DREAM SEQUENCE

This is a 2CD covering TD's years in Virgin, ie. 1974-1983. That period is considerd, by most listeners including certainly me, as the TD's best era. Starting with Phaedra and ending with Hyperborea, and including fantastic albums such as Ricochet (1975) and Force Majeure (1979). So, musically speaking, this compilation is a great starting point into TD. Unlike several other TD compilations, it even includes UNabridged long tracks of the length of an LP side. These are Ricochet part two and Tangram part one. But inevitably there are many cruelly edited excerpts, some functioning better than some others. Especially the 1½ minute cut from Phaedra seems quite unsuccesful to me, more strikingly so as it is the only take from the album. The Force Majeure excerpt is 6'20 long, but hardly succeeds in capturing the glory of the whole magnum opus - which is one of the most prog-rocking moments in TD's catalogue. Of course one should know all the albums totally in order to really evaluate this compilation, and I admit I haven't listened to, for example, the live album Logos (1982), nor White Eagle (1982) or Hyperborea (1983). Logos is represented by three shortish cuts, two of them quite fine and one nearly horrible upbeat tune. From White Eagle, only its title track, even if the album seems much better than the more covered ones, Exit or Hyperborea. Also I would have wanted some more from Stratosfear (1976) than an edit of the title track. I once had the album and it was pretty good. The artwork of this set is quite disastrous. But personally what I hate most about this package is the way the essay keeps telling how Cyclone (1978) is the low point in TD's history. Strongly disagree!! The inclusion of vocals added nothing to the texture of their music and had not worked succesfully, and the experiment has not been repeated. Note that this claim dates from 1985; only two years later they did make a vocal album, Tyger. Anyway, shouldn't it be each listener's free will to judge an album that is different from the others? Goes without saying that this set includes nothing from Cyclone. But all in all, a recommendable starting point.