The Boss ist back! After his disappointing collaborations on his Inteam label, Schulze has returned to his old label, Metronome, and this advance tape indicates his loss of creativity was contemporary. Side one consist of three pieces, all moody and orchestral, with prominant synthetic string sections and electronic percussion. The frequent key changes and restrained dissonance give the orchestral elements a restless, romantic quality, reminiscent of Wagner and Mahler, while the electronic percussion, sequencers, and other "hard edges", provide a modern context. One piece, Le Beat Planante, suffers from electronic percussion, but side one bears up under repeated listening. The long title piece, on the other side, also bears up well, but it is much more in the Schulze space music tradition, and incorporates many riffs and instrumental voicings from earlier albums, while adding new wrinkles - such as tympany - to avoid redundancy. Side one probably points more to the future; side two is certainly a strong summary of Schulze's music perspective. |
