TANGERINE DREAM

Review Nº 799

Tangerine Dream is a progressive rock band that was formed in Berlin. The band was among the earliest explorers of a new musical universe opened by the electronic instruments. The universe of Tangerine Dream was born as a journey aided by the new electronic keyboards, transformed into a contemplative survey of the universe. They were able to create music without a regular pulse but just with organ chords, a few manipulated guitar lines and synthesizer effects. Tangerine Dream became a landmark and one of the first bands that made the first explorations in electronic realms.

"Tangerine Dream (1996 Disky Compilation)" is a compilation album of Tangerine Dream that was released in 1996. It's a compilation album with six tracks. It comprises the four tracks on their fifth studio album "Phaedra" that was released in 1974 in it's entirely, the first part of the two parts of their sixth studio album "Rubycon" that was released in 1975 and the title track, which is one of the four tracks on their seventh studio album "Stratosfear" that was released in 1976.

As I mentioned above, "Tangerine Dream (1996 Disky Compilation)" has six tracks. The title track of "Phaedra" would set a whole new standard for the Tangerine Dream's sound. The minimalism of their first albums was pretty much gone, as the sequenced rhythms provided the band with a rich and fat sound stuffed to the rim with mystical and delightful atmospheres. Given focus by the arpeggiated trance that drifts in and out of the mix, the track progresses through several passages including a few surprisingly melodic keyboard lines and an assortment of eerie Moog and Mellotron effects. Despite the impending chaos, the track can sounds more like a carefully composed classical work than an unrestrained piece of noise. The climax of the track comes surprisingly enough after the sequencer has stopped, and makes room for a sinister and incredibly moody part filled with Mellotron, gongs and haunting electronic sounds, building up some of the most fantastic atmospheres ever created by humans. And to add to the feel of beyond and mystery, some distant and faint sounds of children playing can be heard several seconds after the track has ended. It would become a standard track in the future of their music. "Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares" reportedly was a pure solo number of Froese. It has a line with a kind of a buzzing mysticism that consists almost entirely of grandiose washes of Mellotron, accompanied by free form of some spacey electronic sounds. The effect of this music is thoroughly hypnotic if you get involved with it, really. "Movements Of A Visionary" begins with some structureless noises. It seems to improve the voice experiments from their previous album "Atem". The rest of the track consists of a warm and comforting organ improvising around the sequenced rhythms that now was one of the band's main trademarks. It gently swings back in the direction of a hypnotic rhythm. "Sequent C'" is a brief piece for flute that closes the album in a moody way. It's a piece of ethereal and floating beauty that was recorded by Baumann's solo on the flute with some electronic alienation. It represents a very beautiful and melancholic musical vision of Tangerine Dream. "Rubycon Part 1" starts with a lot of atmospheric and mellow soundscapes performed on the Mellotron and the synthesizers. After a while the sequencers start which provide for pleasant rhythms. The frequent organ and piano parts move strongly towards the sound that Pink Floyd produced on "Meddle". It has some sounds where the mood alternates between dark and light, before it beautifully and graciously rises up toward a grandiose and haunting part with some fantastic atmospheres that in a dream take us to the ocean. It quiets down after a while, and starts to build up some tension to prepare us for the sequenced part. Together with the eerie Mellotrons, distorted piano chords and droning organs, the electronic sequenced rhythms carry you away in the same dreamlike state as "Phaedra" did. The title track of "Stratosfear" kicks off the album with grandeur and sheer elegance. It has frenzied hypnotic beauty mixed with swirling guitars and changing tempos that turns it in an awesome spacey song with a memorable melody. It opens with some relaxed and pleasant chords on guitar, which creates an atmosphere that fits the track very well, indeed. The electronic rhythms then start, introducing one of the best and most recognizable melodies that the band ever wrote.

Conclusion: "Tangerine Dream (1996 Disky Compilation)" is an excellent compilation album of Tangerine Dream. This is a compilation album that comprises tracks that belong to three of the best studio albums created by the band in the middle of the 70's. These are three works that belong of what is considered their golden era, the phase that became known as "The Virgin Years", albums released to the Virgin record label, as the name indicates. It was just missing "Ricochet", technically a live album with original music that wasn't released on any studio before. "Tangerine Dream (1996 Disky Compilation)" is a great starting point to all who aren't acquainted with the music of the band yet. Here, we can see why Tangerine Dream is a much respected progressive band and was able to create an aura that lasts till today.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

The early years of TANGERINE DREAM were a little tumultuous and rightfully reflected in its brash even hostile exhibition of nascent Krautrock that found founding member Edgar Froese's love of electronic sound experiments in competition with jagged guitar distortion and percussive bombast. It didn't take long for drummer Klaus Schulze to jump ship due to musical differences and the instabilities would remain for the the second album "Alpha Centauri" which found the quintet of Edgar Froese, Christopher Franke, Steve Schoyder, Udo Dennebourg and Roland Paulick to be too much personal to manage so by TANGERINE DREAM's third album ZEIT (German for "Time") the group was streamlined to a mere trio with additional guest musicians picking up the slack.

However it wasn't only the band's lineup that was streamlined. So too did TANGERINE DREAM rethink its trajectory in the burgeoning world of experimental electronic based music as the Krautrock scene was expanding quite rapidly and offering the same wild tape manipulations and electronic loops that Froese and company had engineered on its first two releases. The answer to avoid becoming irrelevant in a crowded room was simply to take things to the next level of ingenuity. The next advancements in TANGERINE DREAM's march to critical acclaim arrived on its third album ZEIT which was the first to feature the band's classic 1970s lineup with the arrival of Peter Baumann. Likewise the band completely dropped the guitar and percussion and pretty much jettisoned any traces of the rock paradigm altogether and instead focused on the sublime surreal world of electronic improvisational sparseness.

Augmented by the arrival of the moog synthesizer and an increased layering of atmospheric keyboards, ZEIT was the first step for TANGERINE DREAM to unleash its bizarre amalgamation of musique concrète sensibilities with the freewheeling autonomy of jazz improvisation that conspired to conjure up freaky cosmic journeys into a completely new musical world of free floating electronic wizardry. While experimental electronic and ambient music were hardly unique to TANGERINE DREAM, Froese wisely embarked on a more adventurous journey where cosmic expansiveness and ominously sparse and sprawling soundscapes differentiated the group from the more classically infused approaches offered by Terry Riley and Igor Wakhévitch or the space age pop crossover appeal of bands like Tonto's Expanding Head Band or Mort Garson. The space age had arrived and TANGERINE DREAM was leaving the Earth's gravitational pull altogether and taking its act to the stars and beyond.

An ambitious undertaking, ZEIT featured four spacious track which each swallowing up an entire side of vinyl on this double album release from 1972. Relying almost exclusively on the cutting edge technologies afforded, ZEIT showcased the expansive possibilities of taking the world of progressive electronic ambience to vast surreal soundscapes that tested the patience of the listener. While the previous albums had the more familiar contrast of guitar and percussion to anchor it to some sort of Earthly connection, ZEIT simply drifted off into the Oort Cloud and drifted on for a 76 minute transcendental journey. The album opens with the 20-minute "Birth Of Liquid Plejades" which features a clamorous string section courtesy of the Cologne Cello Quartet as well as a cameo appearance by Popol Vuh's Florian Fricke who conjures up the bleakest and most ominous moog synthesizer sounds allowed by law. The second feature, "Nebulous Dawn" drifts into space for a gurgling and percolating sonic equivalent of existing in the vacuum of nothingness.

"Origin Of Supernatural Probabilities" offers a more angelic redemption vibe with a softer even tangible connection to an ethereal realm that offers that invisible string to another realm. The title track on the other hand drifts into a nebulous gas cloud and showcases the utter insignificance of what we perceive as time with a seemingly endless procession through dark ambient atmospheres and gurgling electronic noises that crackle with life as if emulating the birthing process of life in the universe. Sure it's all very heady and almost impossible to grasp but that's not really the point. Comparisons to other musical forms is mute with TANGERINE DREAM. More of a sound collage than a musical score, ZEIT evokes a visceral emotional response that for some may find comfort and for others a repulsive disdain. Certainly one of the more divisive albums in the TANGERINE DREAM playbook, ZEIT without a doubt was a significant step for albums like "Phaedra" and "Rubycon" to follow. Sure it's a cold and dark journey through these corridors of space but a unique and hard earned enjoyability factor is attainable. Perhaps not the best the group had to offer but a stroke of brilliance none the less.

This text aims to shed light on albums from a more advanced phase of Tangerine Dream's discography, after the 90s when Jerome Froese, son of Edgar Froese, joined the band. Let's go to the text:

Although I had known about their existence since the late 70s, it was only in the mid-2000s that I started listening to Tangerine Dream, thanks to an unconditional fan of the band. The first album I enjoyed the most was the masterpiece "Stratosfear". I quickly became familiar with other unquestionable masterpieces such as "Phaedra", "Rubycon", "Ricochet", among many others of musical excellence. After understanding the lineup and sound changes of the group throughout the first two decades of its existence, it was natural to choose to move on to subsequent albums, and there were four that received a lot of attention: "Turn Of The Tides", "Tyranny Of Beauty", "Goblin's Club", and "Mars Polaris". And this is exactly my order of preferences among these works.

The band now revolves around Edgar and Jerome, supported by a series of guest musicians. Among them, the highlight goes to Linda Spa and her saxophone, without which rich moments would not have existed. In addition to the presence of a wind instrument, the band now relies heavily on the drums of both Edgar and Jerome, as well as their guitars and those of other guests. Personally, I don't quite understand this need for guest guitarists, the work Edgar did on "Ricochet", for example, is very beautiful. Well, in addition to the presence of winds, orchestrations, and an intensification in the use of guitars, there has been a noticeable reduction in the participation of synthesizers.

And what about the music itself? Well, "Turn Of The Tides" exceeds in beauty. The opening, a re-recording of Mussorgsky's "Pictures At Exhibition", needs no comments, and the three tracks that follow, "Firetongues", "Galley Slave's Horizon", and "Death Of A Nightingale", are nothing short of formidable. In the first two, the prominence is on the guitars, including acoustic, of a guest named Zlatko Perica, while in the third, Linda Spa's saxophone shines. The brilliance of these tracks is repeated in "Jungle Journey" and "Midwinter Night". On the other hand, "Twighlight Brigade" seems to me to be just an average song, while the weak point of the album is the disco beat of the title track.

And the other albums? In "Tyranny of Beauty", the brilliance of Linda Spa's saxophone is repeated, but not so much in the guitars, and there are more average songs like "Twighlight Brigade". In "Goblin's Club", the limitations are amplified, and it's biggest problem lies in the absence of excellent compositions. Finally, "Mars Polaris" does not feature guest musicians, and perhaps because of this, the compositions no longer have the same appeal, I couldn't "get into" this album.

3.5 stars, rounded to 4. I would give 3 to "Tyranny Of Beauty", 2.5 to "Goblin's Club", and 2 to "Mars Polaris".

Review Nº 763

Tangerine Dream is a German progressive electronic band that was formed in Berlin in 1967 by guitarist Edgar Froese. Originally with an electric/acoustic sound, Tangerine Dream emerged in the experimental and German Krautrock scene. In the same year, Froese invited drummer Klaus Schulze and cellist Conrad Schnitzler to the band, later releasing, in the same year, their debut studio album, "Electronic Meditation". This album was considered one of the most advanced and experimental works in the history of the modern music. It was influenced by the works of John Cage and Stockhausen. Several times awarded, "Electronic Meditation" contains a unique sound palette, with keyboards, standard instruments and countless non-standard sounds, filtered through several effects processors, creating an experimental atmosphere.

In 1970, Schulze and Schnitzler embarked on solo careers and were replaced by drummer Chris Franke. With him, they recorded another album, "Alpha Centauri" in 1971, this time with the collaboration of keyboardist Steve Schroyder. However, after that album, Schroyder also left the band and was substituted by keyboardist Peter Baumann. And with the trio Baumann, Franke and Froese, Tangerine Dream would released a serious of very sucessful albums, of which stand out, "Phaedra" of 1974, "Rubycon" and "Ricochet", both of 1975, "Stratosfear" of 1976 and "Encore" of 1977.

But, again, Tangerine Dream saw another change in their line up. Baumann also left the band to pursue a solo career. This time, Froese and Franke chose to join them, multi-instrumentalist Steve Jolliffe and drummer Klaus Kruger. They released another album "Cyclone" in 1978. After "Cyclone", Jolliffe also left Tangerine Dream and the duo Froese and Franke with the collaboration of Kruger and Eduard Meyer on cello released their next album "Force Majeure" in 1979.

Tangerine Dream ended the 70's with one of their best albums. Froese and Franke continue their previous search here. In few words, they consisted of a combination of the electronic style of the band, known from the albums "Phaedra" and "Rubycon", with elements of classic progressive rock, derived primarily from the then work of Pink Floyd. In practice, this meant an increase in the role of traditional instruments and a stronger outline of melodic lines. Tangerine Dream returned to the purely instrumental territory again with "Force Majeure", but the album itself was musically still a continuation of the more conventional prog rock style they had explored on "Cyclone". And Tangerine Dream, at their best, had absolutely nothing to do with be conventional. This time, you can hear all the time who is the creator of this material. The sequencer based arrangements of past albums find their fruition on "Force Majeure". Froese and Franke change their longstanding collaboration into a complementary musical dialogue that is at once lean and evocative. The recordings were made in Berlin in 1978. The author of the cover of "Force Majeure" is Froese's wife, Monika Froese.

The album consists of three songs, two lengthy and one shorter, although with its seven minutes of length it's surely not a piece to play on the radio. The eighteen minute title track is mainly based on the electronic sounds, at first with an ambient character, then more vivid and more trance, in which parts of the electric and acoustic guitar, piano and drums are perfectly woven. There are plenty of expressive motifs and cool solos. There is also a lot of dynamics. "Cloudburst Flight" is already a more condensed recording, in which traditional instrumentation usually comes to the fore, and the electronics rather only complement the sound. The song shows the more prog-rock face of the band, but by no means imitating the style of someone else. The thirteen minute "Thru Metamorphic Rocks" is the oddest track on the album and looks like a bit less exciting but it doesn't spoil the high quality of the album. It's a two part song that contains the more heroic guitar from Froese, but it's generally a return to the amorphous and eerie compositions of past albums, with percussive space echoes that occasionally suggest the work of Klaus Schulze. The first five minutes are another example of a successful fusion of electronic and traditional instruments. The further part has purely electronic sounds. It's the track with most in common with the old Tangerine Dream, but with a more modern and less human approach.

Conclusion: "Force Majeure" is one of the best albums of this great band. This is a calculated and compelling work from two experienced artists who move through the electronic music with high grace and precision. Overall, the album doesn't look as electronic as their earlier works, as the drums in particular, when used, provide a driving beat that is more familiar with rock music and when Froese reaches into the guitar, you maybe think that you are in the wrong film. But we cannot complain too much. After all, it's a good thing when a band tries to develop further. Due to its more rock oriented music, it may be suitable for people who are otherwise not into the electronics. So, it's an absolute necessity for those who might be curious about the band, or even successful experiments within the rock genre. Sections of the album would later appear in slightly altered versions on the soundtracks for the films "Thief" and "Risky Business".

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

In The Netherlands there is a vivid electronic music scene, with an annual festival and an annual day for electronic music fans, an electronic music oriented label (Groove) for Dutch and international bands and artists, and lots of Facebook pages dedicated to Dutch electronic music. During the years I have bought many albums at the Groove label: from Free System Project, Red Shift, Airsculpture, ARC (Ian Boddy and Mark Shreeve) and Return To The Origin to Gert Emmens & Ruud Heij, Rudy Adrian, Pollard/Daniel/Booth and Node, all obviously inspired by the highly acclaimed 1974-1977 Tangerine Dream era, in the classic line-up featuring Edgar Froese, Peter Baumann and Christoph Franke.

Although I consider Phaedra as a masterpiece and a boost for the development of electronic music, to me it still sounds as a pioneering album: the band used for the first time the sequencer module of the modular Moog, and the trio is experimenting how to blend the sequencer with the synthesizers and Mellotron. On the next album Rubycon you can hear the development of the Phaedra sound, the music is less experimental and more elaborate, dynamic and structured, also due to the guitarplay by Edgar Froese, but especially the sequencing is spectacular. On this live album, recorded during the European tour in 1975, the legendary trio Tangerine Dream really shines with their pivotal electronic music.

Ricochet Pt. 1 (17:03) : The intro delivers spacey synthesizers with phasing and echo, and the usual beeps and bleeps, blended with electronic percussion. The music sounds like leaving the earth with a spaceship for a cosmic trip between the stars and around the moon. Now slowly from outer space the pulsating sound of sequencing and soaring Farfisa organ, soon a distorted electric guitar sound, backed by electronic percussion and soft Mellotron drops. Next the music turns first into more atmospheric with tight drum beats and then gradually a dynamic blend of synthesizers, string-ensemble, Mellotron, distorted electric guitar and spectacular mid-tempo sequencing, what an amazing interplay between the trio, top notch electronic music, wow! Finally a blend of high and low souding slow synthesizer flights, a fascinating contrast to end this epic electronic music magnum opus.

Ricochet Pt. 2 (21:11) : This other epic composition begins with tender play on the Grand piano and soaring Mellotron flute, in a melancholical climate, pretty emotional for electronic music standards! Now sequencing joins, fuelled by lush synthesizers, gradually the sequencing sounds more pulsating, this is Electronic Music Heaven, and turned out to be very influential. The powerful sequencing and flashy synthesizer flights add a dynamic dimension to the music, interrupted by a wonderful dreamy interlude with Mellotron flute, in the end soaring synthesizers and Mellotron, with phasing, an unique piece of electronic music, wow!

With respect for the milestone Phaedra, I prefer the more elaborate and dynamic Tangerine Dream sound between 1975 and 1977. For me this live album is one of the absolute highlights in electronic music history!

An album that just proves how "on" a band can become when inspired by a topic/theme that comes outside of themselves: the stuff of legends.

1. "La Vision" (12:19) the weird psychedelia sounds that open this are absolutely perfect for this title and topic. In the second minute the synth sounds straighten out and form a dream-like soundscape similar to some of the more sedate ones in At the two-minute mark, however, a rhythm track is added that picks up the pace a bit while also enriching the soundscape. So excellent! I love the next-gen vocal "tron"-like voices and Holger Czukay-like "radio transmissions." The synth drum pattern turns full rock with lots of additional percussive sounds surrounding and propelling the song on an equal level. Great chord progressions announced by deep synth bass throngs. Awesome! And we're not even half-way through! At the seven-minute mark we get a new synth-bell/saw sound to carry the main melody, backed by banked chords of Enigma-like angelic female voices. A top three song to be sure. (23.75/25)

2. "La Joie" (5:16) kind of syrupy shlock with rather simple generic melody and pace. The instrument choices for the rhythm track are nice. Wish the lead synths were richer. Soprano sax enters in the fourth minute but does nothing dynamic or emotional except carry on the same simple melody as the start--until the fifth minute when it starts to flourish a bit. Too bad nothing else shifts/accelerates with her. More like Karl Jenkins' ADIEMUS. (8.5/10)

3. "La Force Du Courage" (8:37) opens with nice layered synths, voices, and "plucked bow"-like bass notes to signify forceful action. After 90-seconds the rhythm track is engaged: it's okay; nothing detracting. More layers of activity on the vocal and strings areas begin making their appearances as we near the end of the fourth minute, continue to embellish and enhance (as if the observer were in the middle of army camp while the hurried, scurried activities of preparation for battle are teeming around him/her). Glen Frey "You Belong to the City"-like sax enters in the fifth minute to nice effect--as if a general esprit de corps were being conveyed. The walls of sounds begin thinning in the eighth minute eventually leaving only sax and "alelu" female choral vocals. Nicely done! (18/20)

4. "La Solitude Dans L'Espoir" (7:32) solo piano enters, borrowing The Buggles' "I Am a Camera" melody theme to Yes' "Into the Lens." At the one-minute mark soft vocal synth wash chords are added in gentle support. At the very end of the second minute the piano's bass clef lowers and then the melody line shifts to a minor key, other keyboard-generated instruments start to join in. In the fourth minute drum/percussion sounds and "ChapmanStick"-like bass sounds are added, eventually congealing into a full rock rhythm track at the 4:00 mark. Multiple melody lines are now being generated, all at the same time, each one attractive and engaging on its own, none conflicting or detracting from the others. What great symbiotic composition! At then end the music devolves to piano for a recapitulation of the (Buggles') opening theme. Not a song with great highs or super-memorable passages or crescendos but such a solid, pleasant song! (13.375/15)

5. "La Marche" (8:36) nice panoramic opening synth weave over which awesome percussive-saw sound is sequenced to get things moving. By the end of the second minute the army has launched: the march is on, with the joinder of the full, complete company--including leadership--announced at 2:30 with full rock rhythm track: "bass and drums." The "pan flute" lead is awesome but it's the impetus of the "bass," "drums" and rhythm guitar work that really keeps us interested. Nice shift in the fifth minute to synth strings for the leadership while the rest of the troops continue their relentless march beneath. Awesome song to perfectly convey the feelings of an army on the go. I even love the instruments used to transmit the stoppage and communication of feelings and orders at the end. Another top three song. (19/20)

6. "La Sagesse Du Destin" (7:58) hypnotic dreamscape within which several instruments ("marimba," flute, and so many more!) each convey aspects of the main melody in a harmonized form. Genius! The "bass" play is super! At the end of the third minute we pause and shift into a passage with a MIDI-ed bells sound is used in the lead. Nice whole-sound shift at 4:23 while the bell-speak continues. Dramatic pause at 5:15 unveils saw-synth-assisted electric piano as soloist with odd 33 1/3 scraping sounds. (13.5/15)

7. "Le Combat Du Sang" (10:17) I do not own or possess this album. The songs I've been able to listen to are available through YouTube--except for this one, "Le combat du sang" is offered nowhere on YouTube. But I was lucky enough to find it with a search of Bandcamp--or at least a version of it: in 2020 Jerome Froese, one of the certifiable members of TD when the original album was created and released, released a "remastered" version of this via his "Home of Guitartronica" page. I have no idea if it's anywhere near the original, but it is a hard-driving, straightforward song of the "The Sky Moves Sideways (Part One)" ilk. It's good, solid, but not amazing or incredible. (17.5/20)

8. "Le Combat Des Épées" (14:02) two tracks of 90s electric piano with echo effect employed opens this one for the first minute. Then synth wash chords with bass-pedal-like bass notes establishes its own version of the opening. Japanese sword-bell synth takes over on the lead at the end of the second minute for a minute before soparano sax enters to take over. Bubbly synth percussive-rhythm track is added as sword-bell synth rejoins, working with the sax. More subtle additions and enrichments (mostly to the rhythm track) at the end of the fourth minute--and aagain at the 4:45 mark--as sax and sword-bell synth continue their beautiful duet/dance. Dramatic drum play shows up in the second half of the sixth minute before soon establishing a steady and forward-driving rock pattern. MIDI'ed flute-blown glass-female operatic voice now take over the lead, carrying the main melody strongly forward. Again, I am astounded by the genius of matching the song, instruments, and rhythms to the theme at hand. Thinning of instrumental tapestry at the end of the ninth minute yields a fast-paced multi-synth minimalist weave over which bells, strings washes, and heavily-treated electric piano add their own lines. Great, hypnotic weave! There's a little of THE WHO's "Eminence Front" here, a little JONN SERRIE, and a lot of originality. (27.25/30)

9. "La Libération" (4:39) too much like the Chariots of Fire sound palette and style. (8.5/10)

Total time 79:16

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of masterful literature-inspired music--one of TD's best of the 21st Century.

I love prolific artists. Klaus Schulze comes to mind. Tangerine dream also. I collected many of their albums to have a "binge" listening session carried out over a couple of weeks. This album came up. I was warned in many comments online that their late 80's and 90's albums were sort of a train wreck. To my surprise, I am enjoying this period of TD's output. This album isn't phenomenal, nor groundbreaking, but just good to me. Maybe my ears are easier to please than some. Soothing synthesizers with pretty decent sound quality throughout. I found this album to be an easy listen. I love the idea of having a huge cd rack in front of the wall dedicated to one artist. Schulze and Tangerine Dream could easily handle that. And I could probably listen to just those two for the rest of my life and only that. I love Berlin School Electronic music. It is a world that I could happily live in the rest of my listening life.

In the late 70s I bought this live album as a double LP, mesmerized by the cover picture: I was very much into symphonic rock with tons of vintage keyboards and looked at all those huge synthesizers, like a triple version of the late Keith Emerson with his modular Moogs, wow! At home I was blown away by this new musical experience, named electronic music, a hypnotizing blend of synthesizers, Mellotrons, sequencers, piano, electronic drums and electric guitar play. The recordings are partly from the USA tour in 1977 (see 1-4 track information) featuring Tangerine Dream at their artistic peak, with extended improvisations, based upon work from their previous albums, like Ricochet and Statosfear. The music is performed by the legendary trio Peter Baumann (who did the 1977 Encore mix and then left, as a 'parting gift'), Chris Franke and Edgar Froese. The captivating element on Encore is the interplay between the three musicians: frequent waves of Mellotron, hypnotizing and pulsating sequencers and all kinds of sounds from famous vintage (modular) synthesizers (Moog, Oberheim, ARP and PPG). The music is more lush and extended than on their studio-albums, in my opinion unsurpassed, I have never heard a more captivating electronic music album than this one!

Four wonderfully coloured and varied electronic musical landscapes.

Side 1 - Cherokee Lane (16.19) : This track contains references to the music on Sorcerer, and is recorded during rehearsals in Berlin, mixed with parts from the Seattle concert on April 21th, 1977.

The long intro delivers ominous swelling keyboards, and some beeps and bleeps. Then the sequencing starts, a cheerful crowd applauds, soaring Mellotron violins join, wow. Now the Mellotron flute section, what a wonderful blend of Mellotron (both the violin as the flute section) and sequencing, the sound becomes more intense, topped with lush synthesizers. Finally again that dreamy Mellotron flute.

Side 2 - Monolight (19.54) : This track is recorded in Washington DC on April 4th, 1977, in fact the only complete live recorded piece, and in mono, that explains the title, haha. The music contains references to Stratosfear and Invisible Limits.

First a long and wonderful, classically inspired piece on the Steinway grand piano. Then captivating interplay between the synthesizers, sequencer and string-ensemble, it sounds cheerful. Halfway a pulsating sequencer, in an exciting accellaration, embellished with brassy synthesizer flights, this is trademark TD interplay. Finally tender piano, culminating in a beautiful conclusion with dreamy synthesizer flights and piano.

Side 3 - Coldwater Canyon (18.06) This track is recorded during USA 1977 tour soundchecks, and also features short parts recorded during the final two concerts in Juli 1977.

It starts with a repetetive synthesizer chord, then sequencing and a heavy distorted electric guitar joins (by Edgar Froese), soon blended with synthesizer runs, what an unique interplay. In the second part soaring strings, beeps and bleeps, and that fiery and distorted guitar. Finally dreamy synthesizer flights and a spacey end.

Side 4 - Desert Dream (17.30) : This track contains different recordings, some parts from 1974 (the Oedipus Tyrannus suite, Chichester Festival in July 1974), and some parts from studio recordings, the applause is fake. So this composition has nothing to do with the 1977 USA tour.

The intro features dreamy Mellotrons (flute and violin section) and a scary Theremin sound. Then the beeps and bleeps. Next a low sequencing sound and sultry synthesizer flights and dreamy Mellotrons (evoking a 'Sahara atmoshpere', looking at the title), wonderful, hypnotizing, this is excellent electronic music. Again beeps and bleeps, and different sounds. The second part contains a melancholical climate with dreamy synthesizer flights, tender electric piano and soaring Mellotron violins, simply beautiful. Finally catchy sequencing and slow synthesizer runs, when the music stops the crowd erupts, what a stunning electronic music concert!

TO ME THESE 4 COMPOSITIONS SOUND AS A HIGHLIGHT IN THE HISTORY OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC!

My recommendations if you like this Tangerine Dream music: Gert Emmens (Mysteries Of Dawn), Node (live), Free System Project (Procyon), Pollard/Daniel/Booth (Eight), Free System Project & Terje Winther (Spoon Forest), Ruud Heij & Gert Emmens (Return To The Origin) and Rudy Adrian (Concerts In The USA).

And finally thanks to my Dutch friend Wouter Bessels, an acclaimed 'Tangerine Dream connaisseur' who has contributed to several Tangerine Dream CD reissues/boxes. At my request he delivered me additional information about the tracks, very interesting for the Tangerine Dream fans.

Review Nº 751

"Synthetiseur" is a very special compilation album of Tangerine Dream. It was released in 1990. It's an economic package that includes their fifth studio album "Phaedra" released in 1974, their sixth studio album "Rubycon" released in 1975 and their debut live album "Ricochet" released also in 1975, on only one CD package. This is a very interesting compilation album because it includes three indispensable musical works of the band, the three albums that are in general considered the three best works of Tangerine Dream. So, we can say that it can be a very worth purchase if you don't have the three original albums yet in vinyl or CD. It means that, if you buy "Synthetiseur", you can save on money. However, for those who have already the three albums, "Synthetiseur" only can be a nice addition for your collection.

However, we cannot deny the unquestionable quality of "Synthetiseur". Tangerine Dream is unquestionably one of the most influential electronic groups of all time and these three albums are the living proof of that. Their music has made an immeasurable impact on ambient, new age, techno, trance, and progressive rock, as well as modern film score composition. Founded as a psychedelic rock group, soon Tangerine Dream turned to the electronic music especially during their second musical phase, "The Virgin Years". "The Virgin Years" began with the pioneering Tangerine Dream works, precisely these three albums that belong of what became known as the "Berlin School". The line up on the three albums is the same, Edgar Froese, Peter Baumann and Christopher Franke, which is considered the best of the band.

As I've already reviewed these three albums previously and individually on Progarchives, in a more extensive way, I'm not going to do it again. So, if you are interested to know, in more detail, what I wrote about them before, I invite you to read those my reviews. However, in here I'm going to write something about them in a more short way. So, of course, I'm not going to analyze them as extensively as I made before, but I'm only going to make a global appreciation of them.

"Phaedra": "Phaedra" is often regarded as a groundbreaking album that was shaped by an experimental sound, with structured sound sequences that present themselves to the listener in an atmosphere space like manner. "Phaedra" leads in monotone electronics at the beginning directly into the wide world of the universe and knows how to create a monotone trance in cosmically designed sound surfaces. In the further course, the cool inapproachability of the electronics unites with organic looking Mellotron inserts, which is accompanied by more rhythmic sound elements. The way into unexplored galaxies is, thus, effectively relaxed. Perhaps even more powerful as a musical landmark now than when it was recorded. "Phaedra" has proven the test of time. The 70's was a time of music taste and intelligence, really.

"Rubycon": "Rubycon" is like "Phaedra", an impressive work from the experimental early phase and the sequencer heavy time in the middle of the 70's, but oriented a little further towards the later. The Moog Synth is used more often than on its predecessor, which makes the soundscapes appear more structured overall. Of course, the impression of uniformity also comes from the fact that there are only two pieces of the same name. The free form parts, which are still available, appear more mature and sophisticated than their predecessors. "Rubycon" is a standard work of the Berlin School. If you are interested in electronic music you should check it, and its predecessor "Phaedra". People who want to find whether they like such "futuristic music" must check it too. This is one of the best, Tangerine Dream's albums.

"Ricochet": "Ricochet" could just easily have been an excellent studio album. I find it remarkable how well Tangerine Dream was able to implement their studio compatible concepts' live. "Ricochet" is one of the definitive Tangerine Dream's albums and is indispensable for lovers of the electronic music. If you want to experience the beginnings of electronic music, you cannot avoid this album. "Ricochet", "Phaedra" and "Rubycon", are the three classic albums of Tangerine Dream that no prog music fan can avoid. Considering the fact that "Rubycon", Froese's "Ypsilon In Malaysian Pale" and Klaus Schulze's "Timewind" were also released in the same year, "Ricochet" was the final jewel in the crown that turned 1975 as the best year in Tangerine Dream's related history and in the prog electronic music too.

Conclusion: After what I have wrote and despite I have mentioned that "Synthetiseur" is only important for those who don't own the three original works or for the hardest collector fans of the band, it's undeniable the great quality of this compilation album. As I also mentioned that "Phaedra", "Rubycon" and "Ricochet" are in general considered the three best works of Tangerine Dream, in which I include myself, turn "Synthetiseur" as a great compilation album, one of the best of the band. "Phaedra" and "Rubycon" are considered the two greatest masterpieces of the band and two of the best electronic prog albums ever made. In relation to "Ricochet", despite technically be a live work that was recorded live, in reality, it's an original work from the band that was recorded live. So, we can say that "Synthetiseur" is a great compilation album with three amazing works of one of the best and most representative acts of the "Berlin School".

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

The mid-1980s found Tangerine Dream focusing far more on their movie and television soundtrack work than on standalone studio albums - which means that this boxed set isn't really telling the whole story when it comes to their activities from 1985-1987. Further complications arise from the inclusion of Green Desert, because whilst that release was finished off with additional recordings in the 1980s the earliest components of it came from the 1970s.

Nonetheless, this is a good value collection offering a nice snapshot of the New Age-tinged style that the band adopted in this era. Aside from on Green Desert, the spacey style of their 1970s works is absent, and this is very much in the style they adopted in their mid-1980s soundtrack work, making this a bit less essential but still worth a shot for fans.