POLAND - THE WARSAW CONCERT*

This 80 minute live set attracts glowing reviews. I've listened to it a few times now, and I'm mystified as to why. Apart from the excellent 'Horizon', nothing here sparkles. It's merely yet another in the sequence of competent live TANGERINE DREAM performances: mindblowing, no doubt, for those who attend them, but inferior to their best studio work.

I say that, but in fact 'Poland' is an anachronism. By this point TANGERINE DREAM were immersed in a world of soundtracks and soundbites, mass-producing short mood pieces for numerous film directors around the world. So numerous were these pieces, it almost got to the stage where it was hard to find a film without a TANGERINE DREAM soundtrack. I exaggerate, of course.

'Poland' isn't like that. It is very much the child of previous live efforts, only this time a longer effort - a full 80 minutes. Or, if you're unlucky, slightly less: most versions of this have had a few minutes shaved off the end of 'Barbakane' to fit on a single CD format. Some, in fact, are also missing one entire track ('Tangent'). So be careful what you buy.

The fare here is the usual combination of carefully sequenced rhythms and overlaid melodies, some of which have been 'liberated' from previous albums. There's none of the energy of 'Ricochet' and certainly none of the experimentalism of their 1970s work. Safe, predictable and ultimately disposable, 'Poland' is the sort of album you buy if you're a fan or if you need yet another instrumental album to get you through a day's work.

At least it wasn't another soundtrack.