Tangerine Dream - My Appraisal.

[DaveK]

Hi,
In commom with my current provocative theme for posts I offer the following for your consideration and comment. As I am currently (apparently) inclined to 'give' it, I am equally expecting to have to 'take' it, so feel free, in the normal spirit of this forum.
This post is mainly aimed at the kind gentleman/men who contributed to my posting on Jean Michel Jarre and recommended to me that Tangerine Dream were a much better example of EM. Sorry but I cannot remember for certain who the guys were (I'm hopeless with remembering names). I just thought that I would post my findings to update you.
I have now acquired Distant Trains Passing By and Rubycon, on CD, and Phaedra on vinyl, and listened to them all a few times. My opinions are mixed.
Distant Trains is OK (at the moment but it may 'grow' on me), nothing more I'm afraid. Phaedra is a bit like the Parson's egg, OK in places but less so in others. Rubycon I find to be just noise, nothing to recommend it at all in my opinion. In general give me JMJ and Equinoxe and Oxygene every time !!
I agree some of JMJ's later works could be described in the same terms as I have described Rubycon and Phaedra but Equnoxe and Oxygene remain for me the supreme examples of the genre.
So there !!
I have no plans at the moment to dispose of any of the TD music so they may get further chances to impress me.
I await your comments with interest (always assuming that any of you think that such opinions are worth responding to, of course ! )

[The Grand Wazoo]

So Dave...............if JMJ is a little twee, does that make Tangerine Dream a shwubbewy?

[DSJR]

Here I go again...

I was a VERY naive 17 year old, into popular "prog" and loving Tonto's Expanding Headband (played the CD today - get it from Amazon), the first Dr Who theme and the UFO end title music, together with Echoes, from Pink Flouyd's Meddle album.

A lady enthusiast/customer, who's become a lifelong friend, had me over to her flat one lunchtime (music only ) to hear her then quite advanced system and Phaedra was played for me...

There's a lovely back story to Phaedra - an electronic "burble" was out of tune with the mellotron when recording started. Chris Franke slowed the burble down to a repeating sequence of notes and gradually brought the sequencer in tune. An edited version of this is the first five or more minutes of Phaedra - with extras mixed on top. I LOVE this album and still get goose-bumps every time I play it.

Rubycon is better rehearsed and is compiled from twenty hours of tapes. The abstract nature of the pieces compiled together may not suit you Dave, but this is one of my all time favourite albums, still played regularly and I re-created the sequencing of both parts on a demo download of the Arturia "Moog V." I'm very proud of my sequencing, noise bursts and all and think I still have the files somewhere

Their live compilation - Ricochet - and the studio followup - Stratosfear - are more tuneful and may suit better..

On the Uli Schnauss CD, play "Between us and Them" - track 2. Very simple but touches my soul.

I suppose I can say that I FEEL these discs rather than just "hear" them. Different people "feel" different kinds of music in different ways and TD's kind of EM suits me well.

Dave, try to get the Tonto's Expanding Headband compilation disc. these two albums compiled together were created by musicians of great talent (Malcolm Cecil was/is a jazz bassist I understand) and these recordings show great musicianship as well as programming ability of a huge instrument.

Tangerine Dream weren't too hot as technical keyboard players in the early days and are now a "nice" keyboard outfit with Edgar Froese the guiding light over forty years, so they used imagination and great editing abilities to create their classic mid-seventies albums. As technique improved with their better constructed later work, they lost the spontaneity and "danger" I loved so much. if you want to try any more of their later work, PM me and I'll see what I can do

[DaveK]

So Dave...............if JMJ is a little twee, does that make Tangerine Dream a shwubbewy?

Hi Chris,
By coincidence, on another thread, I have just posted for Marco and Nick's benefit a short diatribe on my sense of humour. I tend to keep a very straight face with most jokes, even if I appreciate the humour. For me to laugh out loud is unusual, unless listening to the Goons, Tommy Cooper, Les Dawson or Ken Dodd - modern comedians seem to need smutty humour (all right in it's place) or to be hyperactive and talk very loud to get a laugh but, by and large it leaves me cold.
Anyway, back to topic: I looked hard at the above for a few seconds, wondering what on earth you were on about - then the penny dropped and I laughed out loud. I like jokes that make you think (a little, not too long) before you 'get' the punch line.
Brill - I like it. Whilst composing this the unoccupied part of my mind has been trying to think of an appropriate response but one escapes me at the moment - I'll come back to it later if I may.
Cheers,

[The Grand Wazoo]

I'm trying to understand the attraction about all this stuff (yer electronicals) - I've said before that I quite like Phaedra but I only seem to listen to it when I'm going to sleep.

I've just played 'Rubicon' for the first time & thought it was OK, but (listening to it on Spotify) near the end on the second piece, I switched to 'Oxygene' & couldn't detect much of a difference!!

Obviously, this requires a little more research on my part!!

Getting into something new usually requires a few spins.

However, on my exposure so far, I don't think Robbie Robertson would be impressed! (see my signature).

[The Grand Wazoo]

Hi Chris,

I looked hard at the above for a few seconds, wondering what on earth you were on about - then the penny dropped and I laughed out loud. I like jokes that make you think (a little, not too long) before you 'get' the punch line.
Brill - I like it. Whilst composing this the unoccupied part of my mind has been trying to think of an appropriate response but one escapes me at the moment - I'll come back to it later if I may.
Cheers,

Glad to know I can even crack a Yorkshireman!!

[DSJR]

I'm trying to understand the attraction about all this stuff (yer electronicals) - I've said before that I quite like Phaedra but I only seem to listen to it when I'm going to sleep.

I've just played 'Rubicon' for the first time & thought it was OK, but (listening to it on Spotify) near the end on the second piece, I switched to 'Oxygene' & couldn't detect much of a difference!!

Obviously, this requires a little more research on my part!!

Getting into something new usually requires a few spins.

However, on my exposure so far, I don't think Robbie Robertson would be impressed! (see my signature).

You need to hear each piece in entirety. Rubycon is either a masterwork or a collection of noises, but to me it's sublime and a disc I play very often.

[The Grand Wazoo]

You need to hear each piece in entirety. Rubycon is either a masterwork or a collection of noises, but to me it's sublime and a disc I play very often.

Well, I did hear it uninterupted except for the last couple of minutes. As Oxygene went on, I just switched off & now I'm listening to Savoy Brown!

I think Rubycon does it for me rather more than JMJ - I'll be back, I'm sure!

[DaveK]

I'm trying to understand the attraction about all this stuff (yer electronicals) - I've said before that I quite like Phaedra but I only seem to listen to it when I'm going to sleep.

I've just played 'Rubicon' for the first time & thought it was OK, but (listening to it on Spotify) near the end on the second piece, I switched to 'Oxygene' & couldn't detect much of a difference!! That is stretching the saying "beauty is in the ear of the listener" beyond breaking point for me !! One has a sort of melody, the other is totally unmelodius, IMO.

Obviously, this requires a little more research on my part!! I'll say !!

Getting into something new usually requires a few spins. More than a few as far as Rubicon is concerned, for me !!

However, on my exposure so far, I don't think Robbie Robertson would be impressed! (see my signature).

Cheers,
Dave.

[The Grand Wazoo]

I've just played 'Rubicon' for the first time & thought it was OK, but (listening to it on Spotify) near the end on the second piece, I switched to 'Oxygene' & couldn't detect much of a difference!!

Dave,
At the actual moment the switch was made the sounds were so similar, that it seemed to me that it really could have been the same piece of music.

Of course, as the JMJ piece went on it was very obvious that they were different. When it got into the second track 'Oxygene pt. 2', I just lost patience with the sound of asteroids whizzing past my ears & decided I'd had enough!