KLAUS SCHULZEROYAL FESTIVAL HALL, VOL. 1 (Venture CDVE 916) CD 70mROYAL FESTIVAL HALL, VOL. 2 (Venture CDVE 917) CD 68mMany things about this latest Klaus Schulze album are strange: 1) It may be titled ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL, yet there is bonus material here also recorded in Klaus' studio (Gothic Ground, which is the title of one section, would have been more apt I think). 2) Instead of being issued as a set, it has been put out as two separate discs! Why? To get more money? It's unlikely that anyone that likes disc 1 won't like disc 2, and vice-versa, as both are quite complementary. 3) On a more personal level, Klaus D. Müller asked me to do the cover notes for this, which when submitted he thought were great. Yet, the finished product bears not my words, but ones that seem to be a rough paraphrase and very misleading at that! Obviously, I find this quite annoying!Yet, despite this ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL is, without a doubt, a very fine album indeed. I don't suppose I need to reiterate my review of the concert, just dig out your Audion #21 for a full rundown. The major differences on the discs are that you can't really experience the power or the superb dynamic acoustics of the hall, yet being recorded direct to DAT live this is indeed a superb recording. The whole album finds Klaus in an adventurous inventive frame of mind, a playground of visionary soundscapes and synth-rock of great power, utilising a wide range of digital and analogue equipment. The bonus tracks: Silence And Sequence and Variation on B.F. offer a moodier more classical sounding music that compliment the live recordings most admirably.Musically ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL is a logical follow-up to BEYOND RECALL, with a glance back to the Klaus Schulze of the 70's, with hints of "X" and DUNE in evidence, and as such offers a rich rewarding and varied music full of surprises.So, for those who'd like to know, here's the cover notes I wrote for this momentous release...When I was first asked to write the cover notes for this new Klaus Schulze album, I thought 'what could I write?' Most people should know of his origins in the Berlin psychedelic scene as drummer with the bands Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel, and that as a soloist he almost single-handedly created a new type of music using synthesizers, keyboards and sequencers, and thus has been a major influence on the popular music of today, from Jean Michel Jarre through to the current fashionable ambient house genre.So, twenty years on from his momentous debut IRRLICHT, here we have album number 25, Klaus' fourth live album, recorded on 10th September 1991 at the Royal Festival Hall in London, together with additional studio pieces recorded more recently. As a document, it proves that Klaus is still the ever-groundbreaking pioneer, always one to surprise and challenge his audience. As a musical experience, this is nothing less than fascinating! The two near-on 45 minute concert sets bring the avant-garde into a melodic context, with dazzling sonic paintings, images of tropical forests, strange subterranean worlds, an ancient monastery shrouded in mist, moving onto a vast melange of sonic curiosities, surreal and dazzling images upon which melodies and rhythmic focus grow, ever changing, developing, spiralling off into unexpected realms, again and again. Such is the invention in this music that you will hardly believe how much time has passed by!On the new studio recordings, Silence And Sequence recalls the late-70's era of Klaus Schulze music, a gift for the fans of his cosmic style, and in contrast Variation on B.F. adopts a very classical mood, offering another surprising twist and a soft ending to a mammoth 2¼ hours of music.Twenty years ago Klaus Schulze pioneered a new music and others followed - nothing has really changed!My review from Audion magazine #24 (Feb. 1993)