KYOTO

The blurb from the back of the CD case: Back in 1983 when Tangerine Dream toured Japan the first time,Edgar and Johannes came up with a lot of compositions which should have been performed during the tour and released on record later.The tour happened successfully ,but due to controversies within the band ,this music material never saw the light of day.Because of the fact that the music had nothing to do with other band members at the time,Edgar and Johannes decided 22 years later to make the material a full length CD.Old 24 track tapes had to be restored to make this happen.So what you hear on this record is - with some technical polishing work - the emotional situation the two composers were into many years back at the peak of one of Tangerine Dream's most creative periods.

So is it any good?? Personally I love the 1980-1983 period.Schmoelling added new qualities to a band that was served well for so many years by Edgar Froese and Cristoph Franke.However to my ears there is a lack of melody on this particular record compared to say Tangram and a lack of atmosphere compared to say Hyperborea.The music is undoubtedly polished and listenable but nothing really grabs you by the balls.The missing vital ingredient must be Cristoph Franke I presume.

On the plus side though stylistically it is comparable to their soundtrack Firestarter.If you like that then you may well go for this big time.

The naughties were not very prolific in terms of new music for the TD fans. Mostly was the band releasing live material from old concerts, remixes and compilations.

This one has another approach: they use old unreleased material which remained into the vaults for over twenty years and after some restoration decided to release it as a studio material. As Richard mentioned in his review, while the band was touring in Japan in 83, they were quite inspired by this Far Eastern environment and therefore most of the songs featured do have a close relation with this country.

But since TD already committed two albums of the same concept (the weak "Hollywood Years") I was not sure what could be expected from this "Kyoto". Let me assure you right away: Japan was a better source of inspiration than California...

The past grandeur of the seventies is not met; nor the immaculate beauty from "Tangram" or "Underwater Sunlight" but the result achieved is quite acceptable. Mostly ambient and melodic ("Industrial Life", "Cherry Blossom Road") this album also holds some more upbeat tracks ("Mad Sumo Yamoto ") while "Chilly Moons" is a more conventional TD song and could have been released in the late seventies.

To find a link with "Tamago Yaki" and the musical content is a complicated exercise. The "Tamago Yaki" is a culinary institution in Japan (some sort of omelette). To try and depict this musically is quite a challenge?which leads to one of the weakest song from this offering although the last third and spacey part is rather good.

My favourite song (although short - some four minutes) is the very nice "Last Train To Osaka". An ambient hymn which should have closed this album. A fantastic and peaceful ode to meditation.

This is another good album released by TD; nothing extraordinary but a pleasant hour of relaxing music. Three stars.