WHITE EAGLE
Tangerine Dream
•Progressive Electronic
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Studio Album, released in 1982 Songs / Tracks Listing 1. Mojave Plan (19:55) - Edgar Froese / ?
Artwork: Edgar Froese & Monique Froese and to Quinino for the last updates Edit this entry |
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![]() | White Eagle Emd Int'L 1994 | $5.49 $6.04 (used) |
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TANGERINE DREAM White Eagle ratings distribution
(183 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(16%)
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(34%)
Good, but non-essential (39%)
Collectors/fans only (8%)
Poor. Only for completionists (2%)
TANGERINE DREAM White Eagle reviews
Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings
Collaborators/Experts Reviews
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Prog Folk

SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator

White Eagle marked the beginning of the end for TD as far as I am concerned. ' Mojave Plan' and ' the Convention of 24' are great compositions but without being able to put a finger on it, it seemed to have lost the sparkle that was evident on previous albums. Maybe it was those dreaded 80's influencing the sound or just lack of inspiration from the bands part. White Eagle was good at best.
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator

Mojave plan (20 min) is a progressive keyboards track. Very interesting. Rythm, beat, melody, this piece is quite loaded of different keyboards textures. Conventum of the 24 is made of a bass synth sequencer, repetitive but good, Froese's unique guitar notes surrounded by miscellaneous keyboards patterns, clinical, floating and experimental. Midnight in Tula is bass sequenced with many keyboards textures again and a melodic keyboard sound, the whole sounding rather instrumental new wave. Finally, the majestic and VERY subtle white eagle, progressively floating and increasing in intensity, after a sequencer beginning the track: the perfect marriage of sequencers and floating streams.
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin

"White eagle" is a disappointingly dull album by the Tangs. It has all theusual ingredients, but it does seem to be Tangerine Dream by the numbers. It has the sound of a band going through the motions, and churning out another album using the same formula.
The feature track is "Mojave plan", which occupies the whole of one side of the original vinyl album. It starts with the usual vague ambient moods, before moving into more structured synth dominated melody. The Munich Philharmonic Orchestra appears later in the track, but their contribution does little to lift the track from being an elongated noodle. With all three band members now firmly entrenched on keyboards, the lack of any other sounds such as lead guitar makes the album somewhat one dimensional.
The title track is brief by Tangerine Dream standards, but its use as the theme tune for a German TV series led to it becoming a surprisingly successful single.
There's nothing offensive about the album, indeed the music is pleasantly melodic. It is however unimaginative and just plain dull.
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator

1982's WHITE EAGLE, as with others of its ilk, is music for chilling out. It best serves as a means to establish an ambiance or mood in your space, allowing you to placidly go about your business -- reading, chatting, lounging, yoga, floating in the pool, loving, doing the dishes, whatever -- but probably not foosball or ultimate frisbee! (I suppose it might help a newcomer to the band's music to get into this stuff if that person had been a bit of a "head" 'back in the day,' as they say, and given to reading fantastic literature, playing D&D and engaging in other such "mind-expanding" trivial pursuits -- nudge nudge, wink wink.)
WHITE EAGLE has four tracks. "Mojave Plan" is the longest, at over twenty minutes, and it's a typical example of the longer TD pieces from this their early to mid-eighties era. It starts out eerie, and then visits various moods throughout its length. A perfect one to stretch out and drift with, or read classic sci fi by.
"Midnight in Tula" (as with "Choranzon" on the prior EXIT) is this disc's shorter up-tempo "single-sounding" selection, and elevates the mood - a good motivator for a foray to the kitchen.
"Convention of the 24" is almost ten minutes of gentle, aimless drifting, with a smattering of Froese lead. Get back to your book -- though you may well want to lose consciousness at this juncture, especially after overdoing it with the ice cream....
Finally, I have always found the title track, "White Eagle," to be simply lovely. I love the tinkling (!) piano, the hypnotic synth voices, and the gently floating majesty of this bird! My sole complaint is that, at less than 5 minutes, it's over only too soon.
In any case, you either have a taste for this sort of electronic background music, or you don't - just don't say I didn't tell you what to expect. Rather good - if you like it!
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Prog Folk Researcher

I personally don’t really consider this to be particularly progressive music – it’s more of an album for setting a kind of laid-back mood in the background of whatever laid-back things you want to do while you’re playing it. Frankly I think anyone who tried to actively listen to each track as it works through its various progressions would become rather bored quickly. Some tracks, like “Mojave Plan”, sound like they were made for porno movie soundtracks. That comment is bound to pop up from time to time with any completely instrumental synthesizer-driven work.
That said, there are some decent moods explored on back side of the album. “Mojave Plan”, which occupies the entire 19:55 front side of the record, really just gets to be a bit tedious after a while, with some synthetic sound effects thrown in regularly whether they really add to the composition or not.
On the back side, “Midnight in Tula” is a fast-paced track with pretty much the same keyboard riff repeated over a syncopated beat, but some variety thrown in with the various sound-effects throughout.
With “Convention of the 24” we finally hear some prominent guitar work, although like “Midnight” this one is heavily focused on the synthetic bass tracks. Another fairly repetitive work (I guess that’s the point for this type of music, and you either like it or you don’t). Some of the sound effects are quite rich on a hi-fi, but tend to get lost if you listen to this in mp3 format or under a headset.
The closing track is “White Eagle”, the only song on the album that seems to actually build up towards something instead of just wandering along. This one has some spacey voices meandering in and out a bit, which adds some variety as well, and the way the piano kind of pitter-patters around the bass line is actually very pleasant. This is also the only song on this album I’m aware of that has made it intact onto any of the many Tangerine Dream compilation albums.
Like I said, this is my only Tangerine Dream album, and I have no basis of comparison with their other work, so I can only judge it on its own merits, and perhaps by comparison with some of the other synthesizer-driven experimental music of the early 80’s. On that basis, I wouldn’t put this one really high on the list, although there’s nothing particularly negative I can say either – other than it’s kind of boring if you actually try to concentrate on the music while it’s playing. So it seems that two stars is probably appropriate. It just doesn't feel like this is a very inspired group of musicians, at least on this particular album.
peace
PROG REVIEWER

Nevertheless, the side-long 'Mojave Plan' is an excellent composition. The first half of the track is an as-per-programme synth/noise intro, leading into a FRANKE special of pulsing beats. And while this beat doesn't morph like the best of their mid-70s stuff, it's a splendid thing all the same. The second half is a little less spectacular and far more 80s sounding, with their more recent synth additions serving only to make them less distinguishable from the growing number of synth practitioners. It has to be said: by this time TD were no longer innovators. I like this track a great deal, but I'm prepared to concede it's a rewarmed stew.
'Midnight in Tula', on the other hand, is the business. A frenetic series of blips and synth runs, it captures the energy the TANGS once had in spades. The discordant high-pitched sound that smears across the track is particularly pleasing, invoking their difficult avant-garde days. 'Convention of the 24' follows, a surprisingly busy track and one that again reminds this listener of their early 'Pink years' work. All awkward angles and improvisation with no clear destination in mind.
The title track is an excellent stab at synth-pop. A genuinely good tune is given the TD treatment. It's no wonder this was lifted to become the theme for some show or other. To be fair, bands like ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK (NOT their latter pop years, but their early experimental stuff, contemporaneous with this) were doing this stuff much better, and with meaningful lyrics.
You don't need this album. It's nice though. Just somehow less than their 70s work. Less atmospheric, less mysterious.
PROG REVIEWER

The band has evolved (which is per se not a bad thing) towards a more synthetic music, less spacey and more "dehumanized" according my standards (whatever it might mean in TD's music). But there are plenty of joyful moments as well to be expected from this long piece of music: harmony, beauty and diversity (yes!). Good synth vibes and keys maestria are the ingredients.
And it works pretty well to be honest provided that you are keen to listen to these more "aggressive" sounds.
I have a kind emotion for "Midnight in Tula". But this is pure sentimentalism. This archaeological Mexican site resides in the vicinity of my wife's native town of Pachuca. To be in front of these "giants" statues is quite indescribable. But the title is maybe more related to the "Thule" myth, I don't know. In terms of music though, it can't really be considered as a great TD moment.
The second pleasant moment is "Convention of the 24". Almost ten minutes of "conventional" TD music like one is glad to listen to. More spacey, more beauty, more ...TD? Yes, probably.
In all, this is another good album released by the band. But to be honest, they haven't released a bad one so far (even if "Cyclone" was close). The good (but short) title track is another peaceful and so enjoyable moment of music. Really, really good.
Three stars.
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR RIO/Avant/Zeuhl,Neo & Post/Math Teams

This is a good track. Even if some sounds have been "adapted" to the 80s there are some passages reminding of the period of Phaedra and Ricochet and the final minute has something of the Pink Period.
I can't say the same of "Night In Tula". Taken outside of its context, and ignoring that this is Tangerine Dream it's not that bad. Those are the conditions to appreciate it. Think to an artsy release of bands like Kraftwerk or "Devo". Even though it's deeply electronic this is not what one expects from Tangerine Dream.
"Convention of the 24" is back to where TD belong. It's far from Zeit or Atem, but it's Froese at his best: a 10 minutes track coming from the 70s.
Finally the title track. On this one I hear Phaedra. Maybe a commercial version of Phaedra but still intriguing and full of the typical square waves that are distinctive of TD's sound.
A good album, really better than its predecessor and one of the best things appeared in a decade, the 80s, that has been very poor of good music.
PROG REVIEWER

Maybe not bad for jogging, but seems harsh and abrasive compared to the soaring beauty of the music that Tangerine Dream used create.
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Crossover & JR/F/Canterbury Teams

The main piece is the twenty minute Mojave Plan. Like many of the long TD pieces this one moves from section to section without much to tie them together. The good: there are some very nice synth patches in the piece. i particularly like the buzzsaw synth lead in the earlier movements. The bad: too many sections get me imagining the vocals from Kraftwerk's We Are The Robots running over the music. Yes, that is a bad thing.
Midnight In Tula is a much more upbeat piece than I'm used to hearing from TD in the seventies and early eighties. I like it.
Convention Of The 24 is the best piece on the album. Dark and moody, it contains all of what drew me to TD in the first place.
From what I read here, the title track, White Eagle was used as a theme song for a German TV series. That's probably why they named the album after this track. But probably because it was made for a TV show, the song goes nowhere, and is about as boring a track I've heard from TD.
Ups and downs. 3 stars.
PROG REVIEWER

"White Eagle" is an underrated album. After the half-failure of "Exit", the band now recovers their creative ambitions. Nearly entirely electronic, very few guitar, this record features well inspired and trippy music.
"Mojave Plan" is the track that made me head my ears for TANGERINE DREAM 80's period. The band was still creative after the 70's! It marks the return of the long 20 minutes suites. An electronic robotic symphony, a masterpiece of the Froese/Franke/Schmoelling trio. Everything is here: various rythms, spacey and oppressive passages, dynamic progression and even some KRAFTWERK-ian robotic moments. Their best compositon since "Force Majeure". Every electronic music fan should give it a listen.
On the oppositive, "Midnight in Tula" is the black sheep here. It's a joyful but dated and irritating tune. The sound is similar to early computer music of the 80's (which is not necessarily a bad thing); the music theme will be rearranged for the video game "Last Ninja 2" on Commodore 64. "Convention of the 24" is another lesser-known gem from the band, the coldest of the record. When listening to this tune, I imagine myself exploring Antarctica. There is a mystical mood in it. The title track finishes the record with an aerial melody on a delicate sequence phrase. It's an eagle, but flying in slow motion, over deserted ruins of an ancient civilization.
I don't why this album is so little appreciated. Maybe the sound is too icy, abrupt, or mechanical. "Midnight in Tula" is certainly quite annoying. Nonetheless, "White Eagle" is a very good electronic record that deserves attention, one of the best from 80's TANGERINE DREAM.
Latest members reviews
Tangerine Dream goes New Wave.
With each passing album through the 1980s, Tangerine Dream would seem lower their bar further. They added drum machines on repeat, and the originality of their compositions declined. This album is their first truly New Wave album, with drum machine patterns that mim
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Report this review (#1704127) | Posted by Walkscore | Tuesday, March 21, 2017 | Review Permanlink
"White Eagle" is about the only Tangerine Dream album from this lineup I really enjoy...
Somehow it has always reminded me of "Ricochet" because of the voice effects on Mojave
plan and the titletrack... I always loved "White Eagle" because of the infinite sadness that
comes from the tune...
... (read more)
Report this review (#308637) | Posted by Lieven Van Paemel | Saturday, November 6, 2010 | Review Permanlink
This album is a little underrated! I can't realize why... Basically, TD is still the same, even if
the band is working now on rhythm structures. Mojave plan isn't out of habit anymore. Quite
pleasant, especially the second part of the track. Midnight in Tula is not so represenative, I can
say t
... (read more)
Report this review (#167781) | Posted by Sachis | Thursday, April 17, 2008 | Review Permanlink
I love the feel of this album.It has an uncluttered approach (perhaps minamalistic even?)
that makes it very enjoyable.Like all the the best Tangerine dream music it contains lots of
subtle elements that you can only appreciate over a decent period of time.One of the best
albums from the TD/Sc
... (read more)
Report this review (#32550) | Posted by | Wednesday, May 18, 2005 | Review Permanlink
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