RUBYCON

I cannot find the correct words to express how beautiful RUBYCON is. Yes, even with all of the electronic keyboards and sound effects running rampant through the 35 minute piece, RUBYCON is a thing of beauty. It seems as if PHAEDRA was the training ground for Tangerine Dream to create one of the best pieces of music that hardly sounds dated despite its synth experiments.

There aren't tracks in the typical sense of the term, so it's really hard to explain what the highlight moments are, so forgive the rough descriptions. ''Rubycon, Part 1'' has a simulated choir sound somewhere in the first 1/3 of the piece that strikes the right chords with me. It's simply stunning to put it loosely. But TD know when to get interesting and send a trancy theme out there that simply stuns and mesmerizes. It's easy to get lost in this if you let your mind go free and simply soak up the atmospheres here.

Somehow, there's a second ''Rubycon'' part that outdoes the first one. After about four minutes of suspensful setup, the trancy theme is already coming that's faster, more intense and better than the trancy theme of the first part. It has the right amount of changes to be very interesting, but they're not rough enough to the point where if you're still in a mesmerization phase. The ending is also well done with the sole piercing line is left behind. A thing of beauty.

If you're willing to drop every notion of what music is, eliminate the requirements of a full band (i.e. having drums, bass, guitars, etc.) and just let the music focus on you, RUBYCON is one the best experiences one can have while listening to music. I can't think of many albums that are better experiences than this.