''Durch die Wüste'' is the first full-length solo album by German keyboardist

Hans-Joachim Roedelius Hans-Joachim Roedelius (born 26 October 1934) is a German electronic musician and composer, best known as a co-founder of the influential 'kosmische' groups Cluster and Harmonia. He also performed in the ambient jazz trio Aquarello, and relea ...

, best known for his work with

Cluster may refer to: Science and technology Astronomy * Cluster (spacecraft), constellation of four European Space Agency spacecraft * Asteroid cluster, a small asteroid family * Cluster II (spacecraft), a European Space Agency mission to study t ...

Harmonia In Greek mythology, Harmonia (; grc, Ἁρμονία /Ancient Greek phonology, harmoˈnia/, "harmony", "agreement") is the immortal goddess of harmony and concord. Her Rome, Roman counterpart is Concordia (mythology), Concordia. Her Greek op ...

, and Aquarello. The title is German for "Through the Desert." The music on ''Durch Die Wüste'' was recorded over a two-year period from 1976 to 1978 at Conny's Studio outside of

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Conny Plank Konrad "Conny" Plank (3 May 1940 – 5 December 1987) was a German record producer and musician. He is known for his innovative work as a sound engineer and producer in Germany's krautrock and kosmische music scene in the 1970s. Plank was invo ...

and Dave Hutchins served as sound engineers and was co-produced by Roedelius and Plank. It was released by

Sky Records Sky Records was a Hamburg, Germany-based independent record label specializing in krautrock/ Kosmische Musik and electronic music. Some of their releases could be classified as progressive rock or art rock, experimental music, industrial, ambien ...

in 1978. Cluster had achieved international recognition and acclaim the previous year after collaborating with

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

and releasing ''

Cluster & Eno ''Cluster & Eno'' is a collaborative album by German electronic music group Cluster and English ambient musician Brian Eno. The style of this album is a collection of gentle melodies: a mixture of Eno's ambient sensibilities and Cluster's avant ...

'' in 1977. This success enabled Roedelius to launch a solo career while continuing to work with Cluster. In reviewing the album for

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Keith Farley writes, in part: "Though these tracks often stray from beatless space music (the opener 'Am Rockzipfel' flits back and forth between electronic hard rock and space), the musical structures employed certainly suggest ambience, from the classical melodies of the title track to the gaseous atmosphere of 'Glaubersalz.'" ''Durch Die Wüste'' has received numerous highly favorable reviews. ''Durch Die Wüste'' was reissued on CD on March 19, 1996 by the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Gyroscope A gyroscope (from Ancient Greek γῦρος ''gŷros'', "round" and σκοπέω ''skopéō'', "to look") is a device used for measuring or maintaining orientation and angular velocity. It is a spinning wheel or disc in which the axis of rota ...

label and in 2009 on the German label

Bureau B Bureau B (sometimes quoted as ''Bureau-B'') is an independent record label, music publisher and booking agency from Hamburg, Germany, founded in 2005 by Gunther Buskies (B for Buskies) as a sister label to Tapete Records. The label releases variet ...

Track listing

All tracks by

# "Am Rockzipfel" - 5:02 # "Durch Die Wüste" - 13:51 # "Johanneslust" - 5:00 # "Glaubersalz" - 3:26 # "Mr. Livingstone I Suppose" - 5:40 # "Regenmacher" - 6:39

Personnel

*Jaso Christo – bass, guitar *Gareth Davies – translation *Dave Hutchins – engineer *Willem Makkee – remastering *Dieter Moebius – synthesizer *

– synthesizer, guitar, percussion, producer, engineer, mixing, stimme *

– bass, percussion, synthesizer, vocals, strings, producer, stimme *Asmus Tietchens – liner notes

References

* Liner notes * Farley, Keith

Allmusic review AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Retrieved September 16, 2007. * TagTune
Durch Die Wuste
Retrieved September 16, 2007. * Amazon.co
Durch Die Wüste
Retrieved September 16, 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Durch die Wuste 1978 debut albums Hans-Joachim Roedelius albums Albums produced by Conny Plank