Tangerine Dream
Band members Related acts
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line-up (1974) - Peter Baumann -- mellotron, keyboards, flute, percussion, bass, synthesizers - Chris Franke -- mellotron, keyboards - Edgar Froese (RIP 2005) -- mellotron, guitar, bass, keyboards
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- Agitation Free - Ash Ra Tempel - Berlin Express - Blue Room - Eruption - Edgar Froese (solo efforts - Loom - Neuland - The Ones - Ricochet Gathering
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Genre: progressive Rating: *** (3 stars) Title: Phaedra Company: Virgin Catalog: VI 2010 Year: 1974 Country/State: Berlin, Germany Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+ Comments: gatefold sleeve; cutout notch on seam Available: 1 Catalog ID: 10 Price: $20.00
Best time to listen to: preparing your tax returns, or when you're struggling to get to sleep Cost: $1.00
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Given it's reputation, it's funny how few people have actually heard 1974's "Phaedra" (the titled inspired by a Greek mythology - the tragic story of a Cretan princess). That said, for those who've heard it (and many who haven't), it holds the reputation as one of the most influential releases of the 1970s. One thing's for certain - it's one of those album that you either admire, or hate with a passion. Very few people fall in the middle ground.
Produced by
multi-instrumentalist Edgar
Froese and recorded at Richard Branson's Manor Studios, the album featured four instrumentals.
With Peter Bauman, Chris Franke and Froese all contributing to the
songwriting chores, three of the four tracks clocked in at over eight
minutes; the seventeen minute title track taking up the entire first
side of the LP. If you've heard Tangerine Dream then there isn't
anything here that will come as a major surprise. Tracks such as
''Mysterious
Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares" and ''Movements of a
Visionary" were full of thick, ambient synthesizer tones and textures that ebbed
and flowed with occasional bursts of melody
"Phaedra" track listing: 1.) Phaedra (instrumental) (Peter Bauman - Chris Franke - Edgar Froese) - 17:45 rating: **** stars I was in high school when I heard a snippet of the title track somewhere and while I wasn't willing to plunk down $5 to buy a copy of the album (it actually wasn't available at the Chièvres Post Exchange), I belonged to a Brussels, Belgium record library that carried multiple copies of the LP. (Thank you for introducing me to the concept Mark.) How do you even begin to describe the title track? Imagine the soundtrack to some B grade sci-fi film with lots of interstellar travel ... It's 100% synthesizers just kind of puttering around and about nine minutes it sounds like a couple of the machines have overheated and are starting to burn themselves out. The melody (I'm using the term loosely) disappears and you're immersed in dark and disturbing sci-fi sound effects including some primitive "bird" noises. Remember this was recorded in 1973. Warning - you probably wouldn't want to listen to this if you were stoned and having a bad trip.
(side 2) 1.) Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares (instrumental) (Edgar Froese) - 9:55 rating: *** stars "Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares" (great song title), served as a showcase for the trio's interest in Mellotrons. It was a slow, dirge like piece with the closing section sounding like an electronic windstorm. Easy to picture a main character standing on the edge of a mountain staring at devastation all around him. 2.) Movements of a Visionary (instrumental) (Peter Bauman - Chris Franke - Edgar Froese) - 8:01 rating: *** stars Opening up with a lot of echoic sounds (oscillator?) before dashing back in interstellar travel mode, "Movements of a Visionary" sounded like a sound collagen before morphing into a jittery mix of synthesizers - I always imagined atoms bouncing into each other would have a similar sound It was easily the least "melodic" of the four tracks. 3.) Sequent C (instrumental) (Peter Baumann) - 2:18 With Baumann's flute stepping into the spotlight, "Sequent C" sounded like it was written for a forlorn piece of land - the Black Hills of South Dakota ? The album's prettiest number and also the shortest,
© Scott R. Blackerby May 2024
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Genre: progressive Rating: ** (2 stars) Title: Zeit Company: Virgin Catalog: VD2503 Year: 1976 Country/State: Berlin, Germany Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+ Comments: gatefold sleeve; double LP Available: 1 Catalog ID: 9 Price: $30.00
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Originally released in 1972 on the German Ohr label "Zeit" (translated as 'time'), found the band now consisting of Edgar Froese, Chris Franke, and Peter Baumann, diving headlong into inner space. A double album set, the collection showcased a series of four extended synthesizer-propelled instrumental pieces. Clocking in at roughly 75 minutes, the spacey packaging was a pretty good indicator of what to expect with "Birth of Liquid Pledjades" (in case you were wondering the title refers to a wintertime star cluster) and the other three selections offering up a series of ever changing ambient sound palates, complete with oscillators, assorted electronic bleeps and beeps, extensive sections of electronic drones, and even a cello quartet. It certainly wasn't very commercial, occasionally approaching the avant garde levels of musique concrète. Depending on what mood you were in, it could be kind of captivating (kind of like listening to the soundtrack for 2001 A Space Odyssey), or even ominous (parts of "Nebulous Dawn" were outright scary. Not quite on a level with Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music" but it made for fairly challenging listening and wasn't something most folks would play on a regular basis. (This is a copy of the 1976 Virgin reissue featuring different cover art.)
"Zeit" track listing: 1.) First Movement: Birth of Liquid Plejades (instrumental) (Edgar Froese - Chris Franke - Peter Baumann) - 20:00
(side 2) 1.) Second Movement: Nebulous Dawn (instrumental) (Edgar Froese - Chris Franke - Peter Baumann) - 18:00
(side 3) 1.) Third Movement: Origin of Supernatural Probabilities (instrumental) (Edgar Froese - Chris Franke - Peter Baumann) - 20:12
(side 4) 1.) Fourth Movement: Zeit (instrumental) (Edgar Froese - Chris Franke - Peter Baumann) - 17:43
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Genre: progressive Rating: *** (3 stars) Title: Force Majeure Company: Virgin Catalog: V2111 Year: 1979 Country/State: Berlin, Germany Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+ Comments: UK pressing; minor ring wear; slight warp, but plays without any problems Available: 1 Catalog ID: 4757 Price: $20.00 Cost: $1.00
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In spite of the fact I'm not a big Tangerine
Dream big fan, I have a habit of buying their LPs whenever I stumble across
one I don't already own (or when I can find an upgrade on the cheap).
To my ears you have to be in a specific mood to enjoy their unique efforts
and most of the times when I try to focus on one of their albums I'm
either distracted by something else (crying baby, cring teenager, screaming
cat, nagging wife), or simply disappointed by the results. That
certainly seemed to be the way "Force
Majeure" was heading when I heard the first couple of
minutes of the side long title track. 'Force Majeure' starts out with
your standard dreamy synthesizers and sound effects, before kicking into a
taunt and melodic guitar, drums and keyboard driven segment. Mind you,
while there's plenty of ambient Krautrock material here for longtime fans,
the album finds the band (down to Chris Franke and Edgar Froese with an
occasional assist from drummer Klaus Krieger), supplementing the usual
battalion of synthesizers with some excellent rock guitar. Yeah, hard
to believe it, but it turns out that Froese could play a mean electric
guitar - doubt it? Check out his performance on the side two opener
'Cloudburst Flight'. Not exactly their stab at top 40 rock, but a good
place for the curious to start with.
"Force
Majeure" track listing: 1.) Force Majeure (instrumental) (Chris Franke - Edgar Froese) - 18:18
(side 2) 1.) Cloudburst Flight (instrumental) (Chris Franke - Edgar Froese) - 7:21 2.) Thru Metamorphic Rocks (instrumental) (Chris Franke - Edgar Froese) - 14:15
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. Elsewhere, given the
absence of synthesizers on the piece, Peter Baumann's flute propelled
''Sequent C" was
the one piece that felt a little out of place on the album. You
certainly weren't going to jump up and do the electric slide to anything on this set,
but clearly that wasn't the point. Gawd only knows what these guys were
thinking about, but to my ears it' made for an intriguing atmospheric and
contemplative soundtrack - perfect for putting on when you're in the middle
of doing some paperwork that you brought home from work, or you were balancing
the checkbook. Some thirty years after it's release (I'm writing
this in 2004), it's easy to see how this album's influence waves of folks
(The Aphex Twins and even Moby quickly come to mind), in such musical genres
as ambient sound, electronics and even the current fascination with trance
music. It's certainly not easy listening, though a couple of
beers smooth it over and it certainly has a place in my collection.
