Deuter - "D" Review

Artist/ Band: Deuter
Title: D
Label: Esoteric Recordings
Year of Release: 1971/2010
Offical Artist/ Band Link

The Review:

My favorite Deuter recordings were in the 90's with the two best and most accomplished being ‘Cicada’ and Nirvana Road’(both 1992). Others that I loved were ‘Call of the Unknown’, Celebration’ and ‘Silence is the Answer’. Deuter has over 40 albums out and pretty much everything after the 90's began a very narrow new age path that frankly turned me off totally. When he moved from KuckKuck to Higher Octave label, it all went to the music for rich housewives who used his music to do yoga to. So you’ll excuse me if I am not too excited about any remastered CD’s of his work. I owned all the vinyl to his first 10 years of output, and then the original mix CD’s of the ones I listed above as my favorites. I felt ‘D’ was also a nice enough release, but it was much earlier (done in 1971) and more raw (as in bedroom tapes) than the nicely electronic and beautiful (as in really beautiful with a genuine spirit and feel of the soul) releases he did shortly after.

Maybe it’s all my years of listening, and going through so many thousands and thousands of recordings over the decades, but I certainly have seen my share of records that did not stand up to the test of time. Then some really have stood that test and even sound better than they did when I was a teen. Sad to say this one falls in the first category. The remaster did nothing to help as I couldn’t tell any difference at all from the original. I used to like this, so I have to qualify my state of mind presently. I simply fell out of love with most of the electronic scene. ‘D’ has a very experimental approach to it, and back when it was released, it felt cool, trippy, and easy to get into. If you set your atmosphere up right, (lava lamp, lights out, some nice drinks and with plenty of free innocent time on your hands) then you could leap right into this with all it’s sitar and raw guitar work along with some percussion and .

Georg Deuter has always been a fine multi instrumentalist. He can play a huge array of both conventional and exotic musical instruments. ‘D’ is basically his debut and more a trail and error journey. Deuter was previously a graphic designer and had a horrible accident that nearly cost him his life. He spent a long time in hospital recovering and at this point, he made decision to change his life and began his musical career. With the monopoly of record labels and money influences, the demise of those sacred and original works, would soon be a thing of the past for many of the electronic artists that began as pioneers. We all know the ‘New Age’ style and the bulk of it is just background music. I am happy I got to hear all of Deuter’s early pre 2000 works and know what a master composer and talent he really is. As for 'D’, it’s more a landmark from the beginning and will have limited interest to those seeking the best of his music out. I’d say for hard core fans only.

Reviewed by Lee Henderson on May 14th, 2011

Tracks:

01. Babylon: I. Andantino/II. Allegro 138 A/Andante/IV. Allegro 138 B

02. Der Turm/Fluchtpunkt

03. Krishna Eating Fish and Chips

04. Atlantis

05. Gammastrahlen-Lamm