Mirage [Original recording remastered]

Klaus Schulze, Barney | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 1, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Revisited Records
• ASIN: B00070HGSM
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #207,249 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

As a former member of both Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Temple, multi instrumentalist Klaus Schulze is cited as one of the founders of contemporary electronic music and soundscape artists. His solo records go well beyond the "krautrock" vein and can be considered some of the finest of synthesized and experimental music coming from Europe in the 70’s, 80’s and well beyond.

Mirage, initially released in 1977, is often cited as one of Schulze’s best albums. The album is a strange pastoral landscape creating a frozen wonderland with vast shifts in color and texture, rather than the layered melodic and harmonic structures of Schulze’s previous albums. Mirage consists of two main pieces, Velvet Voyage and Crystal Lake, each broken down into six separate and chilling movements.

The previously unreleased 20 minute epic In Cosa Crede Chi Non Crede? has been added as a bonus track to the new edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE peak artistic achievement of electronic music!, February 21, 2002

By 

John Q. Publik (Califonria, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mirage (Audio CD)

What Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" is to jazz fans, Klaus Schulze's "Mirage" is to fans of this genre of music that goes by many names (space music, kosmische musik, 70's electronic music, etc.) and is a lost art form. All of these artists later went on to commercialize their sound into an anemic, boring, pop-influenced mix, but for a few short years from about 1974 to about 1979 or '80, Klaus Schulze and a few others (e.g., Tangerine Dream, Edgar Froese, Ash Ra Tempel, Michael Garrison and Michael Hoenig) were making timeless, intellectual music that is still a musical experience unlike any other. I am a fan of almost every type of music from the last 4 decades of rock, to world music, to 5 centuries of classical, to 60's-70's R&B to everything but country-western and rap, yet if I had to choose 10 albums from all time and genres to take into permanent exile on a deserted island, two of them would be "Mirage" by Klaus Schulze and "Rubycon" by Tangerine Dream, both of which I consider to be THE quintessential statements in electronic music. Everything before or since in electronic music (including other albums by these 2 artists) is merely an attempt to reach (or mimic) what those two albums accomplished. Both are soundtracks for mind-bending psychic journeys. "Mirage" is a slow, wondrous journey through a complex frozen wasteland. Put it on late at night in the dark with no distractions and travel to a wondrous place you've never imagined. Pure musical genius.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cold, terrifying and yet, ever so beautiful, February 2, 2007

By 

Rykre "The Rogue Scholar" (of the vast Western Dystopian Wasteland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mirage (Audio CD)

1977 was a busy year for Klaus Schulze. I know he's been touring constantly, as he always does, but he sure spent a lot of time in the recording studio. He must of have a whirlwind of ideas in his head because he was so inventive for new sounds back then.

He did two albums for a porn movie called "Body Love". I'm sure that's something to be proud of, and I can understand it too. Believe it or not, Klaus Schulze's music is great background music for large living room orgies. In fact, try "Timewind" when you plan a big get together with your friends and spouses.

But his most cherishable work he's done in 1977 was this album called "Mirage". All of Klaus Schulze's earlier albums offer a dark and moody soundscape but this album can actually make you feel cold and desolate. The mental picture I get with this music when I close my eyes is a blinding white visual instead of the opposite, the warmth of darkness.

I've only learned of this album about 3 years ago. I had no idea it was going to be as good as it is. The appeal of Klaus Schulze albums are a series of "hits and misses" for me. My favorite albums of his are "Irrlicht", "Cyborg", "Timewind", "Dig It", and of course, this album.

"Picture Music" doesn't do much for me. Nor does "Moondawn". And of course, everything he's done during the eighties and beyond just seems way to simplistic and modern day electronic. Lots of artists were doing music like his, so he was no longer the innovator of dark ambient music that he once was. Somehow, the analog approach to sound was just so much more appealing back in the seventies. This happened to Tangerine Dream too. Their albums "Alpha Centauri", "Green Desert", "Phaedra", "Rubycon", "Encore", "Force Majeure", "Logos", "Hyperborea" and "White Eagle" all had these great album long, dark and moody, instrumentation that we Klaus Schulze fans have come to expect from these innovators. It's seems like electronic instrumentation just lost its unique appeal once everybody started using it.

If you like Klaus Schulze, then please check out Jean Michel Jarre. Start with his first three albums starting in 1976 with "Oxygene", then "Equinoxe" and then "Magnetic Fields". "Chronolgie" (from 1992) is pretty good too.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Work of Art, March 13, 2006

By 

directions "neuralbuddhist" (Space Time Foam) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mirage (Audio CD)

Along with Timewind and X, this is one of Klaus Schulze's masterpieces. Klaus Schulze was with Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel but then decided to go solo. Even though Tangerine Dream at their prime were groundbreaking, Klaus Schulze takes their ideas one step further. X would actually feature an orchestra but Mirage still has the feel of a lush symphonic piece without the "let's cover the classics with synth effects" that put artists like Tomita into the new age bin. The first track is perfect for indoors on wintry days. The 2nd piece Crystal Lake has to one of the best things that Klaus Schulze has ever done. It starts off minimalistic and gradually builds all within the same wintry landscape theme. The bonus track is excellent as well. There are elements of classic minimalism but this is from a composer who started in the rock field so people averse to classical music or minimalism will still enjoy it. The creative use of electronics by Klaus Schulze has rarely, if ever, been equaled.