Riechmann
Wunderbar

Wolfgang Riechmann, after having played in some decidedly non-electronic progressive bands (from the late sixties and through almost all of the seventies with Streetmark and The Spirits of Sound), decided to embark on a solo career, taking the path of instrumental electronic pop, inspired by Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream's Stratosfear.

The multi-instrumentalist Riechmann presents us with a sound typical of the Berlin School that emerged a few years earlier, where the sequencer is present in every track, marking the cadence of each composition. Songs like the splendid title track indicate the author’s ability to compose simple and dynamic melodies that manage to strike a chord while not being banal. Abendlicht and Siberland, on the contrary, are characterized by slow sequencer movements that provide a sufficient basis to support the menacing synth lines above, while the playful Himmelblau and the Tangerine-like Weltweit complete the picture.

An album released in 1978, after the planetary success of Oxygene and numerous other similar releases, so it does not shine in originality but is certainly pleasant for its notable elements. Riechmann died a year after the album's release, stabbed without reason, during a brawl in a pub between the manager and a drunk customer. I think there's no better way to commemorate this man, whose career ended so prematurely, than to listen to his only record. I think he deserves it.

Score out of ten: 6/7