PHAEDRA

With Phaedra the Krautrock is gone as well as any acoustic effort, apart some remaining flute notes from Baumann. This is probably the first TD album which totally deserves the label of "Progressive Electronic". There's much of Edgar Froese's side projects. I see a clear parallel between Phaedra and his solo work "Aqua".

This side long track lives of repetitions and changes of pitch. Like in other long TD pieces, it seems that 5 minutes is the limit over that a change in the structure is obliged. In this case the tempo is a little faster and the sound is darker. The major chords of the first 5 minutes are now minor and also the spacey noises are full of tension, specially when the tempo increases (at minute 10, of course) then suddenly stops to leave room to a psychedelic spacey section. The keyboard mood of the last minutes is dark but the spacey sensation is able to mitigate it. The only bad thing that I see in this suite is the sudden end of the keyboards part which leaves some children's voices close the track.

"Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares" is an unusually structured piece. I mean that a so melodic piece is not usual for Tangerine Dream. The helicopter and the windy sound interrupt the quiet mood for a while, but this track is maybe a precursor of NewAge. Great if you are in the right mood.

"Movements of a Visionary" starts with unstructured space noises that after less than two minutes acquire a rhythm first, then a sort of electronic theme, quite similar to the one of Phaedra completes the starting phase. I have to say that I like this track more than the most famous Phaedra. It contains more things in half the time even being very similar in the structure.

"Sequent C'" is an excellent closer. Only two minutes, but very evocative.

The first totally electronic act of TD after their first psychedelic period is still one of their most acclaimed albums. Not yet a masterpiece for me but surely an excellent addition.