La Vie Electronique, Vol. 1 in Bloomington, MN

The limited-edition box sets in the Edition series (
Silver Edition
, 1993, ten CDs;
Historic Edition
, 1995, ten CDs;
Jubilee Edition
, 1997, 25 CDs; all gathered [with extra material added] in
Ultimate Edition
, 2000, 50 CDs) are the most sought-after items in
Klaus Schulze
collectors' circles, exchanging hands at outrageous prices. In 2009,
Klaus D. Mueller
and
Schulze
began releasing
La Vie Electronique
("The Electronic Life"), a series of three-CD sets that reissued all the material previously released in these long-deleted box sets, plus a few unreleased tracks, with all the material put back in chronological sequence (the Edition sets mixed things up, time line-wise). Volume 1 covers the years 1968-1972 and is mainly very interesting. One highlight is
"I Was Dreaming I Was Awake and Then I Woke Up and Found Myself Asleep,"
a previously unreleased 25-minute piece that, is stronger than
Irrlicht
,
's debut LP.
"Cyborgs Traum"
is also major
material. Also,
"Dynamo"
"Traumraum"
feature rare occurrences of glissando electric guitar in
's music. On the other hand, the 64-minute
"Die Kunst, Jundert Jahre alt Zu Werden"
is mediocre: it sounds like a long, in-studio improvisation during which the artist is trying out ideas but developing none. Then again, that is what this whole series is about: archival documents, experiments, drafts, and blueprints. And there's more than enough here to satisfy the fan. ~ Francois Couture