1989 / 2001 - "Die Glaserne Wand" /with lyricist G.Heimann/
(2CD, 140 min, independent release)
CD 1:
Die Glaserne Wand:
First Movement
Second Movement
Third Movement, pt 1
Third Movement, pt 2
Fourth Movement
CD 2:
Die Glaserne Wand:
Fifth Movement
Schleifen:
First Part
Second Part
Composed, arranged and performed by Arne Schafer.
All lyrics (and additional vocals on First Movement) by Gerald Heimann.
Recorded in 1988 and 1989 in Neu-Icenburg, Germany.
Well, well, well... I wonder why Arne didn't even think to release officially at least some of the five (in all) CDs he self-released in the beginning of 2001? I know lots of underrated things, as
well as the other way round, but such a thing as self-underestimation I've met for the first time.
Frankly, if "Die Glaserne Wand & Schleifen" double CD isn't released officially (classic) Prog-lovers from all over the world miss one of the most wonderful albums ever created in the history of Rock and by far not only. Arne's "Die Glaserne Wand & Schleifen" IS the ONLY album of real Classical Rock Music. No, no, I remember that most of the Isildurs Bane and especially Univers Zero albums are in some ways close to what I'm talking about, but anyway, sorry: that's another story. While those bands tend to concrete forms of real contemporary Classical Music that actually contain just slight traces of Rock (exactly), this Arne's second double album represents neither Classic Rock Music nor Classical Music, but precisely Classical Rock Music (yet another term?). Being composed, performed, recorded and produced by Arne alone (as always in his solo activity - either simply as Arne Schafer or Apogee) using mostly (if not all) electric musical instruments, "Die Glaserne Wand" is that kind of Progressive you may never have heard before, but you're going to love it to death once you hear it. Because chances are you my dear profound Prog-heads can appreciate such a uniqueness even if Arne himself doesn't see it. Can you at least imagine how an album of such "Classical Rock Music" sounds? If I should be asked the same question before I heard "Die Glaserne Wand", I would say I don't know, really. Listening to this album now I still can't but wonder how Arne came to elicit from such antediluvian things as synthesizers-made-in-the-1980s so unbelievably pure classical sounds of church organ, bagpipes, oboe and trombones, though it would suffice to hear how he 'does' various orchestral movements to get really amazed. Who in general did anything really strong within Classic Progressive* in those years (1988-1989)? (I don't want to even mention Neo, as this one was also (already) in decadence by the end of the decade.) You won't name any one masterpiece-album of this* genre, as only bands of Progressive Metal (see PS) tried then to target at least a part of the almost absolutely empty progressive 'niche'. Not only did Arne put out a masterpiece of Progressive, but also created a new form of contemporary progressive music, the first and last exemplar of which still remains obscured for thousands Prog-lovers. So, why do I call the style of "Die Glaserne Wand" (the "Schleifen" suite is slightly different) Classical Rock Music? Although everything on this album was created using mostly electric instruments, everything at least on all the five Movements of "Die Glaserne Wand" kind
of breathes Classical Music, - even in its typical Rock-ish parts and arrangements. Overall mood on
"Die Glaserne Wand" is almost totally quite dark, though some episodes have at the same time slightly philosophic feel. Parts of orchestral arrangements (sometimes) supported with heavy guitar
riffs change with more acoustic interplays between a classical guitar and piano or between the latter and just typically Classical (!) electric guitar (!) solos and double-solos. Simply magic harpsichord and other keyboard passages (yes, I hear such a magic keyboard moments from guitarist Arne Schafer again and again) change with the church organ Bach-alike motives, crossed marvelously with electric guitar solos, and then - with some mysterious spacey "holes", from which - like from the nether world - vocal parts sound quite often (in German, which sound excellent here, though an English translation to the album's booklet wouldn't hurt). Each Movement is full of diverse themes and arrangements, as different in tempos as in moods, though the specter of emotions is limited within the low register, which however is wonderfully rich within itself, too - from dark and gloomy to meditatively philosophic and even pastoral colours. In spite of all (and frequent) changes of musical palettes almost everything here sounds dramatically. I especially love that kind of music - complex and dramatic - that reflects the Earthly life really as it is. The fact that Classic (profound) Progressive Music of all styles in general holds a lot more dramatic feelings (that, all in all, is peculiar to Earthly life) than any other music genre just confirms that Earthly progressive musicians have (of course, just a bit yet) more thorough knowledge about the Universe. So, "Die Glaserne Wand" - "The Glass Wall" - between what and what (you mean), Arne?
Maybe, between Life and Death? The "Schleifen" suite consisting of just two parts has a sound more close to what we call Classic Progressive Rock. But, if the first movement has still some Classical Rock Music structures, especially in the first half of it with acoustic guitar and orchestral keyboards as dominating instruments, it seems the second movement of "Schleifen" was composed especially in contrast with all the previous ones. As for me, being the final 'battle' on this album, it reminds me of Apocalypse. Full of diverse and almost always furious and aggressive arrangements with attacks of heavy guitar riffs crushing everything around them and raspy (as the teeth of sinners?) solos, the second movement of "Schleifen" won't spare anyone of those 'who's there'. I don't know German, but if (as it seems) Arne wanted to 'show' a musical solution of Apocalypse in the end of the album, he pictured it quite earnestly. Writing review by review, I keep listening to this most unique in its way album (which is the most unique double album at least for the last 20 years) at least twice a day. Yeah, if I say the more I listen to it the more I
like it will sound like a banality, but meanwhile I am closer and closer to a conclusion that this is the best album of the 'dark decade' of the 1980.
P.S. By the way, I just thought it's a shame to call the 1980s 'the dark decade' (the decadence of Prog) since anyone of us considers Prog Metal as a progressive genre too. Should I remind you of the very first purely metallic (without keyboards) yet purely progressive album "Melissa" (Mercyful Fate - 1983) and a lot of other Metal bands whose creation was (almost entirely) truly progressive at least all over the second half of the 'dark' years? Fates Warning, King Diamond, Voivod... More? As for the first half of the 'dark decade', didn't we have three excellent albums from King Crimson, a couple - from Camel, one - from Amenophis, etc, etc? Thus, Prog has never died since its birth - not even for a moment!
VM. May 26, 2001
