Tangerine Dream S/D

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There isn't one of these in the S/D archive. Tell me about em. They've popped up in conversation over the years, but I've never actively listened to them until just ONE track on the orbital back-to-mine. Niiiice.

― Alan Trewartha, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

prog prog prog prog prog prog prog

― Alan Trewartha, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

The first five or so albs (up to 'Phaedra' anyway) are all CLASSIC - long slooooooooow drifty droney stuff, although the first rec, 'Electronic Meditation', is a little bit more rock/avant freaky. My all-time fave wld prob. be 'Zeit', but they're all worth a listen, that is if you like yr music to send you floating into the vastness of space blah blah. But after that, buyer v. much beware!

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.

― Andrew L, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Rubicon's OK - primitive sequences etc, but then I discovered that Raymond Scott had done it 10 years before them.

― Jez, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Yeah, what's up with Raymond Scott not being a household name? But anyway, I like "Atem" most of the TD I've heard. "Zeit", "Phaedra" and "Rubycon" also good.

― dleone, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

I liked the Legend soundtrack back in the eighties, but at the time I had heard nothing else by them...

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Phaedra's probably still the favourite round Sean C way: great keyboard walls without being too overwhelming or cheesy. Much of the later material is just too new agey, though there are some glimmers of hope, including Hyperborea (if'n you like the Jarre-style dancey keyboard numbers) and maybe Le Parc (bits of which are very similar to the band's soundtrack work on Risky Business). If you're looking for a good overview of the Virgin keyboard years, Dream Sequence has a pretty good selection, tho it may be pricey. The later stuff on Jive, Private and beyond can be a bit too sterile and yuppie.

― Sean Carruthers, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

I love electronic meditation's total wailing freak out and various bits of the next 3 albums but the whole plodding sequenced drive is just plain boring after a while, I do still have a rather embarissing affection for 'song of the whale 1&2'..... Sadly new age gave TD a bad name and frankly Edgar Froese should have given it up years ago.

― el wanko, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

you can't go wrong with the first 3 or 4 albums plus the "alpha centauri" 7" (which, like the first, is almost "rock"). honorable mention to fenriz of darkthrone's (intentional?) TD tribute band neptune towers...

― your null fame, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Out of the one's I've heard so far:

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

― Joe, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

Hey! You're all forgetting they did the theme tune to Streethawk.

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

― Chewshabadoo, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

2 weeks pass...

I think, thanks to Julian Cope, that early Tangerine Dream is a mite over-rated - like Ash Ra Tempel (also over-rated) they seemed to spend most of their time rewriting "Saucerful of Secrets" and regurgitating the more "cosmic" parts of "Ummagumma" and "More". For the record, I find "Electronic Meditation" to be rough as a badger's arse and about as listenable, while "Alpha Centauri" is especially sub-Floydian. But "Atem" is pretty good and "Zeit" is genuinely otherworldly (and miles better than Klaus Schulze) - even if they've merely started plagiarising Gyorgy Ligeti as well Floyd. "Phaedra" is good but I find "Rubycon" even better - thereafter all their albums are the same up to the early 1980's, after that you'd be better off listening to a kettle boiling. Ciao.

― KCoyne, Wednesday, 21 August 2002 14:06 (10 years ago) Permalink

I like some of thier movie sound tracks. Check out Miracle Mile, or Risky Business.

― A Nairn, Wednesday, 21 August 2002 14:39 (10 years ago) Permalink

Search: Lester Bangs' rave up

― Mary (Mary), Thursday, 22 August 2002 20:54 (10 years ago) Permalink

As usual, early TD is way overrated and later TD is way underrated. I personally prefer the turn-of-the 80s Tangerine Dream - my 3 favorite TD albums are Green Desert, Exit, and Tangram.

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.

― patrick, Friday, 23 August 2002 09:55 (10 years ago) Permalink

I adore Zeit and Phaedra.

― Melissa W (Melissa W), Friday, 23 August 2002 10:03 (10 years ago) Permalink

They went into a sort of uninspired loop, I think, but they did a lot of good stuff before that. I guess they just built up so much momentum they had to go on whatever happened. :)

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...

― The Doctor, Wednesday, 4 September 2002 18:06 (10 years ago) Permalink

3 years pass...

Revive!

― Jamie T Smith (Jamie T Smith), Friday, 23 June 2006 13:09 (6 years ago) Permalink

They have a load of original pressings in Sister Ray for 9.99 each. Should I? I can't remember which ones, but jusdging by typography, they looked pretty early. They definitely had Phaedra. Should I jump in there?

― Jamie T Smith (Jamie T Smith), Friday, 23 June 2006 13:11 (6 years ago) Permalink

Pressings? You mean vinyl? There was a thread recently about a just released compilation that has all 4 of their early albums for much cheapness

― TS: Alan Stivell - A l'Olympia vs. Magma - Live/Hhaï (Dada), Friday, 23 June 2006 13:28 (6 years ago) Permalink

Yeah, original 70s vinyl. (Or that's what the ticket says). So I was thinking half from wanting to hear them and half from nerdy, object- fetish collectorism.

― Jamie T Smith (Jamie T Smith), Friday, 23 June 2006 13:33 (6 years ago) Permalink

2nd hand? I've got an original "Zeit", which I love and cherish in a nerdy, object-fetish collector type way

― TS: Alan Stivell - A l'Olympia vs. Magma - Live/Hhaï (Dada), Friday, 23 June 2006 13:35 (6 years ago) Permalink

Yup 2nd hand. About 8 records in all, so must have been one guy's collection.

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

― Jamie T Smith (Jamie T Smith), Friday, 23 June 2006 13:40 (6 years ago) Permalink

Poland - I love this. It seems to be one of the truly inspired and vivid things they've done live.

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.

― trees (treesessplode), Friday, 23 June 2006 15:28 (6 years ago) Permalink

there's a cd out there called "an introduction to..." by tangerine dream that gives you a pretty good idea of all their eras.

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

― M@tt He1geson, Rendolent Ding-Dong (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 23 June 2006 15:39 (6 years ago) Permalink

every second of Stratosfear is brilliant. This is stage when TD finally hatched from their ambient phase and added more instruments like grand piano and a gong to cut more diverse, orchestrated work. There are these underlying harmonica sounds that seem like they're recorded through miles of metal tubes. The "The Big Sleep in Search of Hades" is dramatically swoon-worthy.

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.

― lukeeluke (soulex45), Friday, 23 June 2006 19:31 (6 years ago) Permalink

I have Atem, Alpha Centauri and Zeit and love all three.

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Friday, 23 June 2006 19:45 (6 years ago) Permalink

I like these live boots even better than what's on the two bootleg box sets... they cover the earlier period. wilder / better, if lower fidelity than the studio records.

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

― milton parker (Jon L), Friday, 23 June 2006 20:14 (6 years ago) Permalink

10 months pass...

I think Force Majeure might be one of the best albums ever.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Saturday, 28 April 2007 01:25 (6 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

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

― moonship journey to baja, Wednesday, 30 May 2007 07:50 (5 years ago) Permalink

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

― Herman G. Neuname, Wednesday, 30 May 2007 08:10 (5 years ago) Permalink

And Ash Ra Temple are great. Not overrated.

― filthy dylan, Wednesday, 30 May 2007 14:45 (5 years ago) Permalink

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

― moonship journey to baja, Wednesday, 30 May 2007 14:52 (5 years ago) Permalink

3 months pass...

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.

― Tom D., Tuesday, 11 September 2007 11:39 (5 years ago) Permalink

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

― Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 11 September 2007 11:41 (5 years ago) Permalink

Stratosfear is great!

― Herman G. Neuname, Tuesday, 11 September 2007 14:15 (5 years ago) Permalink

Wallpaper prog.

― Tom D., Tuesday, 11 September 2007 14:17 (5 years ago) Permalink

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

― Naive Teen Idol, Tuesday, 11 September 2007 15:24 (5 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

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?

― Shh! It's NOT Me!, Sunday, 28 December 2008 19:38 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― burt_stanton, Sunday, 28 December 2008 19:42 (4 years ago) Permalink

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.

― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 28 December 2008 20:59 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― Turangalila, Sunday, 28 December 2008 21:16 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― Nate Carson, Sunday, 28 December 2008 22:31 (4 years ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

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...

― ilxor, Saturday, 7 March 2009 22:58 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― Pfunkboy in blood drenched rabbit suit jamming in the woods (Herman G. Neuname), Saturday, 7 March 2009 23:00 (4 years ago) Permalink

I'll keep my eye out!

― ilxor, Saturday, 7 March 2009 23:01 (4 years ago) Permalink

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.

― Pfunkboy in blood drenched rabbit suit jamming in the woods (Herman G. Neuname), Saturday, 7 March 2009 23:12 (4 years ago) Permalink

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.

― Nate Carson, Monday, 9 March 2009 02:02 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― uncannydan, Monday, 9 March 2009 16:00 (4 years ago) Permalink

5 months pass...

man "Lana" is so great

― butthurt (deej), Sunday, 30 August 2009 05:11 (3 years ago) Permalink

― butthurt (deej), Sunday, 30 August 2009 05:12 (3 years ago) Permalink

9 months pass...

Not much love for my favorite, Hyperborea.

― Miles "Tails" Davis (Daruton), Sunday, 30 May 2010 00:56 (2 years ago) Permalink

Caveat: the visuals are, predictably, total cheese.

― Miles "Tails" Davis (Daruton), Sunday, 30 May 2010 00:57 (2 years ago) Permalink

7 months pass...

Poland is pretty fucking massive I must say.

― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Thursday, 30 December 2010 19:59 (2 years ago) Permalink

5 months pass...

i don't suppose anyone's listened to the new one, the gate of saturn?

― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 16 June 2011 01:09 (1 year ago) Permalink

11 months pass...

it finally occurs to me today after many years that "Ricochet, Part Two" is fucking sick

― korea opportunities (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 30 May 2012 11:16 (11 months ago) Permalink

I have been playing the two Virgin box sets a lot recently. I had some of the lps originally but not all of them. You can hear the synth technology getting better as time goes on, but "Hyperborea" is still a classic way to end their Virgin contract. And the Edgar Froese set which came out a few months ago is very very good, his first two solo albums are nearly the equal of "Rubycon" and "Ricochet".

― Rob M Revisited, Wednesday, 30 May 2012 11:34 (11 months ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

― am0n, Monday, 2 July 2012 15:46 (10 months ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

I saw the sdtk for Three O'Clock High at the store today and did not buy it. Did I make a mistake?
Something tells me it's gotta be terrible, but I see Tangerine Dream and my brain can't make rational decisions.

― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Tuesday, 25 September 2012 22:53 (8 months ago) Permalink

i've decided to buy up any TD soundtracks i see. i passed on 'shy people' once and then listened online and realized i had erred. 'three o'clock high' sounds pretty decent from the allmusic samples.

if you haven't heard it yet, get 'firestarter'. pretty splendid.

― omar little, Wednesday, 26 September 2012 00:35 (8 months ago) Permalink

after 1986, ignore
before 1986, mostly good
before 1983, even better

― clouds, Wednesday, 26 September 2012 00:56 (8 months ago) Permalink

I normally go by these ^^^ rules but I just didn't feel like this soundtrack was going to be good -- now i am having second thoughts about my second thoughts. i should have just bought it!
i'll see if it's there next time. if so, it was meant to be. if not, so be it.

― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Wednesday, 26 September 2012 03:41 (8 months ago) Permalink

the post-'86 rule is ok but still, '87:

― omar little, Wednesday, 26 September 2012 03:57 (8 months ago) Permalink

well i'd buy that on the cover alone without any idea what it sounds like but

this doesn't inspire a similar confidence

― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Wednesday, 26 September 2012 04:02 (8 months ago) Permalink

yeah that's an unfortunate cover.

― omar little, Wednesday, 26 September 2012 04:14 (8 months ago) Permalink

I just realized my itunes library contains 7 different versions of the Keep soundtrack...still shooting for perfection.

― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Wednesday, 26 September 2012 04:59 (8 months ago) Permalink

Three O'Clock High is a great movie.
I have zero recollection of its Tangerine Dream soundtrack, though.

― Trip Maker, Wednesday, 26 September 2012 13:05 (8 months ago) Permalink

I went back and it was there! Someone had moved it from the new arrivals but it was still there.
The songs are all really short. Will report back once I've heard the whole thing (am between classes, so this is basically my evening before I go back to work in a few hours).
So far the slower themes are pretty good and have a very pleasantly familiar late 80s incidental music vibe.

― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Thursday, 27 September 2012 19:31 (7 months ago) Permalink

It's like the sonic equivalent of Anne Ryan's lite gothy smart/stylish girl look in the movie

― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Thursday, 27 September 2012 19:34 (7 months ago) Permalink

I had a pretty big crush on that character when I was twelve.

― Trip Maker, Thursday, 27 September 2012 20:03 (7 months ago) Permalink

Or however old I was when I first saw Three O'clock High. I feel like it was on HBO one day when I stayed home sick from school.

― Trip Maker, Thursday, 27 September 2012 20:05 (7 months ago) Permalink

She and Michelle Meyrink were like supplemental Andies or Winona's cool older sister. Style icons for the unconventionally attractive.

The soundtrack is...not that good, unfortunately. It's not awful or shameful or anything, but the songs are all really short and don't go anywhere. I guess they (TD) did the best they had with what they had. I don't imagine there was a lot of need for expansive 20 minute journeys into outer space in this movie.

The Thief soundtrack is much better.

― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Thursday, 27 September 2012 20:21 (7 months ago) Permalink

― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Thursday, 27 September 2012 20:22 (7 months ago) Permalink

<swoon>

― Trip Maker, Thursday, 27 September 2012 20:28 (7 months ago) Permalink

4 weeks pass...

Score at the store today! Got Stratosfear and Cyclone. Can honestly say I have never heard anyone sing the words "bent cold sidewalk" with such zeal.

― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Thursday, 25 October 2012 20:48 (7 months ago) Permalink

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