Tangerine Dream - Rubycon. 1975 Germany

For Caravan's In the Land of Grey and Pink I wrote: "On the top bar of this site I show My Top 25 Most Important LPs and CDs. But what I don't show is my Top 25 Most Important Albums, which is a bit different if you follow the theme of the above. In the Land of Grey and Pink would be one of them if I did." 

And with that premise, Rubycon is likely to be number one of the entire lot. I haven't crafted that list because I don't think I can. The physical importance of the time and place of owning a particular LP or CD is easier than grasping the importance of the music minus that element. My story of acquiring Rubycon for the first time is typical. I bought the US commodity Virgin LP pressing new at Sound Warehouse in Dallas sometime in late 1982, not long after acquiring Exit. I go into great detail with the beginning of my Tangerine Dream journey on that album's entry. I played Rubycon in my room while watching a football game or fiddling with something else. Over and over - and over - and over. The music was penetrating my mind. It became my favorite album to go to sleep to. I was a senior in high school, and this is where my independence streak was really beginning to form. I always had one, but it was suppressed. Hard to believe now, but I even took a turn at being a popular kid only one year earlier. It felt good to be accepted, to be one of the cool kids after years of being kicked to the sidelines by those same people. But it was hollow, mindless stupidity. I liked the pretty girls that invariably find themselves in these situations, but little else. Especially the music. Rubycon was the album that was reflecting back to me who I really was. I had more to offer than being popular. What exactly? I had no idea then, but this album captured my imagination wildly and I made all sorts of fantastical movies in my mind.

In the summer of 2001 I wrote for Gnosis: "(At the record store) I was going to pick up the most "interesting looking" LP of theirs. It would be the album that would change the way I listened to music forever. To this day, I consider it one of the finest masterpieces ever committed to tape. That day I brought home Rubycon and things would never quite be the same for me. Rubycon is a journey into the vast unknown, on a boat floating down a river, early morning sunlight, birds flying overhead. An undiscovered cave deep in the Amazon. Within is a gothic stalactite cathedral where mystical spirits reside (represented by choral mellotron). Flashes of bright lights, river rapids send me quickly (fast sequencer run). I see glimpses of all the world's secrets. I eventually float out of the cave a changed man unsure of what I had just seen. At least that was one of my favorite stories I would put to the music as I meditated each night to the album only to be rudely interrupted by the click, click, click that alerted me to flip over the record (oh, is this music perfect for CD or what?). Unbeknownst to me at the time, I was listening to an album that is considered by many one of the finest moog, sequencer, and mellotron albums ever. It is a very powerful album. One of the greatest dynamic atmospheric pieces to ever be recorded. I will say that it took many weeks of listening to be truly moved by Rubycon. It is not an easy album to warm up to if one is unfamiliar with electronic/ambient music (which would've been my case at that time). Suddenly I wasn't an ordinary high school weenie anymore."

I wasn't really yet keen on opening up myself so much 22 years ago, and yet I somehow did anyway. Today we live in an online world and expression of emotions is accepted (for better or worse). On last night's listen, I was transported back to being a 17 year old young man. I had new stories that the music brought out of me - ones that would be more relevant for a 59 year veteran of this world, and who has been truly blessed up to this point. I don't think I have closed my eyes and listened to Rubycon in this manner since that Gnosis review. And I thought my whole body was going to explode - emotions I haven't felt in years came out to the fore. I wanted to give the album a +1, +2, +3. But I can't do that. It's already a Gnosis 15. Nowhere to go. When I find myself close to death (hate to think about these things but it's reality), I should hear this album again. I wonder how it will go.

Ownership: CD: 2004 Virgin (Japan). Papersleeve edition. This is my go to copy for listening (no click click click lol). I also have the Rubycon promo box and I store the same edition Phaedra in there along with a different series edition of Stratosfear.

LP: 1982 Virgin (Japan). Gatefold with obi. Picked this one up in the early days of ebay. I had already ditched that US Virgin copy when the first CD's arrived. But I wanted a vinyl copy for the memories. I don't think I've ever played it and it still looks brand new.

CD: 2019 Virgin. In Search of Hades box. My all-time favorite CD set. Of all the albums in this set, Rubycon was the only one where I didn't care for the mix (that would be the 2020 listen). And I attribute that to the fact that my DNA is linked to the version I know, and I really don't want to work at enjoying Wilson's master. However there is a 15 minute additional (or alternate) sequence included that I will revisit the next time I open the box.

12/82; 1983; 7/3/01 (Gnosis); 4/12/20; 11/25/23 (new entry)