Last year I had dumped a number of titles into 3 different Roundups with the weedout subtitle (4 actually, I just didn't publish one of those). All of them I had recently let go. Many of those CDs have already sold thanks to our great customers of Purple Peak Records. I decided to put a little structure on these posts as that project will ultimately be brought forth again. I've decided to pull a (very few) titles back for another reevaluation since they still haven't sold.
Here was my original prelude:
I've finally begun to weed out the collection. It's been a project that is a long time coming. I want to physically reduce the size, as ultimately we'll probably retire to a smaller space. I no longer have items in my collection that are easy to get rid of - I like them all! But many of these are styles I just have too much of - or I never have the urge to listen to. I have an elaborate rating system, so all of this was heavily planned. No random pulls with comments like "do I need this?". Before letting go of anything, I want to hear the album one last time. So it's time consuming, but necessary. There will be plenty of exceptions, some I expect to be just that, as my tastes have changed over the years.
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With that, I think I'd like to bunch them by genre to give a little context. Going forward I hope to get more notes per each release. In some cases I may still be able to do that (like with the below).
Let's start with Electronic music. Or more precisely Berlin School and what is now known as Progressive Electronic. One could argue that all you need is Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze and have a representative collection. Of course a deep diver like me will hear no such thing. I'm always going to dig for the Cultural Noise, Wolfgang Bock, You, and Zanov type albums. In the late 90s the Berlin School revival happened, and a raft full of very interesting bands arrived on the scene like Redshift, Radio Massacre International, Node, Arc, etc... I loaded up big figuring music like this is timeless (especially in 2005 as you will see below). And it is. But I have too much of it. Here's what didn't make the cut:
Boots, Aerts, V.D. Heijden - Livelines. 2002 Groove Unlimited (Netherlands). Notes from 2005: Live concert performed by the Groove Unlimited label owners. A nice romp through a variety of E-Musik styles, including sequencer Berlin, tribal, and modern electronica. Probably would’ve preferred more oomph and edginess, but will accept what they give me here. A good one, if not essential. 10ish. Fun fact: Ron Boots bought my Moog Opus 3 last year. [that would be back in 2004...]Subsonic Experience - Praposition. 2003 DiN (UK). Notes from 2005: That rarity of an electronic CD on DiN where Ian Boddy doesn’t play a note. I don’t know how to describe this album at all, but it’s very good. Thorsten plays “Synth Organ with Overdrive, Delay and Wah Wah” while Berhard plays an assortment of new and old synthesizers and sequencers. Good enough for me. Except for the beat heavy opening track, in some ways, this could be the follow-up to Tangerine Dream’s Atem. It does sound more like a modern recording though, and it certainly has more “action” than Atem does, but there is more of that old cosmic Dream approach, than even what you might hear on Phaedra. [OK, I'll pull this title back for another go].
Kubusschnitt - The Cube. 2000 Neu Harmony (UK). Notes from 2005: Rock solid sequencer/guitar based EM music. Hodgepodge Euro group. 4 members adds a lot of synergy. Both are easily recommended to RMI fans (and others similar). Some great driving the Interstate music.
Tangerine Dream - Rockoon. 1992 Miramar (USA). I've been pleasantly surprised at my reaction to these late era T Dream releases that I've been finding in thrift shops. Rockoon was my least favorite though (to date). But it's not terrible.
Tangerine Dream - Mars Polaris. 1999 TDI. Same as above. Not enough here to hold onto.
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