* * * * * * * kdm

During our Schulze concerts in the seventies, when an apparatus didn't work properly, I used a simple (and in a way barbaric) trick to make it work again.
. . . . When I read in Januar 2001 the interview that Peter Bogdanovich did in 1965 with film director Fritz Lang, I smiled and my concert memories came back. Famous film director Lang spoke about the work on his movie "M" in 1931: "The sound engineer had a wooden hammer, and every time something didn't work with the equipment, he took his hammer and just used it."
. . . . 45 years later and without knowing about the manners of Fritz Lang's sound engineer, I used my fist or foot. It worked too, then. Mostly.

Mr. Townsend erzählte mir von seinem Missgeschick, dass er nämlich kürzlich mit beiden Beinen durch ein Hosenbein gestiegen und so den ganzen Tag herumgelaufen ist.(Samuel Pepys' "Diary", 6 April 1661)

The very first review of a KS album, from the USA, 47 years ago:

Let's face it, Germany has never been known as a breeding ground for rock music. So, what else was there? If you're interested in electronic music you have to check it out. ... Schulze's effort is available separately as "Irrlicht: Quadrophonische Symphonie für Orchester und E-Maschinen". None of it is exactly the kind of stuff you're likely to hear on AM radio. Much of it is really remarkable, especially in its use of the synthesizer to produce non-synthesized (original) sounds as a basis for complex and extended musical compositions. ...

»Die einen machen die Musik, die anderen verstehen sie.« (Beda Venerabilis, 672-735)

»... so bewirkt die Musik einen guten Charakter, indem dieser sich gewöhnt, an musikalischer Beschäftigung rechte Freude zu empfinden.«(Albertus Magnus, um 1200-1280)

»Der vollkommene Musikgenuss besteht daher im vollkommenen Musikverstehen.« (Johannes Tinctoris, 1435-1511)


»Das Nachdenken über Musik fördert auch heute noch das Verständnis der Kunst, der Welt, der Menschen. Die Musik betrifft nicht nur den Bereich der Emotionen!« (zeitloser Appell)

»Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on« (a British beat combo,1968)

»Was ist ein Synthesizer?« (fragt ein Radio-Journalist 1975 Klaus Schulze)

»Ich mache elektronische Musik.«(sagt 1998 die Schlagersängerin 'Blümchen', geboren 1980)

An Australian asked a tongue-in-cheek question:

I have just purchased the re-release of Virtual Outback and it is rapidly becoming a favourite from many 'favourites' of KS's enormous back catalogue. Does the man ever sleep?

Which gave me - and I took - the chance for a bit of calculation:

Ever sleep? Oh yes, and very long!
. . . . Take for instance the huge set of 50 CDs, "The Ultimate Edition", it includes 64 hours of music, which KS had recorded between the late sixties and 1999. Sixtyfour hours out of 262,800 hours (thirty years) = this is under 0.025% of the available time during thirty years.
. . . . And, if you add the same amount of recorded music (another 64 hours) for the regular releases during these 30 years... this little calculation would simply mean (to my own astonishment): Don't worry, Klaus had still 99.95 % of his time for sleeping, eating, thinking, reading, etc...

Exactly ten years ago, on February 6, I launched this website.

From an interview 15 years ago:
Q.: How do you think your German background, education and lifestyle has influenced your music? Do you think you would have become the same artist if you grew up in Italy or England?
KS: "What would been, if..." is a question that leads to nowhere :-)

Kaiser Franz I. war überhaupt ein sehr leutseliger Herr. Einmal hörte er zu, als Beethoven auf dem Klavier spielte; nach dem Konzert ließ er sich den Künstler kommen, klopfte ihm auf die Schulter und sprach: "Herr Kapellmeister, Sie sind ja ein Tausendsassa!" (Victor Auburtin, 1923)

Denkt mal drüber nach, warum Schellack-Platten geliebt wurden, CDs aber nicht.

Perfektion war’s nicht.

Years ago I had noticed that record companies don't use anymore the word "stereo" (and HiFi, etc.) on their CDs and on their CD packages. Therefore, I had enjoyed myself a little bit: I put on the back side (upper right corner) of the five THE ULTIMATE EDITION boxes some keywords that I have often seen on LPs during the fifties and sixties (number 4 is my own creation):

- stereo
- non-breakable under normal use
- electro
- schulzesque
- instrumental

By the way: has anyone noticed, that some of the sets' historical recordings – taken from so-called "echo tapes" – are not at all in stereo? I call it: double mono.