VIEWS FROM A RED TRAIN

Interesting album!! After getting totally hooked on the classic ' Madcap's Flaming Duty' from 2007, a vocally superb dedication to the late Syd Barrett, 2008 returned TD to more normal format with this 2008 release. There is however a consistently solid offering of songs from the opener ' Carmel Calif' with it's typical trademark sound and some interesting background vocals. It sort of meanders for about seven minutes, reminds me a bit of the ' Voices' album from Vangelis. ' Passing All Signs' displays great tranquil layers of synth and keyboards with nice backing vocals. Perfectly passing the time of day staring out of the train's window.... The next track is probably the highlight of the album, ' Leviathan', a song drenched in great Edgar Froese guitar work and seriously good driving hypnotic rythms. Psychedlic and trippy after about 3 minutes in as the adrenalin turbo kicks in. Froese's guitar work excels on further songs like ' Nutshell Awakening' and the Chronzon like ' Lord Of The Ants'. ' Sound of the Shell' closes the album, a beautifully melancholic track with some extraordinarily simple slide work from Froese supported by some more great backing vocals.

I really do like the direction Tangerine Dream have taken since about 2003. There seems to be a newfound energy and creativity to their sound. The vocal work is of the highest calibre and compliments the music as opposed to earlier works like ' Tyger' where the music is held back a bit. I am going to give this album three and a half stars because it is that good.

Another forgetful Tangerinesque album.

I can bore you again of how innocent these later Tangerine Dream releases sound like. "Views from a Red Train", 2008, presents 9 tracks, which again remind me completely of Michael Cretu's ENIGMA, especially his own remixes.

All this "modern" TD songwriting seems eager to please and to hold some kind of unreleased energy, that Cretu's songs displayed with no kind of effort. Really, if you have already been aquainted with ENIGMA, this release will hold no real surprises and worse than that, its songwriting seems condemmed to try hard, in vain, to cross itself between imitation and personal input.

Anyway, some new age kind of 80's electronics, blended with church like (untouchable serious music, people may get offended if undermined), but in the leagues it pretends to play it falls extremely short and by rule boring, for anyone who has heard at least a J.S. Bach choral work in his lifetime.

People who are oblivious of the influences mentioned above will get some kind of kick with this release, but then again, imitation is a form of flattery.

Best track> "Leviathan", which sounds like a collaboration between TD, ENIGMA and the B-52's.

**2.5 PA stars.