| Musik Von Harmonia | ||||
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| Studio album by Harmonia | ||||
| Released | January 1974 | |||
| Recorded | June-November 1973 | |||
| Genre | Krautrock Kosmische Musik Experimental Music Electronic music Ambient Music Art rock |
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| Length | 42:05 | |||
| Label | Brain | |||
| Producer | Harmonia | |||
| Professional reviews | ||||
| Harmonia chronology | ||||
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Musik Von Harmonia is the debut album from the highly influential Krautrock/Kosmische Musik group Harmonia. Harmonia, was formed by the addition of Neu! guitarist Michael Rother to Cluster, the duo of Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius.
Musik Von Harmonia was recorded from June to November, 1973 in Forst, Germany. It was first released on the Brain Records label in 1974. It was produced by the band members. Ned Raggett's review for Allmusic opens: "The debut Harmonia album is at once a product of their source bands and a fine new twist on them, resulting in music that captures what for many is the Krautrock ideal..." He adds "...it's at once playful and murky, steady and mechanical, a supergroup of sorts who easily achieves and maintains such a seemingly overstated status by embracing a variety of approaches that work wonders."
It was Musik Von Harmonia that reportedly had Brian Eno proclaiming that Harmonia was "the world's most important rock band" at the time. Daniel Dumych, who cites that quote, writes in his article for hyperreal.org: "Perhaps Eno's reason for praising Harmonia so highly was that their music fit the requirements of ambient rock. Its music was equally suitable for active or passive listening. The careful listener found his/her attentions rewarded by the musical activities and sounds, but Harmonia's music was also capable of setting a sonic environment."
Musician, writer, and rock historian Julian Cope includes Musik Von Harmonia in his Top 50 Krautrock albums. As of September 4, 2007 Amazon.com ranks Musik Von Harmonia #78 among Krautrock albums in sales.
While there was an official CD release from German Polygram in 1992, this was deleted fairly quickly, leading to the appearance in 1994 of CDs on the Germanofon label. This dubious company (supposedly) based in Luxembourg released numerous Krautrock albums without proper authorization or paying royalties, in effect producing bootlegs that somehow found their way into mainstream distribution. The Germanofon CDs were transfers from vinyl LPs and generally were of inferior sound quality. There were official Japanese releases (again from Polygram) in the late 90's and early 00's, but the next official Western CD release was not until February 23, 2004 on the Motor Music label, a subsidiary of the Universal Music Group. It was also reissued in 2005, by the Russian label Lilith in 2006, and by the Revisited Records label in 2007.
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