I know the "ALC" used to be a big part of the site, but let me propose a new type of thread here.
For one week, one album will be put up for discussion by an active user.
AMENDMENT: If a user responds with a review for the album, then they may be randomly selected to pick the next weekly ALC Album.
It's not quite our little album below "game", but with no new thing for the month, and a new user coaxing some activity (thanks Spyglass) I figured something new might garner some interest.
Anyways, a couple of other stipulations.
Try to pick an album that not many people have listened to. I'm not saying it has to be some obscure thing, but it should be something that wouldn't normally show up in the AOTD.
Have the album be under an hour. It should be easily listenable.
Post a link if you can, so as many people can listen to it as possible. If it's available on a streaming service, then let us know.
OH, and also try to keep it under an hour in length.
My pick will be this cool synth pop weirdness from a German artist, Harald Grosskopf. It peaks early, but I think it really hits the spot for a certain time and sound.
Kraftwerk. Tangerine Dream. Harald Grosskopf?! He may not have a rock star name, but after years on the scene backing up such electronica luminaries as Ashra & Klaus Schulz thought the 70s, Harald finically had the chance to steal a little limelight in 1980 with Synthesist. Since it's release in 1980, it's garnered quite the cult following in electronica circles namely being championed by the one & only Skinny for years on BEA and developing a rapid fan base on the most quiet BEA forums. But will the BEA forums remain quiet once Harald gains the spotlight again? Tune in and find out!
Alright, so Tilly's (Repo's) album will be on for next week. 😄
But let's keep the conversation going for this one. Give it a listen if you haven't, or give it a relisten if you want to.
For me, this album has reached a point that I can pretty much put it on at anytime, and I'll be happy. It seems to fit all moods for me. Working out? Check. Grading Papers? Check. Making collect-calls to Venus & Mars? Check-cheque. Driving around in my When you write an essay, you want to have a great "attention-getter", or something to reel in your audience. "So Weit, So Gut" is one of those opening tracks that can immediately pull in a listener and make them want to hear more.
Hey, and if you want a new way to listen to this cult classic, then try the reworked tracks from modern artists that came out at the beginning of last decade.
Man, it has been a while since I listen to this album. I even remember enjoying this so much that this was graded really highly by me. But this gives me an excuse to give this a relisten due to not remembering this to well. Though hopefully I get to pick the next album due to finding a somewhat obscure album from the 70's that could be for discussion.
I think I added this album to the site back in the day. Online electronic music magazine XLR8R used to offer free mp3s of certain songs in order to promote upcoming releases, and when the 2011 RVNG re-release of this record was due - which may have even been the first ever re-release put out on RVNG - with a second disc of contemporary remixes (can't remember everybody, but I think Oneohtrix Point Never and CFCF were among the artists who contributed), XLR8R offered a free mp3 of the title track, plus the CFCF remix of 'B. Aldrian', I believe. I was at university at the time, during the height of my hedonism and with a particular interest in psychedelic drugs, and this song was probably the first time that German progressive/Kosmische synth had really struck me, outside of Kraftwerk. The CFCF remix was cool, but 'Synthesist' totally opened my eyes. The undulating arpeggios and that snaking, exploratory lead melody atop it just created this complete world of sound, somewhere vast and yet cosy, organic and yet electronic, new and yet totally familiar. Until this point, I think I'd faily exclusively viewed synthesizers and other electronic instruments as a means to an end, either in service of songs/tracks/'choons' that fit into what Simon Reynolds called the "rave continuum", songs for dancing to on pills, the things I'd heard at the drum'n'bass and dubstep and UK garage and grime nights I went to, or as something to add colour to what was essentially just the same verse-chorus-verse pop music that had previously used analogue instruments. I mean, I was already au fait with things like Aphex Twin and Four Tet and Burial and Massive Attack and Flying Lotus, but in my mind they all kind of fit into one of those two categories - even when they didn't - whereas 'Synthesist' was synth noodling for the sake of finding beauty in synth noodling, the end in itself. It wasn't there to make me dance, or to add colour; it was the entire colour wheel unto itself. As a fairly broke student whose money was understandably saved up to spend on booze and drugs - I managed to get my weekly food shop down to £8.something per week, so long as I ate bacon and pea risotto every day - I did not have the means to purchase the record itself, but I did manage to find an illegal download, and it soon became an all-time favourite, not to mention my go-to acid album, one which I introduced to loads of friends/likeminded cosmonauts over the next few years. Being honest, the whole album basically contains two ideas, one being the aforementioned 'snaking melody over underlying arpeggios' thing that forms the basis of four and a half of its eight tracks, albeit at different speeds, most successfully on the title track, 'So Weit, So Gut', and the jaunty 'Transcendental Overdrive' (in that order), and then there's the slightly queasy drone that makes up the other three and a half songs, particularly welcome in the soft twinkling of 'B. Aldrian', the comedown of closer 'Tai Ki', and of course the one track which most successfully puts these two ideas together, Side 2's gurgling opener, 'Earth - 1847'. I always vowed that I would grab this album on vinyl for myself, and I eventually found an affordable reissue in some tiny record shop in Williamsburg, of all places. (I kind of hated Williamsburg, though.) According to the liner notes, the reason he began making this music was because of his newfound interest in LSD, which made him realise he had been a drummer too busy trying to sound like Billy Cobham or Ginger Baker, and he fell in with the likes of Gottsching (whose E2-E4 is, as far as I'm concerned, and alongside this record, the absolute pinnacle of German Kosmische synth stuff), Schulze, and Tangerine Dream, and became inspired to start fucking around (or, to follow a theme, noodling) with different timbres and arpeggios. I don't listen to this album as much anymore, and the last time I did acid was, coincidentally, the day I arrived back in Birmingham from New York, almost exactly four years ago. (Those two things are likely not mutually exclusive.) Life and work gets in the way, and I figure I've probably explored about as much of my mind as I need to. Give me a sour beer and hashish joint, these days. That said, I actually pulled this album out just yesterday to listen to it. (Actually, I pulled out Jasmine Guffond's Yellow Bell, but this album was right next to it, and so I put it on after.) It still sounds great. I should pull it out more. Then, out of nowhere, this thread appears. The universe works in mysterious ways, maaaaaaan. _________________ 2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.
Agreed, that's one great write up there. But still feel free to share your own thoughts. 😄
You know what. I will. Don't know if I could make an eloquent review like Skinny, but I will try.
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
So it has been over a year since I listen to this album in full. And since this forum opened up and this was the opener for things to come, I had to obliged. Now, I want to say it was Chief that put me on this record back in late 2018. Probably due the album below game. (We should bring that back.) And, on that first listen I loved it! An album from 1980 that if I worked on my year lists, it would be a contender. But after that, never went back to it. And it was probably due to wanting to listen to other albums, or having other responsibilities. But after giving it a second listen, I have to say I still love this album!
Now to bring up what I love about this album is what I could bring from other artists from this time. I, like other listeners could tell where this comes from due the synth tones. But even with that, a lot of acts that decide to venture and become major players in the progressive electronic/ "new age" music have albums that are over 35 to 45 years old haven't aged at all. But why? Why have these albums hold up? If I can take a hypothetical guess, it would have to be how these records retain an aura that to me emulates a child like glee that hopefully makes the listener want to explore and lead their imagination to blossom.
Take a track like B. Aldrian where the synths take you on a journey through space in a rocket ship, having your jaw drop as you get to marvel at the stars, galaxies and other wonders of space. Or the opener So Weit, So Gut. That opener makes me feel like I'm flying. No care in the world. Makes me feel like the King of all Cosmos from Katamari.
And I could use this way to explain the rest of the album, but it comes down to being able to think about certain situations that I would bring up. But I could go on a technical level, where these synths are very dreamy, very enveloping, thematically fits the outer space vibe.
If there was any complaint, it would be how Emphasis just ends prematurely with a fade out. During that fade out, the track was getting good. Wished it had a complete finish. Other then that. I still enjoy this a lot. And is one of my absolute favorites from 1980 and for all time. Grade:95
Now before I leave to listen to other things, I should bring up artists that fits this general style and provide a video to a song that also has this similar style but in a more contemporary time. Even thought that track will be almost 10 years old come next year.
So acts I would recommend would be Ashra or know as Manuel Gottsching, Vangelis, Laraaji, Suzanne Ciani, Brian Eno, Yellow Magic Orchestra for acts that were around for this time. And modern acts like Boards of Canada, Com Truise and Oneothrix Point Never for acts that have been around for more recent times.
Here's a video for one of my favorite tracks of the 2010's
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