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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pw: sgtg

Tangerine Dream - Force Majeure (1979)

Here's some more Tangerine Dream, as I continue to take a voyage of rediscovery through their years on Virgin Records - and this is one of the most atypical albums they made.  Well, apart from the predecessor Cyclone of course, with its not-entirely-successful experiment in having a vocalist.  By September 1978, Steve Joliffe was gone, but drummer Klaus Krieger/Krüger was retained for this minor masterpiece of instrumental prog.

From the discordant intro onwards, Force Majeure is an album full of dramatics and forward momentum, and the title suite runs through its sections with grace and power, and an interesting neo-classical style of composition (particularly in the last five minutes) that saw TD move farther and farther away from free-floating improvisation.  Following this 18-minute masterpiece is the shortest track, Cloudburst Flight, a great guitar showcase for Edgar Froese (both acoustic and some of his most stinging electric lead work).

Lastly, the 14 minutes of Thru Metamorphic Rocks are essential TD as well, having the most in common with the sequencer-based electronic work they'd broken through with.  After a melodic four-minute intro, the sequencer quickly hits warp speed and doesn't let up - Chris Franke would remain justifiably proud of this as one of his favourite pieces the group ever made.

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Klaus Krüger - Zwischenmischung (1981)

I used to listen to this one constantly about six years ago; glad I was able to find a saved copy in my files as I really wanted to post it here - and rediscover it myself!  I could've sworn I originally downloaded this album from The Growing Bin, but it didn't show up anywhere in their posting history when I checked.

Klaus Krüger (aka Krieger) is probably best known for his brief stint in Tangerine Dream, playing on Cylclone and Force Majeure.  After leaving TD, and playing with Iggy Pop for a short while, Krüger released a his first solo single and album.  This material vaguely aligned with early NDW but with distinctive quirks, and then in 1982 Kruger released (IMO the far superior) Zwischenmischung.

There's clear NDW influences here, not least in sheer brevity - these eight tracks of minimal synth zip along in just under half an hour, although this wasn't one of several albums on Klaus Schulze's IC label that were cut at 45rpm, missing the boat for that experiment by a few months.  The latter four tracks are much longer than the opening four, in a way that reminds me of Conrad Schnitzler's Contempora.  Manuel Göttsching (Ashra(Tempel)) is probably the biggest name on the album, but keeps a relatively low profile - wonder if that's him playing reggae rhythm guitar on the track 'Deutschland'?

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