Atomkraft? Nein, Danke!

Or, Nuclear power? No, thanks! Earthstar formed in the US, but were based in Germany by 1979/80 when this album was recorded. Atomkraft? Nein, Danke!, their third album, was their second for the Hamburg-based Sky Records label, whose roster also included the likes of Cluster and Michael Rother. Main man Craig Wuest was a keyboardist/composer with a fascination for European electronic music, who had been encouraged to relocate from his native Utica, NY, by synth guru Klaus Schulze.

The use of electronics is balanced by piano and electric guitar on the opener 'Golden Rendezvous', a mellow & meandering number with a spaciously pastoral air about it. Synthesizers dominate on several other tracks, however, such as the sprightly 'Sonntagsspaziergang' ('Sunday Walk'). Among the instruments Wuest is credited as playing, is something called a Birotron B-90, a mellotron-like contraption of which only a dozen or so examples were ever made. 'Cafe Exit', the first track on side 2, is apparently where it can be heard to best advantage.

I bought this record from an ebay seller last September, having happened upon Earthstar's previous album French Skyline in the local charity shop, one of a trove of fairly obscure '70s and early '80s electronic music LPs that had presumably all been deposited there as part of a single donation.

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All Wrapped Up

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