If there's one band that have given me such a consistent mood-lift over the last year and a half, it's Tangerine Dream. So here they are again for today and Monday, to complete my collection (other than the pre-Virgin years - not sure why I never got around to posting those albums, still love 'em, so that's one for the future).
The beginning of 1975 saw Froese, Franke and Baumann established (along with their fellow Germans from Düsseldorf) as a major groundbreaking force in electronic music. Back in Virgin's Manor Studio, they were recording the follow-up to the breakthrough Phaedra, a seat-of-the-pants experiment in mellotron, synths and sequencers that all came together to make a classic. This time around, TD were more experienced with their setup, creating a two-part suite that flowed beautifully from ambient beginnings to streamlined sequencing and much more in between (such as a memorable, haunting start to Part 2 inspired by the music of Gyorgy Ligeti) to create a masterpiece. Rubycon remains one of the very finest examples of 70s ambient electronica & Berlin School sequencer-based music.
Rubycon link
pw: sgtg
Having toured for much of the year, TD ended 1975 by releasing their first live album. Well, in a way. Ricochet started a long tradition of Tangerine Dream albums that were advertised as "live", but contained liberal amounts of studio re-recording, in this case based on a concert from the Fairfield Halls, Croydon in October 1975, but only containing a small amount of music from the actual venue (most of Part 2).
In any case, even if the opening applause on Richochet is cheekily followed by a Manor Studio recreation of the concert's opening, it's a great album that shows an energetic TD at the top of their game. Froese's lead guitar line in Part 1 anticipates his increased use of guitar for the rest of the 70s, and the dazzling sequencer run is one of their best thus far. On Part 2, we get a re-recording of the piano intro, then some actual live music just slightly smartened up after the fact. It's a great example of live TD at this point in time, freewheeling improvisations that must've been an incredible sensory overload to witness in concert at full volume.
Ricochet link
pw: sgtg
As a little bonus to round off this post of '75 Tangerine Dream - how about the full concert on which Ricochet was based? Between 2002 and 2006, the fan project Tangerine Tree collected the best quality live recordings that could be found, and released them in batches on a strictly not-for-profit basis. This early-in-the-series release of the Fairfield Halls gig is an audience recording, so it's by no means perfect, but it's a first generation tape and was remastered with care by the Tree project. So enjoy an hour of (authentically) live TD, complete with the original longer piano solo, great guitar solos and long winding sequencer magic throughout.
Croydon 23rd October 1975 link
pw: sgtg
I love both of these, don't get me wrong. But in a way, I think they've also become just a tad overrated. Part of that probably stems from the amount of people (our esteemed blogger here not included) who are the types who foam at the mouth over these and then blithely dismiss anything after the 70s, despite the fact they've probably heard the tiniest fraction of what they're dismissing. Which obviously has nothing to do with TD themselves, but it has created a bit of an aroma surrounding these over the years.
ReplyDeleteAnd also, after the box sets/LVE series was unleashed on the world, it showed Klaus to be streets ahead of them during this time period. Which didn't last for much longer afterwards, but for my money, he was leading the division at this time.
Thanks for the TD. Looking forward to their new one out in Feb. 2022
ReplyDeleteThese, along with stratosfear, are my favorite official releases by them. Got them when I was 12/13 or so (late 70's) and have loved them ever since.
ReplyDeletethanks for posting the Croydon gig. I've dug through the Leaves/Trees stuff, but it can be overwhelming with the vast amount of material there. Nice to always get pointed one direction or another. I think the live 70's period is just a beast of its' own, all the way up through the "Poland" official release. Alot of the album cheese can get cut out.
ReplyDeleteI know what Blanche is sayin, although I do think it's even even easier to get bogged down by the sheer amount of releases by Klaus. I found some 50+ disk collection on a blog that is frankly exhausting to dig through. There are some great pieces but he can have tons of material that sounds too similar to me. Similar to Conrad Schnitzler, I have heard many classics & amazing tracks. but when the discography includes every time they turned on a tape machine, it can be alot to process lol.
Froese & his cohorts amassed plenty of material, but I feel like i can grasp most of it (that is worth grasping).