220 VOLT LIVE

Even if Tangerin Dream released 5 more movie soundtracks in the 90s, the "soundtrack period" of the 80s can be considered closed. Froese and Son were searching for new stimula, possibly for new money, so this album recorded during an American tour, is quite different from everything else was released before under the TD brand.

There's an evident mve toward the newage, but in the same time they havent used as much electric guitar as here. The 4th track, Homeless, is very unusual for this band. The only usual element is the absence of proper drums. Every percussion is electronic as usual.

The good and the bad, at the same time, is that this is mainly a soft rock album. Nothing new nor experimental. Surely The Froese family didn't actually have any intention of restarting making long pieces like Phaedra. Luckily this album is far from the most rubbish sountracks of the 80s. All the tracks are very enjoyable, good as background for driving a car or for having a beer.

Sometimes the old TD sounds re-emerge, anyway. Sudance Kid, after the initial keyboard tapestry resurrects some of the square waves typical of the Virgin period. This track can satisfy also the purists of the TD sound. It's not Phaedra, it's not Ricochet, but it has something. Also the title track is everything but bad.

The biggest curiosity is something that nobody could have expected from this band; a Jimi Hendrix cover...Purple Haze guys. I think it might have had its reasons played live. The guitar is good enough and the song is played well, but honestly it's too similar to the original and of course doesn't have Jimi's voice. So this instrumental cover is nothing more than an interesting curiosity which shows that TD are also capable of playing rock outside of their standards.

The last track, shorter than 4 minutes sounds like a "see you later" to the public and to the album's listeners. So it's a "not bad" album, quite far from what actually about 25 years of Tagerine Dream made us listeners used to. Thinking to some rubbish OSTs released previously, this could have actually been considered the TD's comeback.