Schiller (part 0)

Let me introduce you to my second biggest musical obsession of the past couple years: German electronic DJ Christopher Von Deylen, aka Schiller - named after the famous poet and dramatist of the same name (and with the first name Friedrich).

In the early days, Schiller wasn't a one-man band with guests, but also included Mirgo Von Schlieffen, who remained with Christopher from 1998 to about 2001 or 2002. 

Like many other DJ's, Christopher/ Schiller never provide any vocals. Instead, he has a plethora of guests who sing - usually in English, but sometimes in German or other languages.

He also includes many instrumental pieces in each album, the first of which Zeitgeist is actually mostly instrumental and stands out in the discography. One reason for this it has almost no lyrics, but also because it's a trance ambient record whilst the following albums were marked by synthpop, electronic and pop. 

Another difference is that Zeitgeist has fewer versions : 1 or 2 cds, whilst all his other albums have 1, 2 cd editions, as well as 2cd+one or several dvds -usually housed in a photo book. 

Another important thing to know about his albums is that they are first released in Germany, and usually take a whole year before they get a US edition - with a translated name for the album and it's tracks, and also are limited to 1 cd editions.

Furthermore, until 2008, several songs were re-recorded with English lyrics replacing the German ones for these international releases (US & UK).

Just like most singers and bands, maxi singles have different content (songs, remixes, rare b-sides or live versions) ; thus, it complicated things a bit if you want a comprehensive discography. I compare them on discogs.com and cannot promise to detail them on this blog - maybe except for the few that I managed to buy. 

If you ask me how I found out about this band, I'll answer : totally by chance. Youtube suggested a song after I listened to some other electro/pop/synthpop song there (I don't recall which, anymore - it was 2 & half years ago).

I do remember what was suggested, though : his live Atemlos, which I came to learn means breathless - and indeed, it had left me breathless after hearing its beauty.

I literally had a love in first listen experience with this band, and never stopped listening ever since.

I am transported by the melodies, to imaginary lands, and often entranced by the vocals - especially those of Kim Sanders, Kate Havnevik and Anggun. 

Per-capita, Schiller is my favorite band : I disliked ... only 1 song, after listening to about 300 songs, remixes and live versions (when those are different)... 

On each album entry, you'll see who the guests are and I'll give you a few links like I started doing for other entries on this blog.

I am not endorsing piracy ; I just use youtube to discover new musical talents and then, I buy the cds, dvds and/or bluray - wherever applies. 

This discography shows the orignal German released albums ; the English translation of their names, the year of release in Germany, followed by the year of release in the US, with it's title - don't forget, the US editions not only have an English name, but have only 1 CD editions for each album (unless stated otherwise), and might have other differences such as track listing, or English instead of German vocals on certain songs. 

Without further ado, the albums:

• 1999 - Zeitgeist (Spirit of the Age) - 2001, Zeitgeist > my blog entry
• 2001 - Weltreise (The World Trip) - 2002, Voyage> blog entries about the CD & DVD 
• 2003 - Leben (Life) - 2004, Life
• 2005- Prologue, didn't have a proper ''album release'' at first. It used to be sold only as concert merchandise in Germany, but released as a normal cd in the USA, and subsequently made available elsewhere (Germany and UK included)
• 2005 - Tag und Nacht (Day and Night) - 2007, Day and night 
• 2008 - Sehnsucht (Desire), didn't have a US release, but in the UK as Desire
• 2010 - Atemlos (Breathless) - 2011, Breathless (the US version includes Desire) 
• 2010 - Lichtblick EP (Ray of Hope) - classifed an EP, but lasts 44 minutes! No US version. 
• 2012 - Sonne (Sun), also had a chill-Out version in Germany - 2013, US has only the normal Sun, but not chill-out version. 
• 2013 - Opus which has no US version as of 2016 but its regular 1 CD Germany edition is nonetheless available (I checked on amazon.com) 
• 2016 - Future - released back in February in Germany, and also doesn't have a US (or UK) equivalents, but can be purchased nonetheless in the second hand (and sometimes new) markets. 

Note that all the albums up to Atemlos were mastered in Dolby Surround, offering a richer and more spacious sound that stereo. 

Atemlos's deluxe editions even offer a portion of the album in 5.0 (or 5.1?) on DVD - I shall come to that in due time.

Subsequent albums still offer a huge quality of sound and I still listen to them on my 7.1 configuration but none of them seems to be mastered in Dolby Surround anymore - only a very high quality stereo that spreads nicely over my settings, but I cannot tell you what it'll sound on yours. 

In all cases, all albums are playable in stereo - you don't must have a multi-channel system to enjoy, though it sure would add depth. 

With the exception of Opus, each album's first track called either Der Anfang (in first two), or Wilkommen (the others) is an introduction, spoken in German. They welcome the listener to the world of Schiller and invite to relax and let imagination be a vessel on the musical journey ahead. They all sound more or less the same, with variations according to the main mood of any given album. These pieces last a minute and half, more or less. 

I now pass to the video albums - only German releases, some of which can be found elsewhere, but catalogues may not always be updated as to their various forms (cd, dvd, and in the case of Symphonia, cd+dvd+bd may not necessarily be available elsewhere than German websites) :  

• 2001- Weltreise – Die DVD
• 2004 - Leben – Die DVD
• 2004 - Live Erleben (Live Experience) Both CD, and DVD editions 
• 2006 - Tagtraum (Daydream), it's a double DVD. A limited edition adds 1 audio CD
• 2008 - Sehnsucht Live - both a CD and DVD editions
• 2010 - Atemlos Live
• 2013 Sonne live (double dvd) 
• 2014 - Symphonia
• 2016- Zeitereise (available on dvd, bluray, cd, and a boxset including all of these discs)) 

As I said, I won't detail all the maxi singles, so here is their list on wiki, and then discogs 

You can view the albums and their myriads of variants on discogs, too - and see their differences faster than I'll discuss them on this blog. 

Collections :

• 2012 Timelime... the very best of 1998-2001, exists is 1 CD of 18 tracks, and in Poland a special edition adds a dvd with 15 videoclips + 3 songs from live performances 
• 2016 Zeitreise which is exists in digital formats (48 files) ; LP ; 1 CD (17 tracks), 2 CD (18+19 tracks), Limited super edition including the 2 CD edition + 1 bonus CD of 9 remixes + 1 DVD of 24 tracks (which I assume are video clips) and finally, the Ultra deluxe edition adds to the Limited super a 4th CD of 8 new tracks, not available anywhere else, as well as goodies. 

To be continued...