Saturday 14 October 2017

Pyrolator ‎– "Inland" ( Ata Tak ‎– WR 002) 1979


Pyrolator appeared on one of those Klar!80 compilations didn't he?So here's his 'cult' debut album from 1979.
This album has been bigged up over the ensuing decades to become the 'Pet Sounds' of Electronica. It does have one thing in common with Brian Wilson's magnum opus however, that it is,'OK', just ok. God only knows (see what I did there?) how these things happen,but this is no more inovative or original or political than Gary Numan's 'Pleasure Principle' or John Foxx's 'Metamatic. This is where being German is an advantage; whereas Numan and Foxx are dismissed as 'pop' acts,mainly because they bothered to actually write songs; Pyrolator is regarded as a cool underground act, and his obscurity adds extra kudos for the hip kids.
Quoted as being the 'Best Political Album without words', I can't for the life of me see any specific political angle at all on these backing tracks.
As a member of the less serious dada synth act, Der Plan,Kurt Dahlke, was seriously moonlighting with his collection of synths.Recording a mountain of these very warm analogue instruments with an almost icy precision that i find pretty boring.
I don't dislike it as much as 'Pet Sounds' however,I quite like it.Its another one of those albums that get hyped up over the years to become more than it actually is....which is a very competent,professionally put together collection of electronic experiments that lacks that certain quality of humanity.....maybe that was the Political statement?

Tracklist:

1 Minimal Tape 1/2.3 2:47
2 It Always Rains In Wuppertal 3:19
3 Inland 1 3:04
4 Minimal Tape 1/8 3:33
5 Danger Cruising 3:19
6 Inland 2 1:43
7 Inland 3 2:55
8 Minimal Tape 3/7.2 4:23
9 Bärenstrasse 3:31
10 Have A Good Ride 2:43
11 Inland 4 2:36
12 Nordatlantik 1:54

Bonus Tracks:

13 Der Volksmund Wird Beatmet 4:21
14 Struktur 01 2:27
15 November Mühlheim 2:02
16 Ok Margo 4:21
17 Die Einsamkeit Des Langstreckenläufers 8:24
18 Struktur 22 2:24


4 comments:

Trepan said...

The followup Ausland was Pyrolator's apex but this album has a certain magnetic pull and for me is hard not to listen to all the way through, once started. The variety of synth tones & the quality of the recording make it stand out as far as NDW releases from this time. Not sure about the "political" aspect of it, I'm not German though. Thanks for the bonus tracks.

Vaykorus said...

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The In Crowd said...

Thanks for more goodness. Many thanks for your blog, and btw; I *love* your 'piracy is not theft' guide-sidebar thingie. Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Great, thanks! Do you have Ausland for posting as well?