Edgar Froese - Epsilon In Malaysian Pale (1975)

Edgar Froese's second solo album, and possibly his best.  Epsilon In Malaysian Pale, which apparently is meant to mean "enveloped in the Malaysian humidity", came after Tangerine Dream had released Rubycon and toured Australia; like Rubycon, it has two side-long tracks.

The first of these is the title track, a lush junglescape of mellotron and a light touch of sequencer, inspired by Froese's visit to Malaysia.  The other is Maroubra Bay, inspired as the name suggests by TD's time in Australia.  After a dark, dramatic opening, it does end up evoking the beach about three minutes in, then sets off on a sequencer journey with plenty of Froese synth and more mellotron.  Both tracks are absolutely essential, timeless electronica.

link
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Previously posted at SGTG:
Aqua
Ages
Stuntman
Pinnacles
Tangerine Dream at SGTG:
Phaedra (scroll past main post)
Encore
Force Majeure
Tangram
Logos: Live At The Dominion
Hyperborea

Edgar Froese - Aqua (1974)

Recorded in Berlin, on either side of the Phaedra sessions in England, Edgar Froese's debut solo album was released a few months after that TD breakthrough landed.  The two records make a great listening experience together, with this one isolating Froese's interest at the time in eerie atmospheres and alien burbling synth experiments.  The fact that he recorded it primarily as a fundraiser for TD equipment doesn't diminish its lasting brilliance.

The German release of Aqua (never digitally reissued) switched the sides and had a different mix in places; anyone heard it/know if it's substantially different?  Anyhow, this standard Virgin issue is an otherwordly experience in its own right - few albums sound more endlessly pleasureable on headphones.  The water sounds on the title track (recorded by Froese in his home), the landing aeroplane sound effects on NGC 891 (recorded in "artificial head" surround-sound) and much more add to the transportive magic.  Next week: a Bowie-approved mellotron paradise.

link
pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG:
Ages
Stuntman
Pinnacles
Tangerine Dream at SGTG:
Phaedra (scroll past main post)
Encore
Force Majeure
Tangram
Logos: Live At The Dominion
Hyperborea

Edgar Froese - Pinnacles (1983)

One more Froese/TD for now.  This would be Froese's final solo album for several years, and was recorded just prior to Tangerine Dream's final album for Virgin.  So for a clear indication of what Froese contributed to the early 80s TD sound, look no further.

The inspiration for Pinnacles came from a trip to the deserts of Western Australia that Froese took in the early 80s, with the title alluding to a group of ancient petrified rocks that stand in the desert.  So this is Froese on walkabout, and even includes a track of that name.  First though are the bright, flowing sequences and brisk rhythms of Specific Gravity Of Smile.  The Light Cone comes next, one of my favourite Froese tracks with its beautifully simple melody and a touch of vocodered voice.

Walkabout is the track that sounds closest to the TD opus that was just around the corner, with a slight Eastern feel mixed in to its darker-hued sequence.  Then, as with Hyperborea, Pinnacles ends with a side-long epic.  This finale, the title track, starts off on another upbeat section before gradually petering out after seven minutes for a brief ambient interlude and more vocoder.  Another sequence then takes over, and eventually changes down a gear for a gorgeous melodic ending.  Just like Stuntman, this is absolutely classic Froese.

link
pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG:
Ages
Stuntman
Tangerine Dream at SGTG:
Phaedra (scroll past main post)
Encore
Force Majeure
Tangram
Logos: Live At The Dominion
Hyperborea

Egdar Froese - Stuntman (1979)

Following Ages (posted last Friday), Edgar Froese refocused his energies on Tangerine Dream for Cyclone and Force Majeure, then recorded his fifth solo album.  Stuntman saw a return to woozier, psychedelic electronica largely shedding the rhythmic drive of those other three albums.

The tracks were becomings shorter too, and the opening title track was a nice simple earworm that became Froese's only 7" single release.  The album then hits an early high point with the ten-minute sequencer journey It Would Be Like Samoa, and Detroit Snackbar Dreamer is just as good, bringing in the first truly percussive pulse halfway through. 

The second half of the album delves even deeper into psych-inflected atmospheres, with another multi-stage long track (Drunken Mozart In The Desert) ending more upbeat and melodic.  A Dali-Esque Sleep Fuse is another strong sequencer piece, before Scarlet Score For Mascalero ends the album on a slow, stately note with another gorgeous melody.  One of Froese's very best albums.

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Edgar Froese - Ages (1978)

Epic double-length solo album from the late Tangerine Dream mainman, recorded in late '77.  TD had closed out the era of their most famous lineup with a live memento, and Ages looked forward to the late 70s, progressive rock-tinged TD with its more conventional rhythmic drive and a real drummer in Klaus Krüger.

Prior to his first appearance on a TD album, Krüger supported Froese in making this behemoth of a record, adding only a light touch of percussion in the first vinyl side.  These two tracks are Metropolis, a shimmering robot-march paying tribute to Fritz Lang, and the sequenced pulse of Era Of The Slaves.  Next up is the 21-minute epic Tropic Of Capricorn, taking in a grand opening theme, a classically-influenced section with some great piano, then a stately prog-like ending, fully backed up by Krüger.

The second LP of the orignal set is even more interesting and varied.  Nights Of Automatic Women barrels forward into the album's rockiest territory yet, anticipating most closely Cyclone-era TD, and Icarus finds Froese giving his guitar a welcome workout.  There's some sweetness and light in the album's back half too, with Ode To Granny A setting a repetitive, almost Cluster-like melody against a simple tambourine tap, and what sounds like an all-star krautrock jam in Pizzaro And Atahuallpa -  it's like a TD & Amon Düül summit played over the top of the pulse from Kraftwerk's Kristallo.  To cap everything off, Froese cranks up the guitar one more time for Golgotha And The Circle Closes.  More Froese next Friday.

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Various Artists - A Brief History Of Ambient, Volume 1 (1993 compilation)

First charity shop rummage of the new year turned up this double-CD mix released by Virgin Records, which as the title suggests ran to a short series.  I vaguely remember these coming out, but despite my curiosity they'd have been too heavy an investment for me at the time: this one that I've just paid two quid for still has its Tower Records price sticker of £15.49, and that's pretty reasonable for a double set of 70+ minute discs back then, IIRC!

Everything here is naturally from artists licensed to Virgin, which gives a handy reminder of what canny risk-takers Branson & co were back in the 70s through to mid-80s.  Even into the 90s to an extent - oddly, Hillage/System 7 are conspicuous by their absence for whatever reason (of course, the Point 3 albums hadn't been released yet in '93).  Just take a look at the artist list in the labels below - and I couldn't fit them all in, ran out of space.

Good track choices too (can never say no to a good chunk of Tangerine Dream's Phaedra); full tracklist is here, along with info on an early mispress that led to the mastering cues for Disc 1 being inadvertently used again for Disc 2, the latter ending up with its track divisions all over the shop.  The copy I've just bought is actually one of those - I've re-sequenced Disc 2 now.  So here's a brief history of (Virgin) ambient, with some inevitable classics, and a few (for me) new surprises: loved the remix of early Killing Joke that sounds like an update of the first two Neu! albums, to name just one.

links:
Disc 1
Disc 2
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extra Phaedra...

As a postscript, for anyone who doesn't have Tangerine Dream's 1974 debut for Virgin that catapulted them to stardom with an interstellar, gaseous mix of Moog, Mellotron and flute - grab the full album below.  Was nice to see it featured in the recent Black Mirror episode, along with a faithful recreation of the WH Smith shopfronts that I remember from my childhood.

link
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