GREEN DESERT

I've got a sneaking suspicion I feel a bit ripped-off by this album. Supposed to be this lost 1973 album recorded between "Atem" and "Phaedra" during the time Rolf Ulrich Kaiser decided to rename his Ohr Records as Kosmische Musik, with the TANGERINE DREAM guys not wanting to participate in his "cosmic circus" (no doubt helped by the COSMIC JOKERS project in which the albums were released against the wish of some, including Klaus Schulze). I'm sorry, but "Green Desert" has too many '80s digital add-ons. Doesn't sound much like a transitional album between their Ohr and Virgin albums, but more like "Le Parc" but with a more gloomy atmosphere than what mid '80s TD usually done, and extended cuts.

Too many inconsistencies here, for example the heavy use of Solina string synths that I know TD never had in 1973 (I think the Solina was brand-new in '73, but they didn't get theirs until around 1975). Where are the VCS-3 synths? The Mellotron sounds digitally processed. Cheesy sounding drum machine that the band never used at that time. I just don't find much to connect this album to what they did in '73 and '74. In fact, if you really wonder how TD might have sounded between "Atem" and "Phaedra", go get Edgar Froese's first solo album, "Aqua" (actually released after "Phaedra", but sounds like it was recorded earlier, with that combination Ohr and Virgin sound).

For "Green Desert", the music isn't bad, I just think if they were to claim it was that lost 1973 recording, they should not have given it the digital treatment, and left it the way it was, if the sound quality permitted it, that is.

My rating: 2 1/2 stars