i.e. two long tracks and one very short one. The first one comes off all Dario Argento. Tons of synths and some little bits of harpsichord before raising the tempo with drums and some more synths. Presumably when the lady of the film is being attacked my a man with a black glove. Again. The drums and tempo take away from the Zeit sweet spot but it keeps balance and remains a fairly solid affair.

Some Velvet Phasing is short and excellent - synth phasing for about eight minutes. A little too simple but straight from the book of Zeit. Voices of Syn is the real triumph. Klaus wheels on a mate to do some Church type hymn mutterings before going into big church organ and noodly synth and some ticky ticky drumming. The church organ ties it back to Zeit but the drums moves it forwards. It's really really good.

So that was Klaus - the revelation of Zeit and the continued theme through this is fascinating. Next week though is Tarot week, the week I've been looking forward to all year. Bring back the Cosmic Jokers!

47: Klaus Schulze - Irrlicht

Klaus Schulze presumably left Tangerine Dream because they were not going in the direction he was interested in. So he made this record, released in 1972 (the same time as Zeit) which sounds not far off Zeit's younger sibling. I never bought these at the time - they seemed to be a bit throwaway. The follow up record wasn't even pictured in the picture section of the book, though the odd one out record, Cyborg, was. Outside of the established groups these records felt less essential.

But Irrlicht, which Wikipedia says is the german for Will-o-the-wisp, so expect dodgy cartoon tvs and bad jokes? Three tracks, two 20 minutes and one about 5. Considering Klaus was a drummer there's not much drums here. The first track bimbles along for 10 minutes or so, before being overtaken by a huge church organ (c.f. Zeit) drone. The middle short track is a break between the two longer pieces and to be honest is mostly synth and processed drones throughout. It's really good though, doesn't quite have the commitment of Zeit but has the sound to some extent. It's a beautiful record and hangs outside of music in it's own assured way. It's big but it's not huge.

One of the problems I find with drone records is that they need loads of listens (way more than a week allows) in order to really get into them. I think this was the first time I really fully appreciated Zeit for what it is. They also need to be given the space to really listen to them - you can't get away with  having it on whilst watching Masterchef or similar. My house is starting to feel quite empty - I'm going to fill it with synth drones :-)

46: Tangerine Dream - Atem

Atem means breath and this was John Peel's Album of the Year in 1973. After Zeit where could they possibly go?, well seemingly they could go back to a more structured and more Ash Ra Tempel like sound. Which is what they did - weird that there's little trace of the might of Zeit in this record. Slowly going through the mountain of crap I've acquired over my life (birthday cards from 2003?, Sweet wrappers from god knows when, Star Trek playing cards?), it's weird how these artifacts present a revisionist view of my past. I've owned Atem (it's unfortunately on the charity shop pile) on a twofer with Alpha Centauri. I always assumed that one followed the other but Zeit now sticks out as the elephant that should be in the middle of that record set.

But Atem. 20 minutes of noodles - not far from Zeit but with far less conviction. The first track starts with drums. Drums.  Before breaking off into space with much synthesisers. There is one reason to buy this record and that reason is Fauni Gena on the start of side 2. It's almost straight from the book o' Zeit, all creepy mellotrons and cave dripping noises. It builds and grows and is fantastic. Circulation of Events has the elements but not the drive - it's noise and ambiance but there's something missing. The last track Wahn brings back Electronic Meditation style experimentation with all crazy voices swirling around.

So in summary. Breezes. It's not nearly as good as Zeit but I think it's better than Alpha Centauri. But hell if you'd just made a record as mighty as Zeit, you could pretty much just live off that forever. Incidentally, the child on the front is Edgar Froese's son aged 2 years. He joined Tangerine Dream in 1990 thus making him a pub quiz question: Which band featured a member on the cover an album when they weren't a member. Something to ponder over perhaps...

45: Tangerine Dream - Zeit

Zeit. I am currently outside of time - my life is being dictated by Ikea. One 5x5 expedit of things I value but don't want to weight me down. One 4x4 of things I cherish and can't be without. Everything else is falling by the wayside. This process started before this week and so I was surprised to find my copy of Zeit, bought prior to going to University in the great pre-Sheffield Krautrock binge, lurking in the 5x5. I've rescued it - thinking that there was a lengthy essay in the CD case but ironically enough it's just a quote from the book.

Zeit is one of those bizarre musical mysteries. Tangerine Dream, prior to this, had been an interesting but wholly inconsistent affair - much too unfocused. On this record, everything, is spot on and turned up to 11. It's the krautrock tour de force - a double album of 4 tracks - or four movements. There is a string quartet. Popol Vuh brings his moog along for the first track. It's an almighty record - totally beyond peer or description. Like the title suggests it hangs outside of any notion of time.

It's all incredibly ambient - no drums, no real rhythms just an incredible array of sounds and textures - like Ligeti at times all screams. That Fricke only appears on the first track is surprising - it's heavily like In Den Garten Pharoas throughout but way more intense. Brooding and frightening. It's also a little bit like the elder to Selected Ambient Works II - much more focused and much more effective. That I was prepared to leave this CD behind was just idiotic - it's an amazing record and, perhaps, the best one on the list? Maybe?

44: Tangerine Dream - Alpha Centauri

Alpha Centauri eh? Whilst going through some records to take to charity (keep your eyes peeled at St Lukes in the coming weeks - there's going to be some good stuff up there), I found my copy of this Virgin twofer. Atem to follow but this is a new version of Tangerine Dream. Out are the Ash Ra Tempel drums and In is non-specific ambiance. They've gone space.

And I find these two mid albums fairly troubling - they're just not particularly interesting and a little bit (shhh) prog rock.

So what do you get for your money? Three tracks, 4 minutes, 13 minutes and 22 minutes. Some gough on the sleeve (though it might be just for this reissue - This album is dedicated to all the people who feel obliged to feel space). The best of the bunch is the 13 minuter which after a slow start builds to some crazy drumming over some laid back fluteage and a sudden ending. The first track is liek a low rent Popol Vuh. The 22 minute continues the low rent PV theme, and is pretty much organ all the way through. It's not got the oomph of PV though and so just ends up being somewhat boring.

So, this just leaves me a little cold and it's tendency towards sub standard Popol Vuh just makes me wish I was listening to Popol Vuh. Pah.