Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Excellent Reissue of a Klaus Schulze Classic!!, March 10, 2005
"X" (or Ten) was the 10th solo release from the pioneering German synthesist Klaus Schulze. Originally released in 1978, "X" has since gone on to become a classic of electronic music. Its mix of orchestral elements, with hypnotic sequencers and progressive rhythms still sends shivers up the spine 27 years later.
"X" was an extremely long album for its time - a double album with each side containing close to 30 minutes of music each. It was also a conceptual effort with each piece of music being named after a specific author of whom Schulze admired. The original LP also included a booklet loaded with historic photos of Schulze's first 10 years as well as an essay (printed in German) by Schulze and his manager/publicist Klaus Mueller.
Since the introduction of the CD, the "X" album has exsisted in what is pretty much an inferior fashion being mastered from second generation tapes with rather tinny sound quality and several seconds of music edited off the ends of the original tracks. Now in 2005, that has all changed with the newly remastered reissue. All six of the original album tracks were remastered from the original master tapes with newly restored clarity and sound quality. Additionally, two of the tracks ("Frederich Nietzsche" and "Georg Trakl") are presented here in their full-length versions as opposed to the truncated versions which appeared on the original album (the full version of "Trakl" had only been previously released on the mammoth limited edition CD set "The Ultimate Edition" while "Nietzsche" is presented here in its full version for the first time ever). To top it off, the reissue concludes with an historic bonus track, "Objet D'Louis" which is a live version of the classic orchestral masterwork "Ludwig II Von Bayern" performed with a full string orchestra. While the sound quality of the bonus track is not up to standard, its musical quality definitely is. This was one of the very few times Klaus had performed live with a full orchestra and to have a recording of this in any form of quality is definitely a treasure.
The CD booklet includes new liner notes from Klaus Schulze himself as well as reproductions of some of the photos included in the original LP booklet. The original German essays are also reproduced (unfortunately without any English translation).
Hands down, this is some excellent synth music from one its leading pioneers. Having it finally reissued with amazing sound quality is simply like having a new album all over again. Also, the fact that the reissue is a double-CD for the price of one makes this a steal. Don't hesitate. This is Klaus Schulze in his prime with one of his very best albums.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow!, April 30, 2005
I picked up this deluxe edition for a very good price and I was blown away by the sheer brilliance of this man. A keyboard lover's wet dream to say the least. Washes of mellotron, synthesizers, drums and percussion, strings(real strings!) with the strings sounding like synthesizers at times. Sound quality is very good. A detailed booklet/history/notes from Klaus himself. A must have for fans. Disc 1: 4 tracks/79.45. Disc 2/3 tracks/79.43. The label side of the cds look like lps complete with grooves. Digipack. I prefer Disc 1 over Disc 2 due to the fact that Disc 1 is harder edged, lots of Tangerine Dream stylings and faster paced. Disc 2 is a bit slower but brilliant nonetheless. You may hear some slight distortion in spots on Disc 2 since it is the louder of the two particularly on track 3/the bonus track. Very minor quibble however.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A magnificent, large-scale work by Klaus Schulze, February 23, 2008
Released in 1978, X (the tenth album by Klaus) is a magnificent album of electronica that features loads of spacey, gothic sounding analog synthesizers and subtly haunting moods. Based on the liner notes, the album was recorded as a score for a film (entitled Barracuda) so Klaus had a larger recording budget than normal. In fact, the extra finances were used to incorporate a string section here and there - it works very well and sections of the string parts were looped (i.e. via tape loop). Joining Klaus once again on a full drum kit was Harold Grosskopf - they work wonderfully together on this album.
Klaus plays an impressive assortment of analog synthesizers on this album including big moog synthesizer, PPG synthesizer and sequencer, minimoog, ARP odyssey, Korg poly synthi, Polymoog, EMS Synthi A, and Mellotron, in addition to various bits of percussion including tom toms and cymbals. I love the synth tone colors that Klaus selects on all of his albums, and they are just as warm and organic sounding on X even though some of the instruments were capable of fairly mechanical sounds. The mellotron use really works for me too and the sounds of the Korg and Polymoog are great. With respect to the other players, a cellist plays on Heinrich von Kleist, a violinist plays on Friedemann Bach and a small string orchestra is featured prominently on Ludwig II Von Bayern. The stringed instruments blend seamlessly with the banks of synthesizers and bring a very interesting (vaguely experimental/avant-garde) and haunting textural element to the music. There are also various tape effects and psychedelic flourishes here and there that add yet another layer.
The tracks on this album present musical "biographies" of sorts that are devoted to various figures from disciplines as varied as philosophy, literature and music. The pieces are extremely long and grand in both scale and texture, with many close to or over 20 minutes in length - two tracks last for nearly a half hour each (Ludwig II Von Bayern = 28:39 and Heinrich Von Kleist = 29:32). The shortest track lasts for "only" 10:51. Lengthy pieces like these were used heavily in minimalism, and X achieves a similarly hypnotic effect (for me at any rate) - this album is simply fantastic to listen to late at night on a good pair of headphones and become completely immersed in the sweeping soundscapes. Although all of his pieces were long, this (at the time double LP album) recording seems to pull out all of the stops.
This remastered, two-disc release by RevisitedRec (InsideOut) is simply amazing and features the pieces as they originally appeared on the original album with excellent sound quality, loads of informative liner notes, and glossy color photos of Klaus. The bonus track includes a live performance of Objet D'Louis featuring Klaus and an orchestra - the sound quality is "so-so" although the performance is excellent. Overall, this version of X is very much a "deluxe" package.
All in all, this is a remarkable work of electronica from Klaus Schulze and is very highly recommended along with Mirage (1977) and Timewind (1975).
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