The Heavenly Voice of Moya Brennan and Klaus Schulze's Moondawn at 50.
Today, we had planned on just celebrating of the 50th anniversary of Klaus Schulze’s album, Moondawn. And we’re still going to do that in the second hour of the show, but a couple of days ago we got the heartbreaking news that Moya Brennan, the singer from Clannad, had left the planet. She was only 73. Moya was not just a transformative singer, but she was also a friend of the show, appearing here several times in interviews and many live performances. One of them is up right now at echoes.org. She was a singer whose voice seemed to touch perfection; assertive, yet serene, rapturous, but also warm. So in the first hour today we’re going to hear the music of Moya Brennan solo and with Clannad.
Putting this tribute together, it is just amazing how many purely great songs Moya Brennan created on her own and with Clannad, I’m sure there are tracks that you loved that didn’t make it in, but only because there are so many tracks to love. Moya Brennan, leaving us on April 13. She was only 73. She died from pulmonary fibrosis which is a horrible way to go, especially for a singer. She is gone, but her voice from the heavens remains today on Echoes.
The show we had planned will still be heard. Mindphasers are on stun as we float through Klaus Schulze’s Moondawn released 50 years ago. The German electronic artist shaped what’s known as the Berlin school of electronic music, dominated by insistent ostinato sequencer patterns born from synthesizers. Schulze defined that sound in the 1970s with albums like Body Love, Mirage, X, and Trancefer, but the one that started it all was his 6th album, Moondawn, released 50 years ago on April 16, 1976. It had just two sidelong tracks, “Mindphaser” and “Floating.” Schulze would start with sample and hold electronic patterns, then start phasing in sustained synthesizer chords and gentle sequencers until he finally cranks up the groove and along with drummer Harold Grosskopf, heads into deep space. The first time I played this on the air was in 1976 on a show called Diaspar on WXPN in Philadelphia. The phones lit up and stayed lit for half an hour. I called the local import store, 3rd St. Jazz & Rock, and said, “You better get a lot of copies of this record.” We’ll hear one of those sides today.
Hear our feature on Klaus Schulze, An Icon of Echoes.