Klaus Schulze: Live (1980)

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Klaus Schulze - Live

KS Canon 12

Track Listing (CD 1):

1.	Bellistique	13. Nov 1979, Paris	21:24
2.	Sense	5. Oct 1976, Berlin	51:00

Track Listing (CD 2):

1.	Heart	13. Nov 1979, Paris	30:49
2.	Dymagic	27. Oct 1979, Amsterdam	29:31

Bonus Tracks:

3.

Le Mans au premier

10. Nov 1979, Le Mans

17:58

Notes:
(1) Harald Grosskopf plays drums on "Sense".
(2) Arthur Brown sings on "Dymagic".

Rating: 5 Stars

This album was originally released as a double LP. The track "Sense" was only 31:10 long, a shortened version of the live performance. When it was re-released on CD the full track could be included.

I was present at the concert in Berlin in October 1976. It was part of something called the Meta Music Festival held in a Berlin art gallery. The flyers said something about a combination of music and art, but I wasn't bothered about the art. I just wanted to listen to Klaus.

I only just managed to get to the concert. I moved to Berlin on 1st October 1976. After spending one night sleeping on the couch of a man called Boris Penth who had a very loud parrot, I moved into a small commune in the infamous Kreuzberg district. I saw posters in the city centre advertising the Meta Music Festival and Klaus Schulze's performance. To make sure I knew where the Berlin National Gallery was situated I travelled there a day earlier, 4th October. I walked around, looking at the art, and then I walked into a room where a drum kit was set up. There was a man I didn't recognise practising. I later found out it was Harald Grosskopf. On the album covers he had long hair, but now it was cut short. Someone was talking to him with his back to me. He turned round. It was Klaus himself! Only six feet away from me! I wanted to greet him, but I couldn't. I froze. He walked past me and out of the room, leaving Harald at the drums. That was a lost opportunity that I'll never have again.

The next day I went back. Synthesizers had been set up since I left. Everyone was sitting on the floor. I found a good place in the middle of the room, directly below an artificial head that had been set up to record the concert. I was in a trance. It was like no concert I'd ever been to before. All I remember about Klaus is that he sat with his back to the audience while he was playing. There was none of the usual posturing of rock musicians. The concert had nothing to do with Klaus the man, it was all about the music.

Klaus was the opening act. After a half time pause a group of drummers performed native music. I think they were from Bali, I can't be sure. I didn't like the music and walked out five minutes after they started. Any other time I would have sat and listened, but after listening to Klaus I was feeling high, and any other music would have dragged me down.

A few days later an excerpt from the concert was played on the radio. I recorded it on a cassette tape. It was about 20 minutes long, a piece taken from the 10th to the 30th minute of the piece. For months I listened to this tape almost every day. When I finally bought the Live LP in 1982 it wasn't a replacement. The LP contained the end of the music, from the 20th to the 50th minute, so the two recordings overlapped and complemented one another. I could only stop listening to the cassette when the complete version was released on CD.

I'm sure I can hear myself clapping at the end of the recording. I clap very loud, and as I said, I was sitting directly beneath the artificial head.

On the back of the LP cover Klaus writes the following words:

"This is my first and last live album, a survey. My music and I leave to other directions. It's not a Goodbye, rather a Hello and a start of a new music of the future, which will guide me to the unknown".

I'm happy to say that it wasn't his last live album. He recorded many more over the years. However, this is the end of the first phase of Klaus Schulze's music. There's a significant shift in his next album, starting a progression over the following years.

I promised to tell you what my favourite album is. I can't. Maybe it's "Timewind". Maybe it's "Moondawn". Maybe it's "X". I really can't say. They're all brilliant in their own ways.