Harmonia's Deluxe at 50
On the next Echoes, the 50th Anniversary of Deluxe, the sophomore studio album by the West German krautrock “supergroup” Harmonia—comprising Michael Rother (Neu!) and Cluster members Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius. It was recorded in June 1975 at their studio in Forst, Germany, and released later that year on Brain Records, co-produced with the legendary Conny Plank and featuring Guru Guru drummer Mani Neumeier.
It’s a more coherent album than their debut and features Rother’s sense of inventive timbres and melodic strokes. It’s also more rhythmic, closer to Neu!, with drummer Mani Neumeier dialing up the motoric groove although without nearly the intensity of Neu’s Klaus Dinger. This album also catches the Cluster members just as they were moving into a more melodic phase, first with Brian Eno and then on their album, Sowiesoso. We’ll hear a track from that and a couple from Deluxe tonight on Echoes from PRX.
