As you may have noted, in the last couple of years I've completely immersed myself in early 1980s Tangerine Dream, largely propelled by the Pilots of Purple Twilight box set, but other sources as well ("bootleg" sets/boxes, etc...). One album from that era I haven't spoke about is Poland. As told on the other entries, by 1984 I was a complete fanatic for all things Tangerine Dream, and I purchased the LP on the spot no questions asked. Much was made at the time of Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze having the ability to perform inside the Iron Curtain. And each left us a double LP document of their adventures in Poland. My interest level in this era of T. Dream was beginning to wane though. The music was starting to run together and the improvisational aspect of the band was gone completely. So over time I eventually parted with Poland, though I did keep Schulze's output which I own to this day.
A little over 10 years ago, Cherry Red's "Krautrock" label Reactive reissued the same album with full historical documentation. It had been at least 20 years since I last heard it - or probably anything from that era of Tangerine Dream to be honest - and so it sounded fresh to my ears. Now a decade later from that incident and I'm back to my early college self in terms of having a full Tangerine Dream musical perspective. And yes, one can hear many familiar and recurring themes throughout these discs. Musically it's fairly repetitive of what they had been up to since 1981/82, and there's a bit of "going through the motions". The liner notes explain the immense difficulty in performing these concerts, so it's all understandable. From an historical perspective one has to admire the sheer will it took to pioneer a path many would take later. From a musical perspective, this album doesn't offer too much in terms of original creativity with 'Horizon' providing the most contrast. Schulze did much better on this front. No matter, given my own personal history with the era and Eastern Europe (only a few years later), this one will continue to have a space on the shelf.
Ownership: CD: 2011 Reactive. 2xCD with historical liner notes. Originally acquired the 2xLP at University Records in Lubbock while in college (1984).
1984; 5/11/12; 9/8/23 (new entry)
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