As noted here many times I became something of a fanatic for Tangerine Dream starting in 1982, and began to track down any album I could. One of the albums that had proven elusive was their debut, Electronic Meditation. Finally I secured a copy at the tail end of 1983. Got home, undid the shrink, and put the LP on the turntable.
I most certainly wasn't expecting this. I didn't even know where to turn. I had no reference points for what I was hearing. But I was completely captivated by it. It took me months to even hear it properly, parsed to where I could even understand it. Like trying to master a foreign language in that way.
23 years ago for Gnosis I wrote (edited for relevancy): "Eventually I became entranced by their reckless, though oddly composed, psychedelic abandon. Organ, flute, drums, guitar, cello, found sounds. Every aspect of this was new. The intensity of 'Journey Through a Burning Brain' with Froese's screaming guitar and Klaus Schulze's piledriving drum technique has rarely been topped on any album by any group, to this day. 'Cold Smoke' and 'Ashes to Ashes' are psychedelic to the hilt while still being thoroughly experimental (in a modern classical music way). I needed more of this! And it has been a lifelong search. Through this I was to discover the vast Krautrock scene and forever changed the way I hunted for records. Later on I was to find out that I had stumbled onto the "Ohr" years (now mysteriously known as the "Pink Years") of Tangerine Dream, their most experimental period. Of course I was later to discover Ohr was the groundbreaking German label that also introduced legends such as Ash Ra Tempel, Embryo, Mythos, and Guru Guru while also spawning the Brain and Kosmische Kouriers labels. Electronic Meditation featured the one time lineup of "geniuses" that could no way get along for much more than one album. Edgar Froese on organ and guitar, Klaus Schulze on drums, and electronics and Conrad Schnitzler on cello, guitar, and electronics. The album also featured two other players on organ and flute that go uncredited (one was future Embryo member Jimmy Jackson)."
To explore some of the themes above further: Once I did grasp the contents, I wanted more of it. But where and who and how? The album seemed to have no peers. So I began a lifelong quest of researching obscure music. More than any other album in my collection, I credit Electronic Meditation for my interest in the darkest recesses of the underground. The vibe this album possesses was like none other. I'd heard some early Pink Floyd, but this was way different. It was another world. I had to find more like it, and eventually did. This was long before the internet so gathering data in those days was tough. Talk to record store workers, read Goldmine magazine, grab every piece of interesting music literature you could find.
But why would such music interest me so much in the first place? I was no radical teenager. I did well in school, got along fine with my parents, always polite at church, worked hard to make a dollar, etc... As noted somewhere in UMR, I had some pent up anger to let out in the late 70s (mostly forced bussing to the housing projects related) which is what got me into heavy metal. Fine, easily explained. The magical moments that Rubycon provided one can attribute to an unfettered imagination. But this? One images a rundown flat in Germany with a single ray of sunshine glaring through the morning haze of pot smoke, copies of Das Kapital strewn about on the floor, barely clothed frolicking youth running around aimlessly. Throw away your books and rally in the streets. Anarchy, man.
Electronic Meditation is the musical personification of the word subversive.
OK, why did that resonate with me then? At the time I didn't think about it, I just wanted more of it. The music hit a core nerve. Years later it occurred to me as to why. Even as a little boy I had a fascination with Europe. If we went to the school library, while other kids pulled out familiar books, I'd go and seek out titles like "Austria", "Belgium", and "Sweden". These were education books and many of the photos were of traditional costumes, which were probably not any more relevant than us Americans running around in Yankee Doodle outfits. But it still captivated my imagination. I want to go there! Then the real kicker was television. Funny to think we only had six TV stations, yet I could find more interesting shows to watch then than I can now with 500 stations at my disposal (not including the internet). I loved the British spy shows in particular, and anything that was psychedelic, even though I had no idea what that term even meant. PBS was good for those kind of shows back then. And we really got to see some weird movies on our one UHF channel (Ch. 39 in Dallas). Why did I like those shows so much? I have no idea actually. Like I said above - it was a foreign world that I wanted to explore more. And I did that too once I was an independent young man.
I have so much personal history with Electronic Meditation that it's hard for me to show any kind of objectivity. This would be another Top 25 Most Important Album if I made such a list. I tend to bristle when I see folks give this album the short shrift. But I've come to terms with that too. If you're a fan of the familiar Tangerine Dream sound, this would be pure cacophony to the uninitiated. How would have I reacted to this album had I heard it at age 59 for the first time rather than at 18? Exactly - not for me.
Electronic Meditation ended up defining one of my key interests in music. It makes no sense in the end, perhaps adding to the allure of it all.
Ownership: LP: 1971 Ohr. Gatefold. The familiar 556 version. This was something like my 4th upgrade (guessing early days of ebay 1999). Original 1970 56's, especially with the balloon, are very rare. The first LP I obtained, referenced in the story above, was the French Virgin single sleeve version.
CD: 2004 Arcangelo (Japan). Papersleeve edition that was thoughtful enough to include a sealed balloon with the small cutout to support it.
12//83; 7/3/01; 11/1/15; 1/8/24 (new entry)
