It all starts here for Achim Reichel's new project A.R. & Machines. Essentially he discovered tape delay which made his guitars sound massive. The album was much derided by the German music press upon release. Keep in mind that Reichel prior to this was a pop star, so the end results were jarring to fans. Reichel can rightfully be considered one of the pioneers of the sound-on-sound electric guitar Krautrock albums later further refined by Manuel Gottsching and Gunter Schickert. Voices and percussion provide further mysterious atmospheres for the recording. A pioneering and groundbreaking work that today stands in stark contrast to its original reception. The recognized classics usually go through a similar historical metamorphosis.
Ownership: LP: 1985 Polydor. Single sleeve with a cool cover. I bought this later press brand new from the Record Gallery in Dallas circa 1987 while still in college. I've spoken about this remarkable store and its impact on my music development in other posts.
CD: 2007 Tangram. CD+DVD. Super nice tri-fold digi-pak cover with a history in both English and German. Also comes with a DVD that I have yet to see. Since the album was originally released as a "movie soundtrack for your mind", a group of contemporary college students decided to make a video with the music as a backdrop. This is the copy I listened to for this revisit. It appeared Reichel was going to reissue his back catalog in this manner, but then it derailed for 10 more years before he decided to release the massive box set.
CD: 2017 Tangram. And we're glad he did! This is a 10 CD box set with a hardbound book. One of the highest rated CD packages in my entire collection. I discuss this box more in depth on the AR 3 review.
At this point, I will likely keep all 3 copies as each brings something unique.
12/31/07; 12/20/18; 7/13/22 (new entry)
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