Harmonia
De Luxe

There are records that sometimes end up forgotten, not because they are inferior to others or due to their own faults, but simply due to variable and perhaps fortuitous circumstances. Let's take this "De-Luxe," the second album by Harmonia, not reviewed or mentioned here on DeBaser much like in all discussions about Kraut. Not mentioned simply because overshadowed by the first "Musik Von Harmonia" and put behind the various "Sowiesoso" and "Zuckerzeit" by Cluster alone. I'll tell you something: not only are these last mentioned works inferior to the aforementioned, while still remaining masterpieces, but even "Musik Von Harmonia" seems more "earthly" compared to "De-Luxe." In fact, I'll tell you more. Personally, I prefer this to the first, even though I consider the first slightly superior. The point between the two works lies in their diversity. The first is more experimental, the second more melodic: in the first, Rother brings with him all the best teachings from his friend Dinger of Neu! (especially those modified rhythms of Neu!2), in the second he lets himself be carried away by those melodic and detached lines typical of his solo career.

So enough talking and let's start exploring that orange cover, with the music turned on. The synths fall like stars that only a few followers of Schulze know how to notice, a few seconds and we find ourselves in a magnificent melodic sequence, interrupted only by a chorus repeating Immer Wieder the rhythm stabilizes in a cyclical repetition of words and notes that never tire. Ta-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra- Ta-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra ra- Ta-ra-ra-ra. And here's that oasis, that mirage that appears before you again, each time more exalting, because it's musically richer every time. It's a fulfillment of the senses, which searched for nothing else and will search for nothing else. And with the same cyclical melodic line, the first eponymous track ends. But here are more complex and rhythmic landscapes for the next "Walky-Talky", an exotic fresco of stunning beauty, traveling on a double hypnotic rhythmic line that enchants you for all its almost eleven minutes. Monolithically Kraut. It ends just as it began, round like that sun on the cover, dazzling if looked at for too long. Track number three: "Monza". Halfway between La Dusseldorf of Viva and Neu! from the second pre-punk part of Neu!75, Monza seems to be saying too much for its time, and maybe this is the point of the album; too ahead of its time, too visionary, it wasn't appreciated then. It was 1975, decidedly too early for "De-Luxe". A fast and hypnotic trance, "Notre Dame", opens the last three medium-length tracks compared to the first three, but which contain decidedly interesting insights. This one, for example, seems to come straight out of a warmer "Musik Von Harmonia". The subsequent "Gollum" is founded on a solid percussive rhythm, although very different from the Dingerian motorik, it doesn't evolve, but dissolves the listener's nervous system as it is captivated by keyboards and percussions. Here Neumeier, drummer of Guru Guru, carves out his personal space, defining an insistent drum rhythm, so similar to the motorik yet resulting different if listened to attentively, while being immutable in its progression. And we arrive at the concluding "Kekse", which especially the way it begins, seems to come directly from a Simon Jeffes from Penguin Café Orchestra if he had lived in Germany. But then that calm elegy transforms, or rather overlaps, into noises of all kinds. It seems like ribbiting of frogs, crickets, or cosmic noises, who knows. The fact is that our journey through that orange desert full of oases for those who know how to find them and visions for those who know how to dream, comes to an end. The good morning of the title-track seems light-years away, yet only five mere tracks away.

But this journey makes no sense if taken backward, so once you reach the end you will find yourself incredibly at the first track again, as if by magic, like in a perfect circle. So don't hesitate, the play button is there glowing, or maybe you're dreaming it, like that sun in the center of the cover. A touch is enough to start from the beginning, and rest assured it will never be like the previous time. Ta-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra- Ta-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra ra- Ta-ra-ra-ra. Magnificent.