Tangerine Dream S/D

A lot of their early solo recs are gd too - I really like 'Aqua' by Edgar Froese, as well as most of the early Klaus Schulze recs. Schulze, btw, is one of the most underrated kit drummers of all time - the first 'Ash Ra Temple' alb is most urgent and key.

Search: Phaedra, Rubycon, Stratosfear, Alpha Centauri, Zeit, Cyclone (hey, it's different), either Ricochet or Encore (you don't need both- -they're practically the same damn album, except Encore's a double), Logos, soundtrack to Legend. Froese's solo albums Aqua and Stuntman are great as well.

Destroy: Electronic Meditation, Le Parc, Tyranny of Beauty and probably everything else they've released since 1985

Neither: Force Majeure, soundtracks to Sorceror and Flashpoint

For the unenlightened this was one of the *cough*, better, Knight Rider rip-offs.

I bought a few of the early albums in a Cope inspired binge about 5 years ago, I found them quite unremarkable really - except for the track 'Fly and Collision of Comas Sola' on 'Alpha Centauri' which I listened to a lot at the time. If I recall correctly it had this incredible drum-lead crescendo. I'll have to dig the albums out and give them another list

I can't say I'm not into it all, though - even the later stuff. I find it difficult to pick on TD, I don't know why "new age" (if that is indeed what they are) is such a dirty term. Sometimes I'm in the mood to listen to an album like Underwater Sunlight or Tyranny of Beauty, or Optical Race and Melrose for that matter.

The ones I like:

Zeit: recently heard this. Very much better than I thought it would be, not the semi-shambles of other early stuff, and also as beatifully alien as Stratosfear.

My favourites are these:
Phaedra - like some nebula with a new star in it.
Rubicon - like that star is fully formed, now getting rid of the gas and dust that came before.
Ricochet - Steady radiance. Someone said it was like Encore.. It's not. It's better by far. :)
Stratosfear - Doesn't stand too much repeated listening, but is still the strongest work, maybe. Some of those tunes seem like the kind of magic that ought to move big rocks.
Force Majeure - good, but they leave a good idea too soon instead of developing it. I like the Bach-like counterpoint stuff at the end, but not as much as the rock in the middle. Cloudburst Flight is the best. If I had to have just one single track by TD, it's that one. :)
Tangram - Intricate stuff, like origami, and small machines.
White Eagle - Mojave Plan is special to me, mainly for the arid opening and the bassline at the end that seems like a low flight along the course of a desert pipeline.
Cyclone - Which has one amazing track: Madrigal Meridian. If they'd not changed their course as a result of public displeasure with this, it might have meant TD being far more inventive now than they became. The weird baroque goings on with the lyricon and the clavichord and hurdy-gurdy sounds at the end are like some beatiful new tree that sadly got cut up. It should have been allowed to grow.
Poland - I love this. It seems to be one of the truly inspired and vivid things they've done live.
Exit - I've heard the Orbital, Back To Mine CD too. :) They chose the wrong track! Should have been 'Remote Viewing'. That is a far stronger piece.

I'd best stop there. :))
I came looking for a thread on the Great Never Mind The Bollocks Debate. :) Got a bit sidetracked. The Pistols are special too, so, back to business...

So you'd recommend Zeit, then? Anyone care to elaborate on the descriptions above, or should I search for the other thread?

I got an original pressing of this last year in Krakow, and it has been one of my constant companions since. Especially the track "Horizon." I like some of their other stuff, but this is what I consider their 'gem,' so to speak.

i like the cheesy 80s shit way more than i "should"

It was my first T. Dream album and remains my favorite. I've recently discovered that my city library has a copy of the bootleg box set! Worth checking out.

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2006/02/tangerine_dream.html

i think "rubycon" / "stratosfear" are the best, though i'm still trying to really absorb "atem" and "force majeure"

Stratosfear is brilliant. as is Atem. And I like Electronic Meditation.

And Ash Ra Temple are great. Not overrated.

"electronic meditation" sounds to me more like those early road cone kraftwerk albums ("vol 1 + vol 2")

Hmmmmmmmmm, I thought I knew "Statosfear" but I'd never heard it before. I don't like it, it sounds like soundtrack music - but not in a good way. They just can't write decent melodies, the melodies they do write are so banal, and the synths are edging towards cheesiness. They still did some good music after this tho.

I prefer mid period Tangerine Dream. Those late 70s/early 80s albums. Lost of great arpeggio synths.

Stratosfear is great!

Wallpaper prog.

S: Edgar Froese's first few solo records. More mellotron, less rock. More pleasure.

I feel like an idiot for not having gotten around to this music. Which albums sound the most like TD trying to be Steve Reich as in the Risky Business soundtrack?

their soundtrack to thief makes every scene feel like it's the big final end scene

Which albums sound the most like TD trying to be Steve Reich as in the Risky Business soundtrack?

I don't know Hyperborea, but I haven't heard anything else from them that sounds like the Risky Business stuff.

"Sequent C'" is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard.

I love everything they did in the 70s, including the one with vocals.

Just picked up Zeit, Phaedra, Rubycon and Stratosfear for $5 each at a used shop, finally. I've been waiting for a good point to jump into the TD discography, and this seemed as good a chance as any, so here I go...

cant argue with those albums. You need Force Majeure though.

I'll keep my eye out!

Pity spotify doesnt work in america, theres loads of TD on it. Sadly the 1st 5 arent but the ones you mentioned are on it, most of the other 70s stuff is on it as well as the dodgy 80s stuff.

I've become a big fan of Green Desert over the last few years. It's prime era 70s TD that wasn't released until the mid 80s. And it has DRUMS.

"Dolphin Dance" from the Underwater Sunlight LP is a banger.

man "Lana" is so great

white eagle is my favorite

Exit is getting a lot of love around here at the moment. Choronzon... wow.

yeah, hyperborea, white eagle, and exit = my favourite era.

a few weeks on from the haul, and i am finding these 90s releases nowhere near as painful as i was expecting.
i guess going in with low expectations helped.
even Tyger with more dreaded vocals works for me when in the mood (i.e. hungover sundays), but Underwater Sunlight, Canyon Dreams and the Dream Remixes are definitely the ones i have enjoyed the most.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1qPMPJpRnc

Shame they're only miming!
That's from the era of TV when science shows, science-fiction shows and music shows all shared a similar visual style. From the intro, you could be expecting an astronomy program, or Doctor Who.

Shame they're only miming!

Yeah, it sounds like playback, albeit a different mix to the LP.

This just popped up on my Spotify:

Probe 6-8 provides a glimpse into the forthcoming Tangerine Dream studio album (due for release in early 2022).

A sequencer driven sound - reminiscent of TD’s early 1970s work - is combined with a lush 1980s crystalline bliss.

The trio of Thorsten Quaeschning, Ulrich Schnauss and Paul Frick has composed and produced Probe 6-8 with full access to Edgar Froese’s Cubase arrangements and Otari Tape Archive (featuring recordings from 1977-2013).

The first track Raum is a nod to the band’s early live studio performances Zeit and Phaedra, utilising a distinctive heavy Moog bass (which marks the beginning and the end of this 15-minute piece).

This new set of recordings also feature two remixes - Berlin-based composer and producer Grand River (Aimée Portioli) has given ‘Raum’ her signature sound and ‘Continuum’ was remixed by Berghain resident and Leisure System co-founder Sam Barker.

decided to listen to Raum (2nd album by the "new" TD, and their 237th overall) and you know what, it's pretty good! reminds me of Ulrich Schnauss, even though Schnauss himself is no longer in the band. I think it really does capture the spirit of the group.

I've always said, 237th time is the charm! Do you feel that Froese was holding them back at all in their later days?

well I can't bring myself to shit talk Froese, but I think there was a tendency for cosmic analog synth pioneers to get lost in the possibility and efficiency of digital electronic music which led them to create a lot of shit directly from their software that sounded like it belonged in a PC game from 1995. it happened to Schulze, it happened to Jarre, it happened to Todd Rundgren, and yeah it definitely happened to Edgar

so I guess I'm not surprised that a revamped TD with no original members would actually sound quite good

The electric violin has been a really good addition for TD.

IMO they were abysmal during the Edgar + Jerome lineup, perked up a bit when Quaeshning (sp?) joined, woke up fully when Schnauss was added for Mala Kunia. I expect to like the posthumous stuff when I get around to it!

there are some really well-shot and recorded 2+ hr performances on YouTube featuring the new lineup. no clue where any of the material is from or if it's mostly improv but its good stuff

Listening to Raum now, pretty much what I'd hoped for from the Ulrich Schnauss lineup, thanks.

Does this modern version of TD do the Orbital thing and do live remixes or jams on old sequenced or recorded material.

?

Maybe my favorite record of the last ten years is that Subatomic Sound System 'band' remix based on their touring show with Scratch Perry toasting joining in on top. It's released as Lee "Scratch" Petty - 'Superape Returns to Conquer'.

I thought it was a pretty darn good modern updating of some old sounds. I'd loved to seen that group.

I love Tangerine Dream and actually have a bunch of their stuff on vinyl LP and I dug the couple of Ulrich Schnauss cdS I had from early days, I listened to that 'Far Away Trains Passing By' when I was going on the old IDM bulletin boards that came out of MP3.com and Ampcast and Musika.com. I got on a couple of CDR label comps made by people on the boards.

People like Bola and Ulrich Schauss and whatever Plaid was upto were doing were popular records. Schnauss was definitely in that area like Boards of Canada. That kind of stuff was more home listening music like the 70s records than as much for clubs.

Does this modern version of TD do the Orbital thing and do live remixes or jams on old sequenced or recorded material.

I dunno when the last time they played live was but apparently Raum was "composed and produced with full access to Edgar Froese’s Cubase arrangements (and Otari Tape Archive with recordings from 1977-2013)"

there are some really well-shot and recorded 2+ hr performances on YouTube featuring the new lineup. no clue where any of the material is from or if it's mostly improv but its good stuff

― frogbs, Thursday, June 23, 2022 10:24 AM (three weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

whereat, please?

I found a Boiler Room performance from 2018 and a fan-shot video from 2022 in Glasgow

ricochet -> rubycon -> stratosfear -> sorcerer score -> encore -> cyclone -> force majeure

what a fucking run

Stratosfear is the one that's never grabbed me, but I heard Baumann's Romance 76 over the holidays, and it's a very striking version of similar material. The second side of the album features choir and orchestral instruments, almost like a precursor to what Klaus Schulze would do in a couple of years.

Any time Edgar Froese picks up a guitar I recoil tbh

Froese is one of my favourite bad guitarists, I can't excuse it yet still love it

I'm with Tom on this one. It isn't EF's lack of technique that bugs me so much as his lack of style, which is what separates him in my mind from people like Neil Young. But I also think Gottsching wanks entirely too much, so maybe I just have a weird aversion to German electric guitarists who also happen to be pioneers of ambient music

Yes, it's not that he can't play, it's that he rarely plays anything interesting or certainly not interesting enough.

Froese's guitar is not a fount of melody, but I think of him less like, say, David Gilmour and more like the German Ron Asheton, where it's more important to fill a certain amount sonic space with "guitar sound" rather than choose your notes wisely.
On the other hand, I wouldn't say the records of this era are really full of guitar (except side 3 of Encore).

Except Ron Asheton's playing is a good thing in the Stooges. He is definitely trying for Dave Gilmour but falling well short.

Totally disagree about Gottsching by the way, he was an amazing guitarist.

I agree, but he's occasionally excessive, ie side 2 of E2-E4

in 1984 at the age of 16 i saw t'dream on their 'le parc' tour at st georges hall in bradford.
the band were like a bunch of mad scientists behind their racks of machines while surrounded by screens.
then at the climax of the sonic chaos,
edgar stepped away from the machines and let rip re the guitar while the screens all went into overdrive re fire.
basically while the machines and edgar went into overdrive it looked like they were all enveloped in fire.
it was thrilling to the extreme.
so yeah, he may not have have been good guitarist,
but damn,
he was a great showman.

Gottsching is incredible on the Walter Wegmuller album

having a tangerine dream february, specifically their "sessions" releases, which are the live archive...in the past ten or twelve years I've often looked into live albums from these guys and klaus schulze and the shows are routinely so good and enjoyable...it's not like listening to e.g. hard rock live albums, where the energy of the band is often the thing -- it's about hearing this music as music played by an ensemble, as a made thing in space...there's something very mystical to me about hearing this analog synth stuff being done in front of an audience, hearing the applause rise slowly when an 18-minute jam ebbs out to silence...space music/electronic music was radical enough from a recorded-music standpoint but hearing it done live adds, for me, to the daringness of it -- what if a concert was like this? what if it was trying to take you someplace different?

I've been curious about the Sessions - any particular recommendations? I have a bunch of the Klaus Schulze La Vie Electronique multi-disc sets, most of which are live archival recordings, and yeah, they rule, just an hour of drifting through space with these insanely romantic melodies swooshing past you.

I haven't had a miss yet on them -- tonight I'm listening to Volume IV (not the normal Volume IV) which is 2018 and it's terrific, the other night I listened to V which was even better, from the same year. they have one called Knights of Asheville from Moogfest 2011, I'm stoked for that. as far as I can tell the sessions series is mainly from that era, and most of the live stuff on their bandcamp is from 21c tangerine dream. which is fine by me, I like their 70s stuff too but this is all pretty new to me and it's so good

Thought the revive would be about the new Phaedra box set just announced:

https://superdeluxeedition.com/news/tangerine-dream-phaedra-50th-anniversary/

Seems like all the extra material was previously released on the In Search of Hades box set, but I missed out on that at the time and am reluctant to pay discogs prices for it. So this is a welcome release.

seeing that announced was probably what got me digging around in the catalog. I think it's wonderful that their stuff is as available as it is; as a child in the 70s, this was some of the most out-there music that was accessible -- even the name was an indication that they were weirder, but if you happened across a cheap used copy of Rubycon (that'd be me), it was like a portal into a different reality. For a young devourer of science fiction paperbacks -- heady stuff!!

yeah Joan I get that feeling listening to their Poland live album, thinking about all these folks listening to this powerful synth music in 80s winterly Poland, like I think about the temperature and the atmosphere.

The pilots of purple twilight box is, like, perfect. I am an unabashed partisan of the froese franke schmoelling lineup
I’ll listen to some of the sessions things
I have knights of asheville but my favorite late td live thing is Supernormal which is I think one of only a couple of live albums with ulrich onboard but before Edgar’s death

xp - I recently came across a used CD copy of that Poland performance, it is so good!

yeah Joan I get that feeling listening to their Poland live album, thinking about all these folks listening to this powerful synth music in 80s winterly Poland, like I think about the temperature and the atmosphere.

totally. I used to have a live Klaus Schulze disc that was also I think in Poland? and it's the end of his tour and he's calling all his touring party up onstage to be introduced by name when the set's ending and it's deeply nerdy and incredibly beautiful, it's after a long set of very deep drone and groove and then it's like "omg you guys we had such a good time!"...a vibe

decided to revisit Raum to see if I still liked it, indeed it sounded even better than I remembered. its probably their first notable album in like 40 years. though I've heard Quantum Gate is quite good as well. I can see them doing a Gong thing and developing a catalogue with an all new lineup of folks who can keep things going for a while. I'd definitely see them live if given the chance. I mean is it really Tangerine Dream? idk, maybe not, but if it was a new band I'd think they were the modern TD, so there

I knew "Phaedra" charted in the UK - it reached #15 - but "Rubycon" was actually a Top 10 album. Basically all of their 70s Virgin albums (plus "Tangram") made the UK Top 40 at least. Which explains why their albums were so easily picked up secondhand. In contrast, they barely sold anything in Germany.

I've never really got into them beyond the odd track, starting delving about a month ago and spotify told me they were playing in my city so in the spirit of 'see the greats before they all die' i thought why not eh (i am fully aware this is a no original members incarnation). so this is a good revive to read!

was a time when you could buy things digitally and the TD albums were always cheap because they charged by the track and there were only 3 tracks...

as for this

> I've often looked into live albums from these guys and klaus schulze and the shows are routinely so good and enjoyable..

i think that's just a function of analogue synths - everything is effectively a one-off because you can't reliably repeat anything, so there's no real difference between a live recording and a studio recording (other than you can throw away the studio recordings that you don't like (or release them years later as a series of 30 triple cd sets, eh klaus?)

it's kinda irrelevant these days what with spotify and all but the first virgin box is a cheap and easy way in.

hoo boy Force Majeure... I don't think I listened to this before? this is SO dorky/bouncy/cheesy, wtf

t's about hearing this music as music played by an ensemble, as a made thing in space...there's something very mystical to me about hearing this analog synth stuff being done in front of an audience, hearing the applause rise slowly when an 18-minute jam ebbs out to silence...space music/electronic music was radical enough from a recorded-music standpoint but hearing it done live adds, for me, to the daringness of it -- what if a concert was like this? what if it was trying to take you someplace different?

https://www.villagevoice.com/i-saw-god-and-or-tangerine-dream/

ok the 2nd side of FM is more what I expected from 1979-era TD

that might be my favorite album of theirs, tbh, its just got so much cool stuff going on.

Can honestly say I have never heard anyone sing the words "bent cold sidewalk" with such zeal.

Was just thinking about this myself, imagining Froese's instructions: "Make sure you sing with great passion...also make sure your lyrics are complete nonsense"

This is a pretty fun thread on all the fakery and miming in TD “live”concerts:

https://www.progressiveears.org/forum/showthread.php/31335-When-did-Tangerine-Start-Faking-in-Live-performances