Alpha Centauri (1971)
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:2004 Arcangelo (CD). Papersleeve gatefold that was thoughtful enough to include a sealed balloon with the small cutout to support it.
12//83 (France Virgin LP acquired); 7/3/01; 11/1/15; 1/8/24 (review)
Optical Race (1988)
Rubycon (1975)
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.
---7/3/01
(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.
---1/8/24
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:2019 Virgin (CD). In Search of Hades box. There is a 15 minute additional (or alternate) sequence included that I will revisit the next time I open the box.
12//82 (USA Virgin LP acquired); 7/3/01 (Gnosis); 4/12/20; 11/25/23 (update)
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:
When Green Desert came out, it was an exciting revelation. A full archival album of Tangerine Dream promising a return to the psychedelic roots of Electronic Meditation and Ultima Thule, a sound I had become obsessed with by 1986. And that's true to a certain extent. The title track definitely passes for 1973, and it's great to hear Froese jamming on the electric guitar while Franke is back behind the drum kit. I'm sure this track has been embellished, but for the most part, it's the sound of underground Tangerine Dream before the sequencers took over. The other side sounds like White Eagle. There's nothing 70s about it. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's curious the way they presented the album. I enjoy it throughout, but it would have been so much better had they dug up another psychedelic piece for side 2.
Ownership: 1986 Relativity Theory (CD)
Hyperborea (1983)
Hyperborea was the second "new" studio album from Tangerine Dream to be released after my first discovering of the group and buying up their back catalog. By this time I had entered college, and without a doubt, Tangerine Dream would be the band I proudly stated were my "favorite". Just as White Eagle was received warmly upon initial impact, so was Hyperborea. Perhaps even a bit better in my mind at the time. It seemed a bit more adventurous, though unlike anything else in their catalog. Objectively speaking, I would still make those claims. Subjectively, the album hasn't moved upward like White Eagle has. Some of that can be chalked up to the time and place. But honestly the music is getting colder and more mechanical by each release. They certainly hadn't yet gone on auto pilot, but that was to come a mere two years later. The clues were here already. No question that I would still recommend the album on its own, but I would acquire everything in front of it first.As for the bonus tracks on the CD, they are taken from the Risky Business soundtrack. This movie was released during the late summer of 1983 right before I was to enter college. It's one of those "my generation" movies, though in retrospect, it's pretty dumb. I still like it. But for me, what was even cooler, is that Tangerine Dream's music was all over it. And at the best times during the movie. Some of the music is taken from Force Majeure and Exit, while just that much more is original material of a similar nature to Tangram / Thief. With this, and Nicolas Cage wearing a Tangerine Dream T-Shirt in Valley Girl, it felt like a form of acceptance. Old times.
Ownership:
Logos represents for me the best album of the post Baumann years. Whereas Exit and Thief were soundtracks to my late high school years, Logos became the background music for my early college days of 1983 and 84. In looking at Discogs, the album had already been out some 10 months before I acquired it, as its distribution back then was pretty light in the area I lived in. Musically it's unlike the other albums of the era. I'm not reminded of Tangram, Exit, Thief, or White Eagle while listening, though clearly it's well within their 80s style and instrumentation. That is to say there's no mistaking Logos as a throwback to the Stratosfear era. I find the music highly melodic and the sequences very inventive. There's an innocence surrounding Logos, a feeling one doesn't usually walk away with when talking Tangerine Dream. Logos stands tall within TD's discography, and is the one post 70s album (IMO of course) that challenges their best work from their formative decade.
9/4/83 (acquired); 7/3/01; 9/18/19; 1/8/21 (review)
If I were to review my personal history with Tangerine Dream, and all the albums acquired between 1970 and 1983, Tangram would be the most neglected. Even though it was the studio album prior to Exit (where I started the journey), I ended up picking this one up almost last in that bunch (Alpha Centauri and Atem were the last two). And a used copy at that, when all others were new. In the 90s when I went on a commodity LP replacement program, Tangram was also last. No idea why, since it was the LP in the least great condition. Unlike the first three albums I've covered from this box set - namely White Eagle, Exit, and Thief - I have no personal soundtrack history with Tangram. It was "just another" Tangerine Dream album to me.
The odd thing about the opening paragraph is that I hold - and have always held - Tangram in very high esteem. This of course is the album where Johannes Schmoelling entered stage left. His contribution to the band cannot be understated. He had classical training that brought both a discipline and a keen sense of melody to Tangerine Dream. Right from the opening bouncy synth notes onto the beautiful piano segment, Tangram was clearly a departure from the past. Elements of Force Majeure remained, but mostly Tangerine Dream was busy defining their role for the 1980s. Highlights include a devastating fiery guitar and sequencer mix on Side 1. And on Side 2, there are what I consider *two* of the finest sequences of Tangerine Dream's entire recorded career. Now that's quite a bold statement right there. It's a nonstop ride of goodness. Tangram is one of the few Tangerine Dream albums I can evaluate objectively, and I certainly consider it in the first division of their first 16 years of existence. It's really too bad that Froese put away the guitar after this (and the subsequent Thief). He was cooking with gas at this point in his career.
Ownership:9//84 (acquired); 1/5/21 (review)
As noted in the Exit review, Thief was actually the first Tangerine Dream I'd ever heard. The album was being played in the background of a pickup football game (?!) while I was still a junior in high school (late 1981). And, as it turns out, it was also one of the earliest Tangerine Dream albums for me to purchase. And I've owned a physical copy ever since. Unlike most Tangerine Dream albums, Thief is one I haven't heard since I did a retrospective for Gnosis some 19 years ago. And like most of these early 80s albums from TD, Thief represents a personal soundtrack - a nostalgic remembrance of an exciting exploratory time for me, especially regarding music.
While absorbing Thief this go round, the first thing I noticed is just how much guitar is present, an instrument largely missing from Exit and beyond. 'Dr. Destructo' packs a wallop whereas 'Diamond Diary' is Tangerine Dream at their sequencer best. This was by far the most direct Tangerine Dream album released to date. Like Exit, this is an album that has moved into the excellent rating category over the years. Whether that's due to personal experience or a warm objective evaluation, I cannot say. But my life is intrinsically linked to this album.
The US LP pressing contains one different track performed by a different artist ('Confrontation'). The box set, naturally enough, left this piece off since it wasn't by Tangerine Dream.
The French LP also has a unique track called 'Metascore'.
The bonus track on the CD is a slightly extended version of 'Dr. Destructo', so nothing to really get excited about.
Ownership:
If Exit was my first discovery, and Rubycon was the epiphany, then White Eagle was Tangerine Dream's first new album after I had become a committed fan. I was satisfied with it - but my bar would have been pretty low at that point for anything T. Dream. It didn't take a palm reader to see this was the direction the band were headed. More beats, more melody, more early 80s. Since that day, I've always maintained a physical copy of the album, even though it remained in the 4th quadrant of their releases (pardon my Gartner reference). Over the years, I find myself warming more and more to it. It's probably nostalgia for the end-of-high-school years and all that surrounded that experience: The discovery of new things, the future was bright, and the time was exciting. And while White Eagle was never one of my personal soundtracks, every time I hear it, images of my past from that era flash by. 'Mojave Plan' moves through multiple segments with ease, and 'Convention of the 24' ups the ante on sophisticated sequencing while providing a haunting atmosphere. In reflection, it's the melodies that win the day. Not sure White Eagle will ever crawl past most of the albums released prior to it, but it continues to gain respect in my world anyway.
Ownership:
Ownership:
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:
---7/3/21
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!
And why is that? Well, the vocals of course. Steve Jolliffe was not a new walk-on to the band. His association with Edgar Froese goes all the way back to 1969, before Franke, Baumann, and the rest of them. He's an Englishman, so it isn't a foreign accent issue. Truth is, and I agree with this too, they aren't the best vocals in the world. Anyone who has a taste for Krautrock, will already know that vocals aren't the ace in the hole for the movement. Once your ears have adjusted to it, Jolliffe isn't any worse than the others.
With that out of the way, let's discuss the reality here. Only Side 1 has vocals, and they do not dominate either song. It's just an anomaly that's all. But what Jolliffe does bring to the table, in addition to the expected raftful of keyboards, is a set of woodwinds. The flute in particular is an instrument that is much welcomed for the music of Tangerine Dream. I wish they had always employed one. Perhaps they should have asked Stephen Kaske (Mythos) to join permanently (though they'd really need him not to sing.).
Part 2 of this lineup is the addition of drummer Klaus Kruger. He was an active part of Froese's world in 1978 and 1979, before going solo in the Harald Grosskopf tradition. His drumming is absolutely perfect for music such as this, adding an urgency to the blazing sequencers.
As for the music, most of it is a continuation as to what they were performing on Stratosfear and Encore. Not a radical departure at all. And of course even detractors of the album will admit 'Madrigal Meridian' is one of Tangerine Dream's all-time classics. And at 20 minutes that should be enough alone - much less the great music on the first side. It's really a tragedy this lineup only lasted one album. Excellent.
Ownership:
No comments:
Post a Comment