CYCLONE

CYCLONE is known among prog/electronic circles as that ''controversial'' album TD released during their Virgin years, and the biggest reason for that is that there are vocals for the first time, here coming from ex-Steamhammer member Steve Jolliffe. I don't know what Froese and Franke wanted to accomplish with CYCLONE other than take a menial stab at a prog/electronic hybrid. Judging by the mixed reaction CYCLONE has received, one could say the experiment was a bust, and Jolliffe would be booted off the assignment before FORCE MAJEURE.

But does that make CYCLONE a bad album? I say absolutely not. Plenty of the Tangerine Dream we'd come to know and love is still here.

In fact, I'd say only about a third of the album is trying out Jolliffe as a lead vocalist (to be fair, Jolliffe's vocals are quite forgettable), yet it is so different from what Tangerine Dream had been that the vocals seemed to have been ballooned in overall importance. A good majority of the album is Tangerine Dream providing groovy electronic music to get lost in. ''Madrigal Meridian'' is one of the best things Tangerine Dream has ever done, period. It's good enough to rival ''Rubycon''. ''Bent Cold Sidewalk'' has that same thrill through its middle sequence, but the bookends attempt to achieve epic symphonic prog, and actually can convince. The word jumbled short track does sound like a title created from a few lines of the song. The vocals can be lacking, but not distracting from a song that sounds like FM (the band) could muster.

CYCLONE is a beauty, and it's probably the most underrated album by a major band on these archives. Don't let the vocals get in the way of pure electronic enjoyment.