Zuckerzeit

A1. Hollywood 4:40
A2. Caramel 3:00
A3. Rote Riki 6:10
A4. Rosa 4:08
B1. Caramba 3:55
B2. Fotschi Tong 4:15
B3. James 3:18
B4. Marzipan 3:15
B5. Rotor 2:38
B6. Heiße Lippen 2:20

Published

1974

Label

Brain

Cluster's breakthrough surprise with avant pop thrills.

Imagine Stockhausen pulling a stunt on his followers by releasing a good time boogie-woogie album and you'll have some idea of the unexpected shift that Zuckerzeit offers to their fans in 1974. Quelle surprise, Moebius and Roedelius each serve up five solo vignettes of rauncy chords, chattering drum boxes and syrupy tunes with carefree titles like "Marzipan" and "Caramel". Makes perfect sense. though, after vacating West Berlin for the rural village of Forst to go straight ahead and record 'the happy album'. The recipe is disarmingly simple. Distil the pure essence of manic pop thrills by chopping out the bits you don't need - lurve, verse and chorus, guitar solos - and cross it with a hypnotic, circular motion that wouldn't seem out of place in a Javanese ritual. While sharing Moebius' love for the motor rhythms of rock and unpredictable machine motion, Roedelius emerges as something of an orientalist, his Farfisa organ taking in deliciously faked flutes , gamelan chimes and fertility dances.

Source: Stephen Iliffe