Released 1971 Length 44:28 Producer Conrad Plank | Recorded 1971 Label Philips | |
Genre Krautrock
space music
ambient
industrial | ||
Cluster is the eponymous debut studio album by German electronic music outfit Cluster. It was recorded in 1971 and released the same year by record label Philips. It is also the only album on which Conrad Plank is credited as a member.
Contents
Recording
Cluster was recorded at Star-Studio in Hamburg, Germany in January 1971.
Content
Cluster began a transition away from the discordant, proto-industrial sound of Kluster towards a more electronic sound. Thom Jurek of AllMusic describes Cluster as "a dislocating, disorienting meld of random space music, industrial noise, proto-ambient atmospherics, feedback and soundwash". Instrumentation included a pair of organs, Hawaiian guitar, cello and audio generators, all played by Moebius and Roedelius and all of which were electronically treated by Conny Plank.
Release
Cluster was released in 1971 by record label Philips; Cluster's only release for the label.
The album was reissued with new artwork and a new title, Cluster 71, by Sky Records in 1980. Cluster 71 was digitally remastered (from a vinyl source, not a tape) and reissued on CD in 1996 by Sky with new artwork: a total of three different cover designs for the album to date. It received its first U.S release in 2006 on the San Francisco based Water label. The Water reissue restored the original Philips cover art but retains the Cluster 71 name. A 1,000 copy limited remastered edition of Cluster 71 with the original Sky LP cover art was reissued by the Japanese Captain Trip label as a CD on September 20, 2007. It was re-released once again in 2010 by Bureau-B with the original cover art and running order, but again mastered from an LP.
Legacy
The Wire placed Cluster's self-titled debut album in their list "One Hundred Records That Set the World on Fire".
Track listing
- "15:33" – 15:33
- "7:38" – 7:38
- "21:17"– 21:17