Complete Works＜限定盤＞

Krautrock supergroup Harmonia, which consisted of Cluster's Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius, along with Michael Rother of Neu!, only existed for a few short years in the mid-'70s, but their warm, pastoral recordings were ahead of their time and have proven to be a profound influence on the generations of rock and electronic music that have followed. Harmonia's work managed to blend the three artists' distinct personalities -- the rough, noisy experimentation of Moebius, Roedelius' penchant for pretty, romantic melodies, and Rother's impeccable rhythmic sense -- resulting in freeform experiments that were bold and avant-garde yet gorgeous and immensely enjoyable. Gronland Records' 2015 vinyl box set compiles the pioneering group's entire recorded output, including a previously unreleased disc of live recordings and studio experiments. Right from the onset, the band's phenomenal debut, Musik Von Harmonia (1974), echoes the trippy, playful feel of Cluster's Zuckerzeit (which appeared that same year), but the album blasts off into spacier territory from there with the aptly (perhaps iconically) titled "Sehr Kosmisch," returning to Motorik rhythms sputtered out by primitive drum machines on tracks like "Dino" and "Veterano." The roughness of the group's debut was mostly smoothed out for their sophomore outing, the much shinier, more accessible Deluxe, which was engineered and produced by the legendary Conny Plank in 1975. Even with the album's first two tracks clocking in at around ten minutes each, Deluxe is far more structured and poppy than its sprawling predecessor, with German vocals and perfectly placed fuzz guitar riffs riding atop hypnotic live drumming by Guru Guru's Mani Neumeier. Harmonia disbanded in 1976 due to musical differences, but they briefly reunited later that year at the insistence of avowed fan Brian Eno, who had proclaimed them to be the "world's most important rock band." Harmonia and Eno casually recorded some sessions together without the intention of releasing an album, and tapes of the sessions were shelved for decades before being rediscovered and released as Tracks & Traces, credited to Harmonia 76, in 1997. The recordings are a bit rougher and less focused than Cluster's subsequent collaborations with Eno, and there's a surprisingly melancholy feel to songs like "Almost." While not Harmonia's definitive recording, the album is still a strange, enchanting listen. Aside from these studio recordings, Harmonia also performed several concerts: the 2007 release Live 1974 (which appeared as the reunited trio began playing live for the first time in three decades) contains five lengthy improvisations which push their sound to its furthest limits, culminating in the dizzy slo-mo grind of the 15-minute "Holta-Polta." The box set's previously unreleased disc, Documents 1975, includes two previously unearthed live recordings of the Deluxe-era incarnation of Harmonia featuring Neumeier on drums, as well as two pre-Deluxe studio experiments that are as bright and shimmering as anything on the group's two proper albums. ~ Paul Simpson