MELROSE

To be fair, it should be noted that at the time of this review, I own a grand total of 4 or 5 Tangerine Dream albums from the 90s onwards (I do not own anything from the 2000s yet either). And of those few albums, this is the only 90s one I've heard so far that has done anything to excite me in a really big way. Yes, there are definitely plenty of clichés found in this album left over from some of the 80s Tangerine Dream work, including lots of that nice 80s pop-synth sound most proggers just love to death, but I think most of the clichés work wonders here. But what really does wonders for me is the saxophone. I think it adds a unique sound not really found in the music of Tangerine Dream. And it kind of has a sensual feeling to it too, in that I could probably try using this on the girl I currently have a crush on and it would work in positive ways, if you get what I mean. The title track and Desert Train are the two that stick out the most to me, although that may be partially due to the saxophone. Did I mention I like the saxophone a lot on here? But seriously though, there are a lot of great atmospheres here, and yet there is still an almost dance-able quality to the sound of Melrose.

This isn't the best TD album by any means, but it is certainly a darn good one. I could really give this either 3 or 4 stars, but for most TD fans, this is one of the few 90s albums that definitely belongs in your collection, so I will rank it 4 stars.