TIME CODE by YOU

The Bureau B label reissues You's Time Code, first released in 1983 on Rock City Records.As synthesizers grew more popular from the mid-'70s onwards, an increasing number of groups swapped the classic instruments of a rock band for sequencers and synthesizers. Pioneers (and paragons) of this electronically-created music included, of course, Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Manuel Gottsching et al, who represent the "Berliner Schule" (in contrast to the Dusseldorfer Schule which developed around Kraftwerk and company). An outstanding exponent of the Berliner Schule was the Krefeld combo You (Udo Hanten, Albin Meskes). Their debut album Electric Day immediately launched YOU into the elite echelon of Germany's electronic music scene. It would take four years for them to deliver their sophomore LP, entitled Time Code. If Electric Day was characterized by Harald Grosskopf's pulsating drums and Uli Weber's solo guitar, Time Code emerged as an altogether more electronic affair, with both Grosskopf and Weber having left the project. Hanten and Meskes' new sound was further refined by the use of drum computers and the omission of guitar. The album perfectly illustrates the transition of electronic music from the 1970s to the 1980s. Sequencer patterns owe much to the legacy of the Berlin School (Berliner Schule), while the synthesizer and drum computer sounds heralded the advent of the new decade. The level of interest and excitement was particularly high in Italy, where songs from the album featured heavily on the radio. Listeners were clearly impressed by "Live Line," which has resurfaced in various techno productions over the past 20 years, either as a cover (by Diolac Duvai, for example), or as "Elektro Message" (by Gigi D'Agostino).