Search - Irmin Schmidt :: Anthology: Soundtracks (1978-93) (Reis)

Can's offshoot... excellent with lots of variety!

fu wai | Hong Kong, not applicable Hong Kong | 08/06/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"After the Can years the keyboardist Irmin Schmidt's career is largely deal with soundtracks. In this 3-CD set, the best of his soundtracks are all covered. The 1st CD is the best, "verdi prati valse" the accordian work is excellent, and other tracks "pauline", "rote Erde", "qui sait" and "ritas' tune" are extremely romantic work. Other pieces are synthesizer instrumentals occasionally supported by Can's guitarist Michael Karoli. Some works "mountain way" shows the spontaneity of Can. Disc 2 is more 80's feel, with lots of synthesizers and sometimes with merits, for example, "morning in berlin", "Balance". It's the weakest of the 3 discs. Disc 3 contains his late 70's materials which are more experimental, for example, "wallenstein", "Messer im kopf", etc. "Flachenbrand" is very impressive, too. Overally speaking, 60minutes out of the 3 hrs 36 min. collection is superb stuff, about 1.5 hours are pleasant background music, the rest are quite forgettable. The fillers prevent me from rating it as a 5-star record as other Can's CDs, but I'm sure that you will love this album... unfortunately it's quite expensive... but if You a Can's fans you must have it!It worth this price."