Album Club: 30.08.2011: Tangerine Dream - Rubycon (1975) (Vinyl, CD, SACD)

[DSJR]

John (sparrow) and the great BigMoog himself know where I am on this

The MIGHTY Rubycon as well as Phaedra, have an interesting back story to them. This wonderful album is a "compilation" of 30 hours or more of session recordings and this way of blending different themes is one of Edgar Froese's greatest strengths in my opinion. Phaedra was genius out of accident, as the big series 3 Moog went out of tune between rehearsal and final take and thus the "sequencer" rhythms were born I understand.

Rubycon for me is more carefully planned and "spliced together," the whole basically defining this "Berlin School" era. I was very lucky to see the Baumann/Franke/Froese trio in Aylesbury in October 1975 and the distant memories of this concert (gig is too crude a name for it) still resonate with me. By this time, a more extended and memorised sequencer pattern could be performed and part 2 of the "live" compilation "Ricochet" features this sequence more or less as I heard it live (Ricochet 2 was largely culled from a Croydon concert I believe).

Wonderful stuff - and this band changed my life forwever - ask hifi dave or Alex, some "Berlin School" EM is usually inflicted on them each time we get together.

P.S. If any of you fellas like this, try some "Redshift" from the late 90's> "Ether" is good and can be downloaded in FLAC form for eleven quid each here -

http://www.downloadplatform.com/dire...title=Redshift

[John]

I am sorry I have to be the odd one out on this I tried to get into this but I never really enjoyed this type of music, its almost like listening to New Age music Sorry folks not for me

[DSJR]

It's fine, no worries...

In my case, back then I didn't drink alcohol, have never smoked anything, let alone wacky baccy and found Phaedra the ultimate "trip" for me, such was the impact it had. I'd always liked electronically derived "tonalities" and I suppose the original Delia Derbishire realised (and best IMO) Dr Who theme was the one that strted it, along with the innovative "music" from the early 60's puppet series "Space Patrol." The closing titles music from "UFO" (Barry Gray) sort of took it along a bit and Pink Floyd's wonderful track "Echoes" took it further, along with some of the German offerings (Cluster) that John Peel used to play back then. Hearing my first "serious" HiFi system (Lenco 75/Armstrong 626 and JBL's) back in Easter '74 and Phaedra in particular, really blew my mind.

By the time Rubycon came out, I had my own little system. My first GL75/M75-EJ (bought from the system above when the owner changed to a Techie SL1300/V15 III), Lustraphone LP100 amp (I DESPERATELY want another, someone, please.....) and Audiomaster Image 2's (I think they were by then). I played this record for the first time in total darkness and fell passionately in love with the music instantly. Wonderful stuff "for those obliged to space" )

[Tim]

I played this record for the first time in total darkness and fell passionately in love with the music instantly.

That was my first experience with Phaedra Dave and I had never heard anything like it before - magical and a trip without substances, but I have never needed them anyway.

[griffo104]

Well I managed to get this off a friend and have a listen over the weekend. really not my thing at all and I struggled to get to the end of it. I think, for me, it just sounds so dated and seems so removed from the human element, something I've always disliked electronic music for.

Ironically two related things happened over the weekend, first I watched Near Dark which I recorded as part of Film 4's Frightfest season and Tangerine Dream did the soundtrack for this. Again the whole film seems so dated but it summed up the way I felt about listening to them, as if you need something visual to go along with it.

The other related item was finding I had a double CD set of Klaus Shulze and Lisa Gerrard, and album called Farscape. I knew Klaus Shulze reminded me of some album I had. The reason I struggled to place the name as I don't think I've ever listened to this album all the way through either. Anyhow having a bit of an electronic Sunday afternoon I found the album and slipped it on. Got about halfway through the first cd before taking it off. I just really don't get this sort of electronic music.

I can enjoy noisey stuff like Pan-sonic or Front 242, or even moog type stuff from Add N to (X) but his stuff just seems more like soundscapes than music, if that makes any sense.

[keiths]

Alex has asked for a conclusion post, so here goes...

First of all, many thanks to all those who gave “Rubycon” a try and for posting their comments and /or voting. I actually thought twice about choosing this as I thought not many people would like it, however I was pleasantly surprised with the reception it got with an average "score" of 3.6 stars and some good, critical comments.

As you probably realise by now, this album (along with Tangerine Dream's previous release - “Phaedra”) provided me with a kind of musical epiphany back in 1975 and defined the type of music I would listen to almost exclusively for the best part of a decade. At the time it sounded to me like the future (now it sounds both ancient and modern – if that makes any sense?) and non-electronic music seemed old-fashioned by comparison. Nowadays, my musical tastes are much wider and am more able to appreciate this era of electronic music for what it was rather than the “be all and end all” that it appeared to be at the time.

John's (Welder) post intrigued me where he cited the lack of “real” instruments as a reason he wasn't too keen. I disagree as I feel that the analogue synth, organ and mellotron sounds of this era to be just a valid musically as any other amplified instruments. Later Tangerine Dream (see “Further Listening”) sometimes added more in the way of 'conventional' instrumentation to the synth-sequencer-organ-mellotron mix including guitar (both electric and acoustic), piano, flute, saxophone, voice and drums.

Further Listening

All of the Tangerine Dream albums recorded for Virgin between 1974 and 1983 are worth a listen. The stand-out ones for me are:

Phaedra (1974) Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/7KRXWeJYBkyUmwOFTayiQk
Richochet (1975) Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/6iPUDn0rAVYuojEyEU0VJP
Stratosfear (1976) Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/3gwpouV58Wxl0kd5OIT8m7
Encore (1977) Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/5o9bgXcvxXs5eMjF177LLe
Force Majeure (1979) Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/6NGGfMRPtvshivFJWwSjza
Tangram (1980) Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/6aHeeKVHp0mIPrhKPAbnyf
Exit (1981) Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/4IhZlOlEsgfHqaUs1zcrPI

Similar in feel to Rubycon are the Edgar Froese solo albums recorded around the same time:

Aqua (1974) Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/53HKgtgBcAKkBvnIJYBpx7
Epsilon In Malaysian Pale (1975) (Not on Spotify) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN4I597QB5A

Klaus Schulze was a briefly member of Tangerine Dream and appears on their debut album “Electronic Meditation” (1969). After leaving TD, he embarked on a solo career. His albums recorded around the time of Rubycon are all well worth hearing, but none are on Spotify:

Picture Music (1975) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXMrT2Ciab4
Timewind (1975) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wVp3entqjQ
Moondawn (1976) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN9hHeS13Hc

Other artists worth a listen include:

Ashra – Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/artist/4qzIpmopZ2KVodpmw7uJKe
Michael Hoenig – Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/artist/2I70Kyiy6kcoBNpIsHBgOK

and for a more up-to-date version of “Berlin School”:

Redshift - Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/artist/5k9kE5eTwBfqlhvIqKUOML

[Alex_UK]

Superb summary, thanks Keith. A great week in Album Club.

[Rare Bird]

Whats up with Klaus Schulze 'Irrlicht', 'Cyborg' & 'Blackdance'

[keiths]

Whats up with Klaus Schulze 'Irrlicht', 'Cyborg' & 'Blackdance'

Nothing at all André - I chose the three I did as they are closer in style to Rubycon than his first 3. Same reason I didn't mention the early TD albums Alpha Centauri, Zeit, or Atem and recommended Ashra rather than Ash Ra Tempel.

[DSJR]

Rubycon has piano, (sampled) flute and voices too. No human element indeed

Klaus Schulze - more greatness or sleep-inducing muzak depending on tastes. Mirage is for me, Crystal Lake especially