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You - Laserscape CD (album) cover

LASERSCAPE

You

 

Progressive Electronic

2.95 | 5 ratings

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Progfan97402
Prog Reviewer
4 stars Laserscape by this German electronic combo YOU really took me by surprise. Mainly because it came out in 1986, certainly not a favorite time period, musically, for me (OK so I was 13-14 at the time, and definitely wasn't interested in what was popular at the time like hair metal and synth pop). Tangerine Dream's Underwater Sunlight from the same time I felt was pretty mediocre. Laserscape is much better! This is how I felt electronic music should have went in the '80s. By 1986 it was clear electronic music had either went synth pop or New Age. YOU refused to go that way. Here they use lot of digital synths and samplers, but what's shocking is they use Mellotron on this album and puts it to good use here! It's really difficult to find recordings from the mid 1980s using the tron because everyone preferred the convenience of digital synths, which were widely available by '86. They even use sequencers which Tangerine Dream had abandoned by this time. What I love is they often conjure up an eerie and ominous atmosphere, something that Tangerine Dream lost by this point (to be honest, Underwater Sunlight sounds pretty harmless, that's why I'm not a fan of it). I'm usually not a fan of how many artists in the '80s were using digital sampling, but these guys take a rather interesting and creative use of it. The cover makes it look like you're getting another typical sterile, soulless '80s type of album, but I'm happy to say that's not what you get here. Quality control really went awry in the '80s, so obviously I didn't have high expectations with Laserscape. I was expecting an Underwater Sunlight type of album, and instead got something much better and pleasing, the way I felt 1980s electronic music should have been like. Plus the presences of Mellotron sure helps! I am generally not a fan of digital sounds, but this group did it in a way to make it sound very appealing. This album actually comes recommended by me.
Progfan97402 | 4/5 |

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