''French Skyline'' is the second full-length album 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 ...

electronic band Earthstar. It was their first release for

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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 ...

–based Sky Records. ''French Skyline'' was recorded in 1978 and 1979. The opening track, "Latin Sirens Face The Wall," was recorded at Klaus Schulze Studios in Hambühren,

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, and was engineered by

Klaus Schulze Klaus Schulze (4 August 1947 – 26 April 2022) was a German electronic music pioneer, composer and musician. He also used the alias Richard Wahnfried and was a member of the Krautrock bands Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel, and The Cosmic Jokers ...

. Bass and strings were recorded at Aura Sound Studios in

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. All other tracks were recorded at Deponté la Rue Studio in

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. Additional recording took place at four different studios in Germany and New York State. The album was released by Sky Records in 1979. ''French Skyline'' strongly shows Klaus Schulze's musical influence on

Craig Wuest Craig Wuest is an American keyboardist currently based in Atlanta, Georgia, Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. He is best known as the founder and leader of the electronic music group Earthstar (band), Earthstar during the 1970s and 1980s. E ...

and Earthstar. Wuest's idea was to create a wall of sound, as described by the New Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock: "...his desire apparently is to create music that doesn't necessarily suggest a particular instrument, rather creates a new texture. Therefore, though there are credits for flute, guitar, bass, violin, viola, French horn, sitar and vocals, it's pretty hard to distinguish any of these." ''French Skyline'' was also the first of three albums on which Wuest made heavy use of the

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and the rare

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, a variation on the Mellotron that can sustain notes beyond eight seconds. Klaus Schulze's presence is almost certainly a large part of the reason ''French Skyline'' is Earthstar's most successful album in terms of sales. Sky Records licensed a reissue on CD by

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in 1999 without the approval or knowledge of Earthstar. In December 2023, Made in Germany Music officially reissued ''French Skyline'' as part of the 5-CD set ''Collected Works''.

Track listing

#"Latin Sirens Face the Wall" 19:39
"Part I: Sirens" – 4:14
"Part II: The Amazon" - 10:18
"Part III: The Flourishing Illusion" - 5:07 #"Splendored Skies and Angels" - 6:21 #"French Sky Lines Suite" 18:38
"Movement I: Morning Song (For Iris And Richard)" - 3:50
"Movement II: Sources Change, including "The Movement" - 4:48
"Movement III: 3 Demensional Music" - 4:47
"Movement IV: Wind and Sky Symphony/Reprise: Morning Song" - 5:13

Personnel

– synthesizers, Birotron, mellotron, piano, sitar, harp, sundrys, glass games, voice, vocoder, Tibetan bells, percussion, tape loops, treatments * Dennis Rea – electric guitar, treated guitar, "tonewall" *

Norm Peach Norm Peach is an American bassist from Utica, New York who was a member of Earthstar during the late 1970s. He also played with Dennis Rea and Daniel Zongrone in Zuir prior to joining Earthstar. He appeared on two Earthstar albums: '' Salterba ...

– bass, devices * Tim Finnegan – flute, "templewind" *

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– "whaling violin", "sheets of sound" *

Louis Deponté Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis (d ...

– violin I, viola, treatments, recording of sea birds on the French coast *Phil Novak – violin II, choir *Marla Thomson – French horn, flute, choir *Joan Novak (credited as Joan N.) – choir *Dirk Schmalenbach – sitar

Notes

References

* Liner notes * Rea, Dennis
Exposé Magazine Interview
Retrieved August 20, 2007.

External links

* Synth Music Direc
Earthstar - French Sky (review)
Retrieved October 29, 2007. * Ultima Thul

Retrieved October 29, 2007. {{Authority control 1979 albums Earthstar (band) albums