CYCLONE

Perhaps sensing that the golden era of progressive rock was slipping away, and having dabbled plenty in nearly crystalline electronica, TANGERINE DREAM grafted Steve Jolliffe with his vocals and a cornucopia of non-synthesized instrumentation like drums, horns, flutes, and more guitars onto their caravan as it floated through the cosmos. At this point in their career, it didn't seem they could go wrong whatever they tried, as long as they tried something different, and "Cyclone" is no exception. Moreover, it is the surprises, in the form of Vinyl Side 1, that succeed better than the more conventional TD sound of "Madrigal Meridian", although both offer many pleasures.

"Bent Cold Sidewalk" is a potent space rocker a la HAWKWIND for its first 4:30 or so, apart from a tunefully dissonant vocoder opening. The next 6 minutes are more conventional TD except for Joliffe's vocal shrieks which, again, complement the instrumentation as perfectly as such a rough-cut style possibly could. The song returns to its original vocal theme for the last couple of minutes to wrap it all up neatly. I may be in the minority, but I'm in love with "Rising Runner Missed by Endless Sender", a mellotron rich and relatively short vocal piece in which Jolliffe again manages to ooze angst with every voice box expenditure, and yet do so with profound and twisted musicality. The longest track is closer to conventional "Dream", starting as an amorphous blob before settling into a familiar if slightly uptempo ode to "Ricochet". The last 5 minutes are the best, with a violin sounding synth recapping a bit of the album's opener before something sounding like a harpsichord methodically constructs a treasure beneath the mellotron, and is joined by sweet flute.

Tangerine Dream's "Cyclone" represents an anomaly of sorts in the group's discography, and the happy aftermath of a perfect storm both within the industry and in their own career.