ATLANTIC WALLS

With the proliferation of Tangerine Dream albums, I do have to wonder whether we really need compilations which simply draw in tracks from a narrow range of their releases. Despite appearances, "Atlantic walls" (and its companion "Atlantic bridges") gathers together tracks from the band's Melrose years and thereabout, the period covered being from 1988 to 1997. The source albums are "Optical Race", "Lily on the Beach", "Melrose", "Rockoon", "Turn of the Tides", "Tyranny of Beauty" (1995) "Dream Mixes I & II" and "Timesquare (Dream Mixes Vol. 2)".

What is a little frustrating about the packages is that there is no indication on the sleeves that they contain previously released material; indeed the only real clue is the complete absence of sleeve notes.

As can be seen, the music is not therefore taken from the band's early experimental years, but from their safer new age era when it appeared that quantity was taking precedence over quality. That is not to say the music here is devoid of value, the 72 minutes of music does make for a pleasant listen. Pleasant is thought he operative word; there is no challenge to be found here, this is music to (deliberately!) send you to sleep. The lush polyphonic synth tones are often of the type you can create yourself at home on a basic keyboard, the synthesised percussion rather emphasising the budget nature of the recordings.

We do get some variation when Jerome switches to lead guitar such as on the opening "Electric lion", an 8 minute piece which builds quite nicely from its ambient start. There is also some welcome sax on "Midwinter night", which transforms the track into a smooth lounge piece. Another highlight is the all too brief main "Promenade" theme from "Pictures at an exhibition", which is given an interestingly unique treatment.

In all, an enjoyable collection of tracks which summarise a defined period in the history of Tangerine Dream. That period is far from their most exciting, and the set is a bit too safe to be of any real value, but if you do not have the source albums this and "Atlantic bridges" make for an adequate summary.