In 1969, Klaus Schulze was the drummer of one of the early incarnations of Tangerine Dream for their debut album Electronic Meditation. In 1970 he left this group to form Ash Ra Tempel with Manuel Göttsching. In 1971, he chose again to leave a newly-formed group after only one album, this time to mount a solo career.
In 1972, Schulze released his debut album Irrlicht with organ and a recording of an orchestra filtered almost beyond recognition. Despite the lack of synthesizers, this proto-ambient work is regarded as a milestone in electronic music. The follow up, Cyborg, was similar but added the EMS Synthi A synthesizer. Some highlights of his early career are Moondawn (1976), Mirage (1977) and Dune (1979). He often took aspects of German culture and history as a starting point in his compositions, particularly on his album "X" (the title signifying it was his tenth album) in 1978 which was subtitled 'Six Musical Biographies,' including such notables as Ludwig II of Bavaria, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. His use of the pseudonym Richard Wahnfried indicates his interest in Richard Wagner, which also informs other albums of his music, notably Timewind.
Throughout the 1970s he worked mostly in an improvised musical style similar to the above-mentioned Tangerine Dream, albeit with lighter sequencer lines and a more introspective, cosmic edge to pieces that also tended to develop more gradually and were of a longer duration, sometimes in excess of 30 minutes.
Klaus Schulze had a more eclectic sound than other electronic artists of the time. Often he would make use of non-electronic sounds such as acoustic guitar and a male operatic voice in Blackdance , or a cello in Dune and Trancefer . Schulze developed a Minimoog technique that sounds uncannily like an electric guitar, which is quite impressive in concert.
In the 1980s Schulze moved from analog to digital instruments, and his work accordingly became less experimental and more accessible. A highlight of this era was En=Trance with the dreamy cut 'FM Delight.' The album Miditerranean Pads marked the beginning of very complex percussion arrangements that continued into the next two decades.
Starting with Beyond Recall, the first half of the 1990s was a period when Schulze used a large sonic pallette of samples – such as screeching birds or sensuous female moans – in both his studio albums and live performances. The decade also saw the release of copious amounts of previously unreleased material, of varying quality, in several limited-edition boxed sets. Some live recordings were discovered on pristine but forgotten reels of tape which had been used to provide "echo" in concerts.
Schulze began incorporating elements of jazz and classical music, playing a more contemporary, techno/dance music, as well as creating an opera. Since the start of the millennium he has begun gradually re-releasing his classic solo albums, each containing bonus tracks of unreleased material, dating from same period as each of the original albums.
With the release of his fortieth album (Big in Japan: Live in Tokyo 2010) in September 2010, Schulze entered his fifth decade as a solo musician. His next album, Shadowlands, was released in February 2013, quickly to be followed by the release of The Schulze–Schickert Session 1975, a rare long-unreleased collaboration, in March 2013.
Bayreuth Return
Klaus Schulze Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You'd never invite me but I will be your guest
Oh no, no don't be afraid of the reaper
It's time to go I call your name and you follow, fly with me
Take a look around and say you love me
And I will guide you through the golden door
For everything you'll see there is a reason
The big wheel is turning like always before
For the big wheel turns and the circle must go on, forever more
How do you like your termination day? So far
Kiss me good bye 'cause I must fade away
Oh no, no, don't be afraid of your master
It's time to go it's calling your name now you follow, fly away
Take a look around and say you love me
And I will guide you through the golden door
For everything you'll see there is a reason
The big wheel is turning like always before
There is no return from the other side of heaven
For the big wheel turns and the circle must go on, forever more
Welcome to eternal life, my friend
Now take your seat on your cloud
Enjoy your stay but always remember
There is no return
There is no return from the other side of heaven
For the big wheel turns and the circle must go on, forever more
There is no return from the other side of heaven
For the big wheel turns and the circle must go on, forever more
The lyrics of Klaus Schulze's song Bayreuth Return hint towards the concept of death and the afterlife. The opening lines of the song, "I'm riding the wind, don't need your request, You'd never invite me but I will be your guest," imply that the singer is riding the wind towards a destination where they are not necessarily invited but are still welcome. This destination is perhaps heaven, or an afterlife where there is no mortality. The lines "Oh no, no don't be afraid of the reaper, It's time to go I call your name and you follow, fly with me" reinforce this idea of the afterlife, while at the same time negating the idea of death being something to be frightened of.
The song continues with the idea of eternal life, and how there is no return from the other side of heaven. The lines, "Welcome to eternal life, my friend, Now take your seat on your cloud, Enjoy your stay but always remember, There is no return" suggest that death is not something to be feared, since it leads to a pleasant afterlife. The chorus "Take a look around and say you love me, And I will guide you through the golden door, For everything you'll see there is a reason, The big wheel is turning like always before," seems to speak about the idea of karma, fate, and the circle of life, implying that everything happens for a reason and that people should be at peace with the idea of their mortality.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm riding the wind, don't need your request
I am moving forward without any permission or command from anyone else.
You'd never invite me but I will be your guest
Despite not being welcomed, I will take part in this experience.
Oh no, no don't be afraid of the reaper
Death is nothing to be feared.
It's time to go I call your name and you follow, fly with me
It is time to embark on a journey and I am leading the way.
Take a look around and say you love me
Appreciate the beauty around you and express your gratitude.
And I will guide you through the golden door
I will show you the way to a new and wonderful place.
For everything you'll see there is a reason
Every aspect of this journey has a purpose.
The big wheel is turning like always before
The circle of life is constantly revolving as it always has.
There is no return from the other side of heaven
Once there, you can never come back to where you were before.
For the big wheel turns and the circle must go on, forever more
The cycle of life will continue indefinitely without interruption.
How do you like your termination day? So far
What do you think of this current state of the end of your life so far?
Kiss me good bye 'cause I must fade away
Bid me farewell as I must depart and disappear.
Oh no, no, don't be afraid of your master
Do not be fearful of the one who is in control of your fate.
It's time to go it's calling your name now you follow, fly away
The time has come for you to move on and head towards your destiny as it beckons you.
Welcome to eternal life, my friend
You have now entered into an everlasting existence.
Now take your seat on your cloud
Take your place in the afterlife where you belong.
Enjoy your stay but always remember
Take pleasure in this new experience but never forget what has come before.
There is no return
You cannot go back to where you once were.
There is no return from the other side of heaven
Once you reach this afterlife, you can never leave it.
For the big wheel turns and the circle must go on, forever more
The cycle of life will continue on indefinitely without any interruption.
Writer(s): Klaus-Juergen Schulze Copyright: GEMA
Contributed by Victoria D. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Jay Dee ~ Survivor of the Hypermodern
~ R I C H A R D W A H N F R I E D ❣ ~
Die, meiner Meinung nach, 15 besten
KS - Platten/ CD's; viele davon haben noch nicht einmal Konkurrenz von anderen Künstlern ( - in etwa als meine persönliche Favoritenliste/ in absteigender Reihenfolge ) :
The Dome Event/ Totentag/ Moondawn/ Body Love/ Farscape/ 2001/ Beyond Recall . . . . .
Mirage/ Trancefer/ X/ The Dresden Performance/ En=Trance/ Dreams/ In Blue . . . . .
- Und das ist alles schon so gut, trotzdem: Mit Abstand am besten ist
' TIMEWIND '; das beste Album, das je aufgenommen wurde...
K S 4 - EVER ❤🧡💛💚💙💜🌈🎹🎵
Jay Dee ~ Survivor of the Hypermodern
Hi ❣ 🙋🙋♂️
So.. HIER HÖRT IHR NUN
D A S B E S T E A L B U M ,
D A S J E A U F G E N O M M E N
W U R D E .
Alle anderen Musikalben sind davon
m e i - l e n - w e i t entfernt !!!!!!!!
KS' T I M E W I N D is the
' Best of the best ' . . .
( .. als der ' Rest ' von der verfluchten Welt.. 🤣😅 )
viwa999
One of his masterpieces! Rest in peace Klaus!
Shawn Adam Williams
RIP Klaus Schulze. Thank you for your energetic meditation and healing with your music.
Bertrand Gaymard
One of the most extraordinary electronic music ever composed, an absolute masterpiece
Bertrand Gaymard
Great masterpiece, even in 2021. I have spent sooo many hours painting at night totally immersed into this music
Robert
Haha, right there with you in front of the canvas, can you smell the linseed oil and ivory black? :-)
Deathrasher
Probably #1 album of ambient - electronica for me. Words are not enough. We need more of the 70s today, I am sick of the continuous beat & rythmic sections in all contemporary music styles. We need to come closer to the cosmos.
Alexander Kuptsov
For me now @1 is Mirage :)
>> I am sick of the continuous beat & rythmic sections in all contemporary music styles
Can't agree more! Schulze has that in many tracks too, but luckily we have his unrhythmic music too.
>>We need to come closer to the cosmos.
Yes. Good to know that I'm not the only one who thinks so.
Marcelo Lemos
I was using earphones the first time I heard Bayreuth Return in my dark room. At the end, with the sudden clash, I was back from a kind of hipnosys. Fantastic, never did I experience it with any other music. That's why Timewind is among my top 5.
Acidphaze
I always used to like to listen to Adelbert Von Deyen's Atmosphere Part 2 which occupied the whole b side of the album. I would put it on and fall asleep, there is a sound near the end that wakes you up to realise that you drifted off for some 22 minutes.
gayle jensen
Same here, abruptly back from a trance state and I would have loved to stay there, now I just stop the music before the crash and keep enjoying that wonderful feeling!!