This is the first Tangerine Dream effort I’ve ever owned. I bought it purely because I’d read Bruce talking about them before. Let’s give ‘er!
Tangerine Dream has released over 100 albums since 1967, which is boggling. They seem to be widely regarded as one of the preeminent pioneering acts in electronic music, that’s for sure.
Covering the years 1973-1988, this 1991 compilation is a snapshot of their experimental electronic/rock/pop music from that earlier period. Dave Simpson’s liner notes just about cover it:
The band’s music has always sought to capture and evoke the technicolour dream-state, to prompt a condition where the music becomes the trigger for some kind of mental wandering. To hear Tangerine Dream at their best is to experience the full power of technology as a sense-surrounding aural force, where the sound becomes a kind of all-enveloping black hole, a canvas for all thoughts and projections; a screen, ready for illumination.
and then as the liner notes end…
…Tangerine Dream remain an enigma. Ridiculed by some for their general intransigence, the same consistency has seen them survive changing fashons, fluctuating line-ups and occasional stagnation; not to mention the ravages of time and deafening PAs. In 1991, as ever, Tangerine Dream are still the hitch-hiker’s guide to an infinite galaxy. A journey into space for the price of an LP.
Precisely. Through the good headphones, this was exactly as described above: an expedition into the senses and the mind that seems gentle and yet capable of rocking well too, all of which becomes soothing and expanding as it unfolds. There’s an open quality to it all, and the whole is one of lifting, rejoicing, celebrating, and empowering beauty.
I don’t know a whole lot about this band, or even if this is a good compilation to get or a good period to start with, from them, but I do know now that I enjoyed this disc and would be open to suggestions for hearing more by this band!
keepsmealive 
I’m kinda with you on this band. Bruce over at VC has some good takes on them. Watched a flick they did the soundtrack for ‘The Sorcerer’ Enjoyed both the music and the film
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Apart from the lava lamp qualities of Zeit, I really like the live album Encore as an entry album.
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Also noted. Thanks!
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Phaedra is an incredible LP, a real fave of mine.
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Awesome. Added to list!
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I have a couple of their albums on vinyl (because I bought them before CDs existed), but haven’t heard them that much. There are definitely some gems, but with such a huge catalogue it is difficult to know where to start. Phaedra seems to be the favourite of many.
I often go to concerts out of curiosity (i.e. even if I own few or no albums), which is increased if I think that there is a chance that the artist will die before the next opportunity. Such was the case with Tangerine Dream, with Edgar Froese shuffling off this mortal coil just a few months after a great concert. One can put them in the general camp of German electronic music (Harmonia, Neu!, to some extent Can, Kraftwerk, etc), but they are less avant garde than some and less pop than others. More like some of Pink Floyd’s stuff.
Another see-him-before-he-dies concert was Paul Kantner, with the then current incarnation of Jefferson Starship. I’m not a fan but know a few tunes. It was a surprisingly good concert, though Paul was propped up for some of the time! Interestingly, Jefferson Airplane’s first singer, Signe Anderson, died on the same day.
Another one, though he’s not yet dead, was Art Garfunkel. I’m a fan of Simon and Garfunkel, but not of the solo work of either. Simon wrote most of the songs and played guitar, while Garfunkel only sang—but he could sing really well. At a Paul Simon concert three years ago, in three hours he had time for just one Simon and Garfunkel song, “The Sound of Silence”, as an encore, and then the version from his solo album. OK, he wants to be taken seriously as a solo artist, but Starr and McCartney play more than a few Beatles songs! Garfunkel, on the other hand, sang mostly stuff by Simon and Garfunkel. Simon had the more professional band, but Garfunkel had by far the most interesting performance. See him while you can.
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I’ll watch for Phaedra, thanks!You’re lucky to have seen them. I can only imagine what this stuff sounded like live. Could I wager a guess that some of the crowd were imbibing here and there to heighten the experience? 😉
You’ve been very lucky to catch all these performers, well done! I’m not a fan of S&G, but to all other KMA Readers, Phillip has advice for you!
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Their entry on the 1001 is from somewhere in this compilation’s time frame – I’ll have to report back once I hear!
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Please do!
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I really enjoy the albums they made for Virgin and then there is Zeit.
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Awesome, thanks! Looks like the Virgin years are 1973-83, so this comp covers some of it! I count 13 releases in that ten year span. Wow!
Is Zeit a favourite, then? Or known to be some of their best work? It comes from 1972, just prior to this Virgin period…
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It’s a great album but somewhat difficult. I enjoy it but my wife only allows it to be played when she is out as it hurts her ears she says and causes immediate migraines.
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Wow. Challenge accepted! 🙂
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Also: First thing my brain coughed up as comparison from here (and with my lovely wife) is Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music… she has the same reactions to that one…
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I always think Zeit sounds like an amplified lava lamp.
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That’s… very evocative… fun!
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