I didn't see a thread about Tangerine Dream here, so I thought I'd do one. Classic German electronic outfit, half a century of synthesizer soundwaves. Like Yes, no original members left. Edgar Froese, the sole original member there from the beginning, gave it his blessing apparently sometime before his death, and Tangerine Dream continue on.
Tangerine Dream was my first exposure to that style or genre of all synth/German electronic music/'krautrock' etc. That was when I was big into Yes and still collecting Yes albums in 1985. Coming across a number of their 70's albums in the 3.99 budget/cut-out rack, I noticed long songs with spacey titles and spacey or abstract album covers. Never heard of them but thought they may be a Yes-like group. I took a chance on Phaedra (1974) and I've been listening to them ever since to this day. That was my first exposure to all-instrumental cosmic music. I knew TD before I knew Kraftwerk, Klaus Schulze, Can or any of those other guys. Does anyone else like this stuff? What are your favorite titles? Here's I guess my top ten. Not a ranking, just ten that stand out for me:
1) Tangram (1980 )- I rank this as in my top 5 electronic albums of all time alongside The Light Program (Geoff Downes), Phaedra, The Bermuda Triangle (Tomita) and an undecided 5th entry. Wonderful album.
2) Phaedra (1974) - see above. Defining album of the genre. Very science, very desolate alien landscape or the forbidden zone of Planet Of The Apes.
3) Underwater Sunlight (1986) - oceanic splendor. Listen to this on the way to/from an aquarium. Jellyfish and manta rays woven into the album's sonic fibers.
4) Force Majure/Cyclone (1979)/ (1978) - these kinda go together. Cyclone has vocals which not everybody accepted from them. There's also live drumming. Still good and still classic TD.
5) Ricochet (1975) - first live album. Like a lot of experimental albums of the day it was presented as a part one on side one and a part two on side two.
6) Private Music Of TD (1991) - a best of the 1988-90 period when they started to go a little 'new age'. Though the 90's were largely one of their least interesting phases, this is the cream of that era's crop. I really do like this collection.
7) Poland (1984) - killer live album recorded behind the iron curtain. Icy cool sequencers and frozen sonic landscapes. A must.
8) Rubicon (1975) - sublime 'kosmische musik'. The dreamy beginning of part one is magic.
9) Exit (1981) - good 80's title I like a bit.
10) Livemiles (1987) - the last with Christoph Franke in the lineup. A heavily doctored-up live set with great sections.
Honorable mentions: Logos (1982), Tyger (1987), Alpha Centauri (1971), Stratosfear (1976), they got too many albums!
Best eras for me are 70's through about 1992. That was their most standout stuff, the albums that put them on the map. They went a little new age/windham hill for a bit, employing guest sax and electric guitar in the 90's. By the end of the 90's and throughout the rest of Froese's life they pumped out albums as a breakneck speed (if Yes could only do that...). Some of these are decent, some are indistinguishable from each other. There was a lot of quantity over quality here and there, but some of the TD-I years were ok: Quinoa, Goblin Club, Oasis, Mars Polaris, Trans Siberia, Mota Atma. Too many!
Anyone like Tangerine Dream? What are your favorites?
Tangerine Dream was my first exposure to that style or genre of all synth/German electronic music/'krautrock' etc. That was when I was big into Yes and still collecting Yes albums in 1985. Coming across a number of their 70's albums in the 3.99 budget/cut-out rack, I noticed long songs with spacey titles and spacey or abstract album covers. Never heard of them but thought they may be a Yes-like group. I took a chance on Phaedra (1974) and I've been listening to them ever since to this day. That was my first exposure to all-instrumental cosmic music. I knew TD before I knew Kraftwerk, Klaus Schulze, Can or any of those other guys. Does anyone else like this stuff? What are your favorite titles? Here's I guess my top ten. Not a ranking, just ten that stand out for me:
1) Tangram (1980 )- I rank this as in my top 5 electronic albums of all time alongside The Light Program (Geoff Downes), Phaedra, The Bermuda Triangle (Tomita) and an undecided 5th entry. Wonderful album.
2) Phaedra (1974) - see above. Defining album of the genre. Very science, very desolate alien landscape or the forbidden zone of Planet Of The Apes.
3) Underwater Sunlight (1986) - oceanic splendor. Listen to this on the way to/from an aquarium. Jellyfish and manta rays woven into the album's sonic fibers.
4) Force Majure/Cyclone (1979)/ (1978) - these kinda go together. Cyclone has vocals which not everybody accepted from them. There's also live drumming. Still good and still classic TD.
5) Ricochet (1975) - first live album. Like a lot of experimental albums of the day it was presented as a part one on side one and a part two on side two.
6) Private Music Of TD (1991) - a best of the 1988-90 period when they started to go a little 'new age'. Though the 90's were largely one of their least interesting phases, this is the cream of that era's crop. I really do like this collection.
7) Poland (1984) - killer live album recorded behind the iron curtain. Icy cool sequencers and frozen sonic landscapes. A must.
8) Rubicon (1975) - sublime 'kosmische musik'. The dreamy beginning of part one is magic.
9) Exit (1981) - good 80's title I like a bit.
10) Livemiles (1987) - the last with Christoph Franke in the lineup. A heavily doctored-up live set with great sections.
Honorable mentions: Logos (1982), Tyger (1987), Alpha Centauri (1971), Stratosfear (1976), they got too many albums!
Best eras for me are 70's through about 1992. That was their most standout stuff, the albums that put them on the map. They went a little new age/windham hill for a bit, employing guest sax and electric guitar in the 90's. By the end of the 90's and throughout the rest of Froese's life they pumped out albums as a breakneck speed (if Yes could only do that...). Some of these are decent, some are indistinguishable from each other. There was a lot of quantity over quality here and there, but some of the TD-I years were ok: Quinoa, Goblin Club, Oasis, Mars Polaris, Trans Siberia, Mota Atma. Too many!
Anyone like Tangerine Dream? What are your favorites?
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