Cluster & Eno
	Produced by Conny Plank and Cluster
	Released on August 1977
	(no chart information)
	Find it at GEMM
Sky 010 cover

The pairing of German electronic band Cluster and Brian Eno is an intriguing idea, but Cluster & Eno ends up cramping the styles of both. The sometimes precious toy sounds of Cluster and their tendency to re-shape an initial theme using different sounds are re-cast in Eno’s sonorous, stationary idiom that allows an idea to unfold and achieve its presence by repetition. Case in point: in two sections where this record has a skip, I find myself letting the needle linger and enjoying it much as I would an Eno album. That’s because I know, once I move the needle along, the piece still isn’t going anywhere. Not that Cluster & Eno is a bad record; in fact, “Ho Renomo” and “Schone Hande” compare favorably to Evening Star, while “Fur Luise” suggests a meeting of Harold Budd and Vangelis. And the soft tones of “Wehrmut” and “Mit Simaen” are also soothing. But Cluster’s sounds don’t always work in Eno’s world. “Lelange” feels like an ambient death march, “Die Bunge” is a trite, electronic version of “Happy Trails,” and “One” evokes a jack-in-the-box lost in one of the seven levels of Hindu hell. Any number of albums by Brian Eno or Cluster alone would get my nod over this concession of a venture. “Schone Hande” best represents what I expected from this meeting. Eno has done much to augment artists like Harold Budd and Robert Fripp, but he brings little to Cluster that a sustain pedal couldn’t achieve.

Sky 010 back cover

TRACK LISTING

1. HO RENOMO    5:10
2. SCHONE HANDE    3:00
3. STEINSAME    4:20
4. WEHRMUT    5:00
5. MIT SIMAEN    1:30
6. SELANGE    3:30
7. DIE BUNGE    3:50
8. ONE    6:00
9. FUR LUISE    3:50
   
   All titles by Moebius/Roedelius/Eno

CREDITS

BRIAN ENO --
DIETER MOEBIUS --
HANS RODELIUS --
Okko Bekker -- (8)
Holger Czukay -- (1)
Asmus Tietchens -- (8)
Conny Plank -- engineer

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