Holger Czukay - On the way to the peak of normal

This is a Great Disc. From krautrock era Holger Czukay pulls out (we are in 1981) this incredible album that will be of great inspiration for much artists.

I'm looking (on vinyl) at the first disc 'CANAXIS' out of the CAN which I consider a masterpiece, but I must admit that this 'On The Way to the Peak of Normal' is a nice feel ...

It also recorded pretty good!

From inner details of Holger...

"Recording tape has been widely used with the emphasis on achieving maximun high fidelity. However, its special character lies more in the artificial possibilities it offers. Just as film footage is invariably modified or adapted in some way before it reaches the screen so the tapes of this album were extensively treated - a process involving thousands of edits and much enriched copying. Both the uniqueness of any studio (its sound, precise physical dimensions, etc.) and the development of such electronic components as recording machines and sound systems mean that a musician can organize his wrk in specifically indivydual ways. Just as printer works with his brushes and colori, so the music here is 'painted' onto the tapes -rather than merely 'produced' in the old sense of the term.

Side1: 'Ode to Perfume'

The vibrato guitar at the beginning contains the 'origin' code of the whole piece. Though i played it as conventionally as i possibly could, the music only gradually reveals its true nature - i tend to visualize its progress as being like a trick-film journey into the elaborate weavings of a Persian carpet. The stations along the way are:

1 A welcome

2 Chorale of the Majestic

3 Ballad

4 The Males are marching

5 Out of the Fogbank

6 Into

7 The Final Chorale of the Majestic

8 Fragrance

Racommended listening whilst rollerskating, driving or flying

Side2: 'On the Way to the Peak of Normal'

This was composed out of a spontaneous session involving the musicians of S.Y.P.H and two radios. The ensuing hypnotic atmosphere was spliced into splinters of musical moments, then reassembled - not always in the same sequence. Thus one hour of musica is compressed into 7 1/2 minutes.

'Witches Multiplication Tale' This contains Les Vampyrettes instructions on how to get rich.

'Two Bass Shuffle' A piece that dates from 1976, when i remembered the first artificial guitar recording of Les Paul and Mary Ford in the 1950s.

'Hiss 'N' Listen' As a boy, i dreamt of getting married and leading a normal family life on a space station full of communication receivers, banked TV screens, and all Kinds of technology.

This music was recorded in just such a visionary place, but without the family of my fantasy. Instead, Jah Wobble showed up with hiss bass and switched me back so years..."