ZEIT

Far and away Tangerine Dream's spookiest album, Zeit - apparently Edgar Froese's interpretation of an idea he cooked up with Klaus Schulze - sees Tangerine Dream jumping firmly into the synthesiser-dominated approach which would define the rest of their career. With four long, achingly (and beautifully) slow and languid compositions each covering a side of a double-album set, this is to Krautrock or progressive electronic what Soft Machine's Third is to Canterbury or Tales from Topographic Oceans is to symphonic rock.

The first track opens with the band accompanied by a cello quartet (whose long, yawning notes fit the rest of the music beautifully) and ends with a guest appearance by Steve Schroeder on organ, whilst the rest of the tracks are more or less 100% synth-based with only occasional appearances of Froese's glissando guitar. Far and away the greatest accomplishment of Tangerine Dream's pre-Virgin Records period, Zeit is an electronic masterpiece.