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Tangerine Dream - Zeit CD (album) cover

ZEIT

Tangerine Dream

 

Progressive Electronic

3.69 | 460 ratings

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FXM
5 stars Zeit - a true masterpiece.

This review is a tribute to Edgar Froese.

I learned that Edgar Froese had passed away yesterday evening so as a tribute to one of the greatest pioneers of electronic music I have decided to do a review of one the greatest pieces of electronic music ever recorded. Tangerine Dream have a vast discography of both studio and live recordings and were still actively recording up to the death of their inspirational leader. In my opinion Zeit represents one of their best recordings. It is a mammoth work of four movements that each spanned a full side of vinyl on the original release. It was also the first recording of what many, including myself, would regard as the "classic" line-up of Froese, Franke and Baumann and represents a seminal work of electronic music/space rock.

It is subtitled "Largo in four movements" and as the term Largo indicates it is a slow moving work that gradually developes, evolves and unfolds capturing the listener in realms of deep space.

"First Movement: Birth of Liquid Plejades" starts with some rather menacing cello and evolves into an etheral mesmerising spacy composition.

"Second Movement: Nebulous Dawn" starts of quitely with droning synthesiser then joined by more keyboards and pulsating sound effects creating a very atmospheric haunting piece. Again it envokes images of the other worlds deep in the solitude of space.

"Third Movement: Supernatural Probabliities" envokes images of the vastness of space, menacing at times, with a pulsating sound in the background which if you let you mind wander could represent the hum of a futuristic space craft crusing through deep space.

"Fourth Movement: Zeit" is another haunting etheral composition. Zeit translates as Time, so I envisage it as a sound representation of time and space, many of the stars we see in the sky are many millions of light years away, the light we see from them now was emitted many millions of years ago and has travelled the vastness of space to only reach us now.

I tend to do most of my music listening while working (been self-employed helps) and some when driving but this music deserves to be heard properly, sitting back in an armchair with the lights dimmed (but probably not in the dark as it may just scare you too much) and closed off from the distractions of the outside world so that you can obsorb its nuances and take your mind on a journey to the outer reaches of the cosmos and alien worlds.

This is one of the most important records of the 20th Century. It is a magnificant musical achievement. It was ground breaking for its time, opening up a whole new world of musical posibilities. Definitely a masterpiece well worthy of a 5 star rating.

FXM | 5/5 |

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