Irrlicht
by Klaus Schulze

Irrlicht by Klaus Schulze
Year: 1972
Release date: 1972-08-00
Overall rank: 2,107th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
77/100 (from 154 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1972 (39th)
Award Top albums of of the 1970s (373rd)
Award Best albums of all time (2,107th)

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Klaus Schulze bestography

Irrlicht is ranked as the best album by Klaus Schulze.

Klaus Schulze album bestography « Higher ranked
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This album (2,107th)
Irrlicht
Lower ranked (3,514th) »
Timewind

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

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Irrlicht track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 79 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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Irrlicht rankings

Irrlicht rankings summary
Overall rank: 2,107th | 1970s rank: 373rd | 1972 rank: 39th  Overall chart history
(Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). (Last updated: 4 hours ago).
Filter Filter
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YearSourceChartRankRank Score
2026 Norman BatesTop 100 Music Albums of 197210/1005
2026boyd94Top 100 Greatest Music Albums13/10087
2026 LedZepTop 100 Music Albums of the 1970s68/1007
2026Steppenwolf666Top 100 Music Albums of 197290/1001
2026 RockyRaccoonElectronic89/100 -
2026 sssvnnnTop 100 Music Albums of 197257/1002
2026JohnnyoBest Electronic / Dance albums of all time by DigitalDreamDoor45/100 -
2026OlliTop 100 Music Albums of 197261/1002
2026 AfterHoursTop 100 Greatest Music Albums16/10085
2026 RhynerTop 27 Music Albums of 197226/270
2026 arthurbittencourtTop 100 Music Albums of the 1970s40/10012
2026 KalosTop 100 Music Albums of the 1970s50/10010
2026 baystateoftheartMy AA Roster: 201-300 All-Time67/81 -
2026 RepoTop 63 Music Albums of 197229/633
2026 Patman360Top 95 Music Albums of 197295/950
2026 bertranduAmbient 1958-200016/100 -
2026Exist-en-cielTop 100 Music Albums of 197293/1000
2026 baystateoftheartTop 98 Music Albums of the 1970s95/981
2026cicadelicTop 73 Music Albums of 197233/733
2026 RockyRaccoonTop 100 Music Albums of 197284/1001
Total Charts: Help The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. 130
Total Rank Score: Help The total rank score. 791
You can include this album in your own chart from the My Charts page!

Irrlicht collection

Irrlicht ratings

Average Rating: 
77/100 (from 154 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 5 ratings for this album.  | Show all 154 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
100/100
 !
05/23/2026 16:19 PauloMartino  Ratings distribution  1100/100
 
35/100
 !
04/30/2026 14:09 Pavloss  Ratings distribution  48850/100
 
60/100
 !
04/26/2026 09:30 duelek  Ratings distribution  2,08075/100
 
60/100
 !
04/03/2026 06:28 Olli  Ratings distribution  7,76562/100
 
85/100
 !
01/07/2026 21:39 RockyRaccoon  Ratings distribution  7,15484/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album is rated in the top 4% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 76.7/100, a mean average of 75.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 77.0/100. The standard deviation for this album is 17.5.


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Irrlicht comments

Showing all 10 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)

Rating:  
100/100
From 05/23/2026 16:20 | #314571
klaus is unic, genius mind
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 04/24/2023 16:17 | #296353
The Heritage of Bach is evident. Quite masterful
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
It may not be fair, but I have always less appreciated the work of Schulze (who left Tangerine Dream (TD) because of artistic differences with Edgar Froese in 1970) than TD's. As a young boy you may need variety. Possibly it was difficult for me at that time to appreciate the musical and artistic values of the currently highly acclaimed and groundbreaking "Irrlicht". Track 1 ("Ebene") gets under way with heavily manipulated strings. The mixed in drones are accompanied by strings played backwards. The process of generating music (indeed, you can call it "Musique concrète") is more important here than the result. Occasionally you hear sounds that seem to come from a synthesizer, but Schulze did not have a synthesizer for recording Irrlight. I would therefore like to know all the details of the process and the instruments used. Later in Track 1, Schulze plays his special, modified organ as if his life depended on it. I fear that I am too old and less sensitive to experiments. Track 3 is more monotonous and sounds like the relentlessly held and amplified background noise from a factory in the metal industry. I do not think we are in Berlin but in the Ruhr area, and here everything is dark, angry and hostile. This does not make you happy. On the contrary. We have to wait for the sublime "Mirage" to find a more accessible sound carpet. But for now this is the "Dark Ambient" of a sound artist. The recording of the reverse playback of an orchestra is interwoven with the noise that turns the background gray. I can't make up my mind. Does Irrlicht have such great artistic value? Is this album still relevant, or can we talk about musical archeology?
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 10/22/2018 02:11 | #222939
celestial brilliance
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 01/27/2018 11:42 | #206630
A celestial masterpiece.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 11/04/2015 22:01 | #152496
Klaus Schulze makes records that sound the way H R Giger's artwork looks.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
The perfect accompaniment for your elevator ride to hell. Going down!
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Chilling, deep, spatial and metaphysical. Klaus Schulze has been in the deepest part of the universe and has come back bringing with himself the statement of his journey. The music sounds inevitably apocalyptical, dark and shapeless. Klaus Schulze is able to disconnect you from the real world, to make you feel yourself in an ethereal dimension. He doesn't need words to compose something poetic.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
Emotionally powerful.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
Staring at the cover gives me the creeps.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

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