Harmonia [Import]

Harmonia | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 3, 1996)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Polydor Japan
• ASIN: B0000070QY
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #546,572 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Watussi

2. Sehr Kosmisch

3. Sonnenschein

4. Dino

5. Ohrwurm

6. Ahoi!

7. Veterano

8. Hausmusik

Editorial Reviews

Though Harmonia began as a sideline excursion for Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius of Cluster and Michael Rother of Neu!, the group became one of the most legendary in the entire Krautrock/kosmische scene with the release of several mid-'70s LPs. After two studio albums recorded as Cluster, Roedelius and Moebius moved out to the German countryside to build their own studio in the village of Forst. After several disappointments in his attempt to expand Neu! into a live unit, Rother retreated to Cluster's studio for a series of relaxed, improvisational jam sessions that wedded Cluster's exploratory space music with the chugging rhythms and guitar sense of Rother. Brian Eno had proclaimed Harmonia "the world's most important rock group."

The debut Harmonia LP, Musik Von Harmonia, appeared in 1974 (with an accomplished live track, recorded in Amsterdam) and marks the first collaborative effort between Cluster's Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius and Neu!'s Michael Rother: a German supergroup and genuine rarity, a colossal artistic success. The three members were skilled keyboard players, guitarists, electronic percussionists and composers. This was a group musically and conceptually miles ahead of its time. Musik Von Harmonia is at once a product of their source bands and a fine new twist on them, resulting in music that captures what for many is the Krautrock ideal, or more accurately, the motorik ideal. It's not Kraftwerk's all-synth, clean, clinical pulse, nor Neu!'s seemingly effortless glide, nor Can's stomping art world funk. Instead it's at once playful and murky, steady and mechanical, a supergroup of sorts who easily achieves and maintains such a seemingly overstated status by embracing a variety of approaches that work wonders. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Krautrock pinnacle, perhaps?, June 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Harmonia (Audio CD)

This release sees the initial collaboration between the electronic duo Cluster and NEU! multi-instrumentalist Michael Rother, with the result being perhaps one of the best examples of the Krautrock form. This release, along with the more flowing and poppy "Deluxe", takes the industrialisms of early Cluster and the driving rock mechanisms of NEU! and splices them together to concoct a very satisfying artifact. Stuttering electronic rhythms sit alongside alternately tranquil and creepy ethereal ambiences here, making this an excellent look at the mid-70s German scene prior to Kraftwerk's "Autobahn" and its blowing the doors open to this style of music. Those interested at all in the early days of electronic pop MUST own a copy of this.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An absolute delight, June 16, 2005

By 

Chet Fakir (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Harmonia (Audio CD)

Cluster and Neu's Michael Rother make an amazing, and mesmerizing first album here as Harmonium. Obviously very influential for David Bowie's Berlin albums Low and Heroes not to mention Brian Eno (who later collaborated with Cluster), Harmonia is dreamlike, unsettling, hypnotic, yet most times beat driven. It epitomizes what was interesting about so-called krautrock: rock beats, rhythm, repetition, simple yet engaging melodies and avant-garde timbre and tonal overlays. This is a powerful atmospheric album and it's not to be missed for those who enjoy that '70s German progressive rock sound a la Faust, Can and Popul Vuh. Check it out if you want to hear a band and sound that influenced Stereolab, My Bloody Valentine and to some extent Radiohead among others. It still sounds fresh and adventurous today.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Harmonia - 'Musik Von' (Universal), March 6, 2004

By 

Mike Reed (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Harmonia (Audio CD)

Originally released in 1974,'Musik Von' is a true krautrock gem.In my humble opinion,it sounds like it could've EASILY been Neu's fourth lp.Cluster members Moebius and Roedelius joined forces with Neu! mastermind Michael Rother to assemble this timeless classic.I ended up waiting a while to get a copy of this CD,but it was WELL worth it.Though I cannot understand the song titles,my favorites are "Watassi","Sehr Kosmisch",the mind erasing "Ahrwurm" and "Ahoi!".A MUST have for any true fan of this genre.