THE DREAM MIXES

The Dream Mixes series of albums has galvanized a lot of opinion either for or against Tangerine Dream in a way seldom seen in much of their other work. In the late 1990s Edgar and Jerome Froese were each involved in a certain amount of work with diminishing direct participation from the other. While Froese Snr got stuck into his ambitious and acclaimed Dante project, Jerome worked on the Dream Mixes albums, whch purported to involve re-recording or remixing well-known TD tracks, interspersed with some new material, with at least one eye on the dance-floor, though whether they always were an attempt to create out-and-out dance music is open to debate.

Eventually there were four of them (plus a compilation of tracks mainly from the first two), released between 1995 and 2004 of which the last was virtually a Jerome Froese solo album. Each one delved further back in time for its source material, this first one therefore consisting of recent compositions. While it was a joint effort between father and son, it was Jerome who was mainly at the helm.

The initial signs were not good, as some of TD's recent music had already received mixed reviews even in its original form. When released, Dream Mixes was given a definite thumbs down by many people. The band had finally lost it - had blatantly sold out to the rave generation. Others, more optimistic, pointed out that this was the way forward if TD were to see in the new millennium with credentials intact.

Dream Mixes came out in two forms, the U.S. version appearing first, a single CD on Miramar. Its garish yellow and pink inlay featuring a cartoon drawing of a jiving girl probably did its prospects no favours at all - nor did the statement "This album energises the famous TD sound with an infectious beat." The later U.K. version on TDI (the band's own label) and with a different inlay design, came with an entire second disc, titled "Club Dream Mixes."

On first hearing, I was greatly surprised, but pleasantly so. The "famous TD sound" is not buried under a mountain of mindless crashing beats as some have suggested, but the overall sound is fresh and open, allowing the sounds and textures of the actual music to still be heard. Yes, there are some big beats here, but the feeling is that everything has its place. Reworked versions of tracks like "Little Blond in the Park of Attractions," "Touchwood" and "Catwalk," do seem to take these pieces to new areas while still paying respect to the originals. The "Black Ink Mix" of "Catwalk" is an absolute barnstormer.

That said, to my mind it's the new compositions that shine brightest here. With no previous versions to compare them with, you're starting with a clean sheet with these. "Rough Embrace" is just brilliant; "Virtually Fields" is like an entire symphony crammed into seven breathless minutes and set to a maelstrom of complex synthesized percussion; "San Rocco," "Iowa" and "Sojus" are a delight also.

If this first Dream Mixes album was Jerome Froese setting out his stall, then the later DM 2, 3 and 4 saw him refining the produce. As a template this, the original album, to my mind, boded well for the things to come, against a lot of people's (and even my own) expectations.