The second track, Schöne Hände, is barely there at all - just a gentle breeze of synth that whispers across an open field, causing small stirrings in the flora & fauna. Even more than on the previous Cluster album, the move to rural Forst was working wonders on Moebius & Roedelius' sonic outlook, as was the addition of Eno's unique lightness of touch.
The album continues in this meditative mode until it picks up a little in the second half with the more rhythmic Selange and Die Bunge, before taking a turn into the more Eastern-sounding One, featuring guest appearances from Moebius' Liliental bandmates Asmus Tietchens and Okko Bekker. The most gorgeous track is saved for last, the shimmering sunset magnificence of Für Luise. I've often though of Cluster & Eno as a winter album, but been trying to mix things up a bit of late, and it works just the same magic at any time of year.
link
pw: sgtg
Hmmm...based on your description of it, I decided to check out your download here. In case you're interested, you might possibly be under the impression that "Wehrmut" is actually "Fur Luise", and vice versa. At some point on some of the earlier CD issues, these got mixed up somehow. But if you check the timings on both the original Sky LP and the Bureau B issue, you can see which is which. "Wehrmut" is the floaty chordal one, similar to "Old Land" from After The Heat, and "Fur Luise" is the moody one with the piano motif.
ReplyDeleteNow you know.
Now you mention it, my CD ends with a 5min track which the LP places halfway through the album.
DeleteHow bizarre.
Yeah, I couldn't remember for sure if it was just the titles that got transposed, or if they actually moved the tracks themselves as well. I think it was the original Sky CD, then later the US Gyroscope one that were the ones that got fouled up. But as I say, judging from the fact that the Bureau B matches the original LP, I think it's safe to assume that's the correct title info for them.
DeleteWonder what the story behind that was! Can't believe I've spent 10+ yrs thinking of these two tracks with the wrong titles. Intrigued now as to whether my Sowiesoso & ATH CDs had any similar mixups - all three are the reissues that the Water label put out.
DeleteSowiesoso remained intact in it's original form, though if you have the Water CD of After The Heat it means you're dealing with that godawful, unexplainable, random changing of the track order which was present on that, and the two as mentioned above.
DeleteIf you've never done it, do yourself a favor and check the running order of the original (or again, the Bureau B, where they have a clue), and rearrange it into the correct sequence next time you listen to it. You'll find it makes a lot more sense and is a much better album that way. (ie, as originally intended - imagine that...)
Interestingly, it seems that the tracks had already been switched around on a Sky Records Cluster & Eno compilation from 1985 called Old Land, which has both Wehrmut and Für Luise on it at 3:27 and 5:04, respectively.
DeleteThat could be where it started, then. All it takes is one screw up, and the stuff just propagates.
DeleteThe very first Begegnungen was a good one, but all those Sky comps got seriously out of hand after a while. That guy was going for some world records in terms of multiple re-packaging of the same thing.
Just been on Discogs, and I see there was an '81 cassette release of ATH that's got the weird tracklist (the submitter's copied down the orig sequence, but you can see from the images it's the mixed up one). So what gives, Sky? Mastertape logger gone rogue? Wonder if it was just those two albums, or if others were affected.
DeleteDefinitely going to dig out my Water CD of ATH and then re-sequence a fresh rip to enjoy it proper. Cheers folks for a fascinating thread!
I loved the vinyl of Cluster & Eno and (especially) After the Heat, and replacing them on CD was very frustrating. For years I could find the Begegnungen things and Old Land etc etc, that frustratingly rearranged (why??) the original albums, but not the original albums. Sigh. Anyway, thank you!
DeleteThanks for the music
ReplyDelete