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Tangerine Dream - Quantum Gate CD (album) cover

QUANTUM GATE

Tangerine Dream

 

Progressive Electronic

3.88 | 78 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

BrufordFreak
4 stars I can't believe that only one other review exists on PA of this album! Haven't you all heard! TD is back!

1. "Sensing Elements" (13:33) containing a lot to remind listeners of the TD of old, this is one great epic; not the same as the old but definitely capturing the spirit. Very nice layering of multiple themes coming from multiple instruments with, of course, the trademark sequences. Ulrich Schnauss is a melody god. (28/30)

2. "Roll The Seven Twice" (6:25) opens with a sequence that sounds almost disco-danceable over which several other repetitive sounds are added over the course of the first 90 seconds. It's hypnotic and yet danceable. At the two minute mark an Arp-like synth enters to take the lead before another electronic rhythm track is added to give it a definitive Euro-electronic dance groove. Various synths interject intermittent lead melodic motifs in the song's final 90 seconds. Nice. Makes me nostalgic for European dance clubs. (8.75/10)

3. "Granular Blankets" (5:03) downtempo multi-layer rhythm track with multiple synth leads alternating over the top before marimba-like sound takes the lead. At the end of the third minute a trip-hoppy synth-drum track familiar to all who know Ulrich Schnauss' previous solo work kicks in while violin takes the lead soaring with a long sustain above the rest. Pretty cool. (8.5/10)

4. "It Is Time To Leave When Everyone Is Dancing" (6:36) The song we were all forewarned that we'd hate (because of the blatant dance-oriented tracks). Once we've moved past the long, bouncy synth intro, the Euro-disco beats kick in and a repetitive synth wash chord begins to repeat every four seconds for a very long time as very little else is really developing elsewhere. I have to admit, the repetition of that synth hit is alone quite distracting and disenchanting. Luckily it fades in the fourth minute and we subtly shift into a slightly different soundscape (with the same tempo and beat). This is, at least, much more interesting and tolerable as the weave between synths and fuzzy guitars is nice. (8.25/10)

5. "Identity Proven Matrix" (5:18) presents a very cinematic heavier-edged sound--much like the Thief soundtrack work and after (Hyperborea). There is an actual structure with melodic theme pattern here--like ABACAB. (8.25/10)

6. "Non-Locality Destination" (9:59) the only song on the album containing Edgar Froese tracks (he died just before the material for this album was created), it's spacey and slow with prominent electric guitar, but then in the third minute a sequencer rises and takes control. After a section of sequencer only, other synths and guitar tracks work their way into the weave, working up to a mini crescendo just before a searing electric guitar takes the lead and foreground at the five minute mark. I can understand the PINK FLOYD comparisons with this one. Synth washes and other synthesizer activity take over for the final VANGELIS-like three minutes. (17.25/20)

7. "Proton Bonfire" (8:25) opens with sustained, subtly shifting synth was which is soon joined by multiple- instrument space wave sequence. This is really cool! Weird muted guitar strums and mini-Moog lines (and others) enter the weave at the end of the second minute but then all fade away in the first part of the fourth minute. Composition of the rhythm track completely changes as does that of the lead instruments (no more sequencer, no more weave over the top). I am reminded of the simple, spacious songs on Vangelis' Voices album. In the sixth minute current rhythm track slowly fades leaving synth wash and electronic keys to fill the space with lushness. Very old school TD (77-79) to these ears. (17.75/20)

8. "Tear Down The Grey Skies" (6:17) opens with a very cool hypnotic trance beat and sound before heavily treated sequencer joins in. Old synth leads with a slowly ascending arpeggio before developing into more variable lead melody. Cool key shift at the end of the second minute. Sound and feel shift at the 2:30 mark though the sequencer rhythm remains the same--for a while. More frequent key shifts in the lower end until a drop out at 4:20. All returns a half a minute later, with same old synth picking up where it left off. Music decays into more space-ocean wash for the final half minute. (8.75/10)

9. "Genesis Of Precious Thoughts" (9:10) a cinematic song that has a very compelling construction of spacious sections intermixed within the more hard-driving sequenced parts. Hoshiko Yamane's violin is the most consistent and driving thread throughout the first half--an element that makes it so much more engaging and emotional, but when it goes absent for the middle section, there is a noticeable let down in the level of engagement. Luckily it returns for the final minute. Nicely done! (18/20)

Total time 70:46

This is definitely the closest thing I've heard to pre-1985 Tangerine Dream since 1984. Lovely to hear! And a whole album of fairly consistently high quality TD stuff at that!

4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of progressive rock music and a true return to form of the great TANGERINE DREAM! Long live the immortal spirits of Edgar Froese, Peter Baumann, Klaus Schulze, and Christopher Franke!

BrufordFreak | 4/5 |

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