Durch die Wüste is the first full-length solo album by German keyboardist Hans-Joachim Roedelius, best known for his work with Cluster

Cluster (band)

Cluster is a German experimental musical group who influenced the development of contemporary popular electronic and ambient music. They have recorded albums in a wide variety of styles ranging from experimental music to progressive rock, all of which had an avant-garde edge. Cluster has been...

, Harmonia

Harmonia (band)

Harmonia is a Krautrock supergroup from Germany. They formed as a collaboration between Michael Rother of Neu! and Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Möbius of Cluster and later included the British musician Brian Eno.-Musical style:...

, and Aquarello

Aquarello

Aquarello was a musical group which blended ambient music and jazz. The trio included keyboardist Hans-Joachim Roedelius, based in Austria, and two Italian musicians, multi-instrumentalist Fabio Capanni, and saxophonist Nicola Alesini...

. The title is German for "Through the Desert."

The music on Durch Die Wüste was recorded over a two year period from 1976 to 1978 at Conny's Studio outside of Cologne

Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. Conny Plank

Conny Plank

Konrad "Conny" Plank was a German record producer and musician. He was born in Hütschenhausen. His creativity as a sound engineer and producer helped to shape some of the most important and innovative recordings of postwar European popular music, covering a wide range of genres including...

 and Dave Hutchins served as sound engineers and was co-produced by Roedelius and Plank. It was released by Sky Records

Sky Records

Sky Records was a Hamburg, Germany based independent record label specializing in Krautrock/Kosmische Musik and electronic music. Some of their releases could be classified as progressive rock or art rock, experimental music, industrial, ambient, or New Age...

 in 1978. Cluster had achieved international recognition and acclaim the previous year after collaborating with Brian Eno

Brian Eno

Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...

 and releasing Cluster & Eno

Cluster & Eno

Cluster & Eno is a collaborative album by the German electronic music group Cluster and British ambient musician Brian Eno. The style of this album is a collection of gentle melodies: a mixture of Eno’s ambient sensibilities and Cluster's avant-garde style.In June, 1977 the duo of Hans-Joachim...

in 1977. This success enabled Roedelius to launch a solo career while continuing to work with Cluster.

In reviewing the album for Allmusic, Keith Farley writes, in part: "Though these tracks often stray from beatless space music (the opener 'Am Rockzipfel' flits back and forth between electronic hard rock and space), the musical structures employed certainly suggest ambience, from the classical melodies of the title track to the gaseous atmosphere of 'Glaubersalz.'" Durch Die Wüste has received numerous highly favorable reviews.

Durch Die Wüste was reissued on CD on March 19, 1996 by the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Gyroscope label.

Track listing

All tracks by Hans-Joachim Roedelius

1. "Am Rockzipfel" - 5:02
2. "Durch Die Wüste" - 13:51
3. "Johanneslust" - 5:00
4. "Glaubersalz" - 3:26
5. "Mr. Livingstone" - 5:40
6. "Regenmacher" - 6:39

Personnel

• Jaso Christo – bass, guitar
• Gareth Davies – translation
• Dave Hutchins – engineer
• Willem Makkee – remastering
• Dieter Moebius – synthesizer
• Plank – producer
• Conny Plank
  Conny Plank
  Konrad "Conny" Plank was a German record producer and musician. He was born in Hütschenhausen. His creativity as a sound engineer and producer helped to shape some of the most important and innovative recordings of postwar European popular music, covering a wide range of genres including...
  
   – synthesizer, guitar, percussion, producer, engineer, mixing, stimme
• Hans-Joachim Roedelius – bass, percussion, strings, producer, stimme
• Roedelius – synthesizer, keyboards, vocals, producer
• Asmus Tietchens – liner notes