Exit was the Entrance for me. While still in high school in 1981, I was first introduced to Tangerine Dream by a band mate. Exit was the newest album at the time, and off I went to purchase the LP. The music was very foreign to me back then, and I flipped that record over hundreds of times to let it penetrate. Something I think we all probably should do more today, but who has the time? The haunting narration of 'Kiew Mission'; the choppy synthesizers on 'Pilots of Purple Twilights'; the pounding 'Choronzon' (my initial favorite from the album); and finally the moody and ultimately most representative Tangerine Dream track for the era: 'Remote Viewing' (my current favorite). I'm probably the world's biggest fan of Exit, an album not highly revered by fans of the group. But it's inescapable for me, given my history with both the band and this album. The next Tangerine Dream album I bought? Rubycon. My world would never be the same again. And here we are some 37 years later. Yea you're damn right Exit was important to my musical appreciation development!
I just remembered that I'd written a review of Exit for Gnosis way back in the summer of 2001 (has it really been 18 years? A lifetime ago). As you can see, a lot of overlap, but perhaps more detailed:
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It was 1981, the Fall semester of my junior year in high school. We were about to start playing a pickup football game when I heard from the car cassette a very interesting music. The owner, who I played in jazz band with, said "Oh, that's Tangerine Dream. Pretty weird stuff, eh? I'm just starting to get into them." He was playing the soundtrack to Thief. Curious, the next day I headed over to my local Sound Warehouse and discovered a band with many, MANY titles. Where do I start? Logic dictated I started with the latest release (at least of the ones they had). And $5.99 later I was home with Exit.
Exit proved to be difficult listening at first as I wasn't used to this sort of atmospheric music. Like most people, the music that I had heard was much more "in-yer-face". Even bands like ELP and Yes are that way. Tangerine Dream is a different kind of listening experience. So naturally on the first few listens, upbeat tracks like 'Choronzon', 'Pilots of Purple Twilight', and 'Network 23' had the most impact. 'Choronzon' was even being used as background for a local newscast's advertisement! But it was the longer, curious compositions such as 'Kiew Mission' with it's heavily accented Russian female narration (2019 edit: performed by an unknown German actress) with bizarre electronics - and 'Remote Viewing' which included odd melodies and sequencers that ended up being the kind of music I wanted to explore further. And time was something I had. There was no cable television and no internet - and certainly no money. So when an album was purchased it was pretty much guaranteed quite a few spins on the turntable, especially something new like Tangerine Dream!
Ownership: LP: 1981 Elektra. Single sleeve. Acquired at Independent Records (2021). The first copy I purchased was new, as noted above, at Sound Warehouse in Dallas.
CD: 2020 Virgin / Universal. As part of the box set that I detail on the White Eagle review.
1981; 7/3/01 (Gnosis); 7/21/19 (new entry)
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