THREE PHASE

If you like a great light show, Tangerine Dream is an excellent band to see live. I was lucky enough to see them on the Optical Race tour and was blown away as much by the light show as much as if not more so than the music. Of course, the next best thing to seeing them in person would be a concert video. According to their official discography, there's only two concerts they've released on video to date, this one and one from 2006. This is the VHS version, which has been re-released on DVD as Live in America 1992, so don't fret it being out of print.

As I recall the lineup for the OR tour was four guys, I don't remember if both Froese brothers were on that tour, only Edgar was on that CD. For this concert, they didn't perform any of the songs from OR, probably because Paul Haslinger had left the group. The light show here isn't too far removed from what I remember. You don't always get to see the band playing, sometimes the backdrop video becomes all you see on screen. If you like the video and music combo, TD has at least two good DVDs out with just that, Oasis and Canyon Dreams. The backdrop videos can sometimes be as entertaining as the live performance, there's a real trippy fractile sequence for Phaedra.

There is a companion CD that was released with this one called 220 volt live. It appears that some of the tunes offered on the CD and video were not released on any prior albums. The track lineup for the video is a little different from the CD, you get a couple of what might be considered classic tracks, Phaedra and Love on a Real Train (from the Risky Business soundtrack). There's even a cover of Purple Haze. Let's just say that no one has ever been able to beat any of Hendrix' own versions of it, but hey, it's still fun.

This one's essential for Tangerine Dream fans and certain an excellent addition when it comes to prog in general.