First released in 1981 this has now been reworked and released again by Bureau B. Influential at the time, Krupps' mastermind Jurgen Engler is on record as saying that had he heard Cluster prior to making it he probably wouldn't have done it in the first place. Thinking he had done something more unique than it actually was.
This new version was recorded with Mani Neumeier (Guru Guru), Jean-Herve Peron and Zappi Diermaier (Faust), Pyrolator (Der Plan) and US postrock musician Scott Telles. Its original conception was heavily influenced by Lou Reed's 'Metal Machine Music' and there is certainly enough klang and prang to satisfy the ur-minds of a thousand Julian Copes.
It would seem Jurgen and Scott recorded the basic tracks and then the others came in and did their bits. I suppose it is a little difficult for me to provide a comprehensive review of this album in the sense that I have never heard the original.
What I will say is this is an excellent piece of music split into two epic tracks, 'Rheinhausen' (23:29) and 'Westfalenhutte' (13:24). So what you do is press play and listen to the noise unfold and what a mighty noise it is. Metallic music for the mind. Proto something or other, they have basically thrown the kitchen sink at it.
'Rheinhausen' is built on a monotonic bass line and stoic beat with plenty of fills, thrills and spills. The guitar mainly just prangs and flails about like a robot in a china shop. There will be plenty of people who hate this music but I can't get enough of it. If you have had enough of indie-pop sensibilities and are looking for an entirely different listening experience then you might want to give this a whirl?
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Frankly, 23 minutes isn't nearly long enough. Does the track go anywhere? Maybe in a straight line as far as the eye can see, or maybe round and round in circles, that's not really the point of this exercise. The idea was/is to do something that hadn't been done before which is nigh on impossible but that's no reason not to try and what they ended up with is something modern, industrial and atonal. 'Westfalenhutte' just happens to be ten minutes shorter and not different in any way that is easily discernible to these ears. It does perhaps include more electronic, keyboard generated noises but still heavily reliant on that 'metallic' guitar palette.
This album is a classic revisited and will sit nicely alongside early Cluster in the record collection.
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