DREAM MIXES 4

Fourth release of the "Dream Mixes" series, "DM 4" is overall a pleasant volume, accompanied this time by a few surprises. First, there is a certain amount of new material, sometimes supporting TANGERINE DREAM's "historical" compositions, but sometimes the opposite happens. Second, the tracks form a single 70 minutes long piece, which is appreciable. Third, like in the glorious days, the artwork features a photography by Monique Froese. Finally, and most interesting, the music ventures in some unusual "TD-remixing" territories.

The two first tunes are new compositions. "Losing The Perspective" is a short ambient spoken introduction, while "World Of The Day" can remind "Pilots of Ether Belt" from the good "Mars Polaris" at times, but is unfortunately not as inspired. "Perplex Parts" reuses themes from the "Tangram" album, with some cool additions. "Cosmic Merriment" is a whole new track that discretely borrows parts from the 3 first pieces of "Zeit", the DREAM's most radical and least melodic offering! These are "Birth Of Liquid Plejades", "Nebulous Dawn" and "Origin Of Supernatural Probabilities". Audacious and even more unexpected, as "Zeit" is Jerome's least favorite TD album. So, what does it sound like in 2003? Well, kind of trip-hop-y by moments... Not bad but a fully assumed revisit of these early iconic dark ambient/drone adventures in the 21st century should have been more interesting. Then comes the best passage of the record, "Messenger". Finally, a version of "Rising Runner Missed By Endless Sender" without Steve Joliffe's useless vocalizations... as it is fully instrumental. Although its nineties' big-beat drums are a bit caricatural and repetitive, this remix remains very nice.

With a few samples from "Ricochet", "Rebound 03" distillates a mysterious ambiance... Not unpleasant but overall too lengthy. "Floating Higher" is an enjoyable tune on the basis "Love On A Real Train" from "Risky Business", while "From Kiev With Love" is a cool and punchy rearrangement of "Kiew Mission" with a peaceful ending. I had great expectations for "Meta Morph Magic", the shortened remixed version of "Thru Metamorphic Rocks". This is in fact a little lazy and deceiving. Here, the raw original ramshackle is just reused... The sonority was groundbreaking in 1979, in 2003 it should have deserved a proper reworked and clean sound. The album ends with its longer track "The Metropolitan Sphere". With its surprising short acoustic opening, this new composition is calm and polite but not really remarkable.

"DM 4" features more novelties and digressions from the original material than "Dream Mixes 3" as well as some risk taking. This is one of the few Dream Mixes volume to revisit TD's "progressive rock" period (1978-1979) and, to a lesser extent, "Zeit". Furthermore, new material form nearly one third of the disc. However, the quality is not as homogeneous, as the novelties and revisits are uneven. Not mentioning the big-beat / drum'n'bass sonorities, at least, 5 years late...

Nonetheless, despite rather flat moments and lengthy passages, this fourth compilation do have good ideas, a few surprises and different ambiances. If you enjoyed "Dream Mixes 3" and "Mars Polaris", give it a listen.