01	Sunrise in the Third System						04:28
	02	Fly and Collision of Comas Sola						13:31
	03	Alpha Centauri						22:12
	04	Phaedra						17:45
	05	Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares						09:55
	06	Movements of a Visionary						08:01
	07	Sequent 'C'						02:18

Tangerine Dream: Alpha Centauri
Castle Communications (ESM CD 346)
Germany 1971

Edgar Froese, guitar, bass, organ, coffee machine;
Chris Franke, drums, percussion, lotos flute, piano harp, zither, VCS3 synth;
Steve Schroyder, hammond and farfisa organs;

with Udo Dennebourg, flute, voice; Roland Paulick, VCS3 synth

Sean McFee:
Tangerine Dream's second album finds the band still a trio, but with only Edgar Froese remaining from Electronic Meditation. He is joined by Chris Franke and Steve Schroyder. Froese and Franke would go on to form the core of the band.
The music truly takes the listener into the dark reaches of space. "Sunrise in the Third System" opens the album, a build-up of majestic organ playing with the aura of tragedy and infinity. After some VCS3 freakouts which open "Fly and Collision of Comas Sola", this same organ sound returns to provide an awesome ambiance. Some flute pokes its way through the titanic wall of synth, like the trace of humanity struggling to survive in the cosmos. Around the ten-minute mark Franke contributes a primal percussion explosion. Apart from a couple of rock-oriented flurries, which break the mood a bit, it is quite good. The track ends abruptly in the middle of this flurry. The title track is an extension of the same vision as before, but because of its length tends to be more dragged out and less focused. Much of it has that same dirge-type feel as Zeit. In all, I find the first half of this album indispensable and the second somewhat less interesting. As the first Froese/Franke collaboration, however, it is definitely worthy of attention.

Joe McGlinchey:
The second album by Tangerine Dream, Alpha Centauri marked the entrance of Chris Franke, who would remain a key member of the band for the next ensuing decade and a half. Centauri is sonically pretty much where it stands chronologically: right smack in-between Electronic Meditation and Zeit. Closer to Zeit, with its improved production, astral imagery, and a 'no one can hear you scream' sound entrenched firmly in the bowels of space. "Sunrise in the Third System" makes a stunning opener, with waves of lonely, gothic organ from Schroyder; Froese's pin-prickly, glissando guitar work; and traces of flute gliding here and there. However, the rawness of Meditation shows up especially on the middle "Fly and Collision of Comas Sola," with percussion explosions from Franke (originally brought on board for his drumming). Successfully atmospheric, but not an easy listen. Highly recommended for fans of early Pink Floyd with their eyes to the stars.


AMG EXPERT REVIEW: As if the sound is breaking through your speakers, Alpha Centauri begins its journey. Crackling and swirling synthesizers seize control of your stereo. Like a call to psychedelic arms, the first track "Sunrise in the Third System" marches on with its organ. The mixing of the three tracks found on Alpha Centauri leaves something to be desired, in that the tracks are not mixed the way they would be today with each track endlessly flowing into the next like a stream. Nonetheless, when one is not paying too close attention to such details, the album seems to flow quite smoothly. The sound is not of the highest standards either, as should be expected, this being a 1971 release of "space music." Tangerine Dream's style of "space music" had not yet been refined and revolutionized as it was a couple of releases later with Phaedra and Rubycon. Regardless, for those interested in a wilder and more reckless ride on the "space music" autobahn, Alpha Centauri should satisfy the need. - Michael Breece

Julian Cope - Sleeve Notes
Udo Dennebourg - Flute, Vocals, Voices
Dieter Dierks - Engineer
Edgar Froese - Organ, Synthesizer, Bass, Guitar, Keyboards, Producer, Cover Art
Christopher Franke - Synthesizer, Flute, Percussion, Harp, Zither, Producer
Roland Paulcyk - Synthesizer
Steve Schroyder - Organ
Monica Froese - Cover Photo
Roland Paulick - Synthesizer, VCS 3 Synthesizer
Steve Schroeder - Organ, Organ (Hammond), Producer
Thomas Heimann-Trosien - Engineer
Curtis Evans - Design


=========================

Tangerine Dream: Phaedra
Virgin (7243 8 40062 28 TAND5)
Germany 1974

Edgar Froese, Mellotron, guitar-bass, VCS3 synthesizer, organ;
Chris Franke, moog, keyboards, VCS3 synthesizer;
Peter Baumann, organ, electric piano, VCS3 synthesizer, flute

Joe McGlinchey:
The watershed album for Tangerine Dream was their first release for Virgin Records, Phaedra. If Zeit was music recorded on Jupiter, this was music recorded on Pluto, or somewhere past: icy, distant, alien. The beginning moments of the title track always manage to bring shivers up my spine, with a mechanical throbbing like something you'd hear in a mad scientist's lab or would imagine hearing in an H.R. Giger painting. Gradually, this pulsing speeds up eventually to reveal an angelic mellotron choir. Soon over this, a mellotron string lead wavers back and forth, swirling in and out like quicksilver and, in the hands of VCS3 manipulation, almost sounding like a moog. The haunting effect of the children's playground at the end of the piece is the icing on the cake. "Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares" is a Froese solo: ten minutes of pure, unadultered mellotron beauty. The Baumann-composed "Sequent 'C'" closes the album softly with the last recorded moments of a lonely, echoing flute. To this day, Phaedra is still considered a classic recording of ambient and electronic music, and it is also probably Tangerine Dream's most famous and best-selling album. Despite these kudos, it is thankfully also a challenging work to absorb, and I'm somewhat surprised that it enjoyed the overwhelming commercial success that it apparently did. In any case, we're talking pretty much indispensable stuff with this one.


Date of Release Feb 20, 1974 (release) inprint

AMG EXPERT REVIEW: Phaedra is one of the most important, artistic and exciting works in the history of electronic music, a brilliant and compelling summation of Tangerine Dream's early avant-space direction balanced with the synthesizer/sequencer technology just beginning to gain a foothold in non-academic circles. The result is best heard on the 15-minute title track, unparalleled before or since for its depth of sound and vision. Given focus by the arpeggiated trance that drifts in and out of the mix, the track progresses through several passages including a few surprisingly melodic keyboard lines and an assortment of eerie moog and mellotron effects, gaseous explosions and windy sirens. Despite the impending chaos, the track sounds more like a carefully composed classical work than an unrestrained piece of noise. While the title track takes the cake, there are three other excellent tracks on Phaedra. "Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares" is a solo Froese song that uses some surprisingly emotive and affecting synthesizer washes, and "Movements of a Visionary" is a more experimental piece, using treated voices and whispers to drive its hypnotic arpeggios. Perhaps even more powerful now as a musical landmark now than when it was first recorded, Phaedra has proven the test of time. - John Bush

Peter Baumann - Organ, Synthesizer, Flute, Keyboards, Piano (Electric), VCS 3 Synthesizer
Phil Becque - Engineer
Edgar Froese - Organ, Synthesizer, Bass, Guitar, Guitar (Bass), Keyboards, Mellophonium, Producer, Mellotron, VCS 3 Synthesizer
Christopher Franke - Synthesizer, Keyboards, Moog Synthesizer, VCS 3 Synthesizer








Tangerine Dream
Zeit
1970
Sequel

Zeit is one of those albums that always seems to provoke a fierce reaction from its listeners. On this, their third album, Tangerine Dream managed to produce something that was totally unique, never really heard before or since. To some, this album is a masterpiece of minimalism, a deeply moving album that requires nothing less than the total attention and patience of whoever dares to put it in the stereo. To others, it is simply a horrendously long album in which "nothing ever happens." To be fair, both of these assessments are truthful, to one degree or another. Zeit is considered by many to be one of the quintessential pieces of ambient music, taking what was as the time a burgeoning form of musical expression and showing just to what extremes it could be stretched. At the same time, true to the ideals of ambient, nothing much ever really happens. Ever. This is one of those albums designed to blend into its surroundings, not filling up space, so much as just being. What is important to remember, though, is that the action of this music is not what makes it a timeless work. Rather, it's the lack of action, and the reaction of the audience that make Zeit stand apart from the rest.

"Timeless" is very much an apt word to describe Zeit, for "Zeit" is the German word meaning "time." It's been said before "Time" is also accurate because this album takes up so much of it. The four songs span a full 80 minutes, and while that is not the most lengthy album ever recorded, 80 minutes of Zeit can well feel like 160 minutes of anything else. The subtitle to this album is Largo in Four Movements. Those with a musical knowledge will know that "Largo" is a music term meaning "slow." A more accurate description has never been spoken. In these four movements, "slow" is without a doubt the most accurate description possible. For eighty minutes, there is virtually no rhythm, melody, clang, whack, hit, thud, beat, or structure of any kind. Zeit moves like a river of molasses, a liquid blob of sounds that ever so slowly ooze together to form more or less an amorphous whole.

Take the first song, "Birth of Liquid Pleiades." This twenty-minute piece is basically comprised of three main sections, all of which are equally slow and plodding. It starts out with a string quartet fading in on a long, low drone note. This fade-in itself takes a good bit of time, and all the while the instruments rarely change pitch. The music gets louder and more intense, the vibrations of the differing strings sending deep waves through your whole body. The strings eventually are replaced with keyboards, and the tone of this one note progressively becomes weirder and more synthesized. The note finally begins to fade until we can hear almost nothing. A soft, muffled organ can be heard in the background, playing low-pitched chords. The organ slowly - always slowly - begins to fill the silence. This beautiful section is equally slow, but much less intense. Instead, it is mainly comprised of the organ, muted and subdued, playing a handful of closely positioned chords, the transition between these chords itself being very minimal and without action. We are soon treated to another droning note, this time a high-pitched one, and for the next long space of time we have just this one note being played over the soft organ. Occasionally, the one note jumps for a second - not a note change, but a musical hiccup that soon settles back to the original note. Imagine a heart monitor reading an incredibly slow and erratic pulse. The last bit is made up of yet another organ playing even more chords. These chords are slightly more involved, and the organ this time has a much brighter, tinny sound to it. As the organ cycles through its chords, it begins to pulse, fading in and out in probably one of the few examples of anything even remotely approaching a rhythm. This eventually fades to quiet.

While this may sound incredibly uninvolved, it is by no means boring or simple. The mood created here - and of course this piece is all about mood - is one of deep submersion, like listening to music far below the surface of the ocean. Imagine low-pitched whale songs vibrating through your body. Imagine echoes under the water, your ears hearing the sounds but never being able to focus directly on them. The noise surrounds you like water itself, immersing you in that river of molasses and forcing you to change your own shape to match the music.

Zeit remains as one of the pinnacles of ambient music. The subtle movements (and outright intensity of some of the sections) provide a different kind of power that most music today never seems to reach. It's a power not of noise and speed but of ideas and voiceless emotions. Keep in mind this slowness was intentional, and it's not on purpose that Zeit comes across as eighty minutes of nothing. When you can finally work yourself up to listening to all of this in one sitting - the way Zeit was meant to be experienced - you can be assured of being taken on a journey to a landscape you could never have imagined before. - CH




Tangerine Dream
Phaedra
1974
Virgin

Whether you call their music space rock, kraut rock, ambient, electronica or even new age, Tangerine Dream is one of the all-time granddaddies of all of these musical niches. They didn't invent electronic music, but they sure did play a massive part in making it a popular, commercially viable musical form. And perhaps no album in their massive catalog played a bigger part than Phaedra in transforming electronic music from arcane experimentation to a popular form of art.

Phaedra was released in 1974 on the then brand-new and progressive-minded Virgin Records. Phaedra was also among the first Tangerine Dream albums that sounded more like music than haphazard sound sculpture, but just barely. It featured something of a regular rhythm in most of the tracks and saw a slight movement toward recognizable melody (trends the band would continue for years - well beyond the point of being interesting anymore). These two factors helped bring Phaedra to a much wider audience in England - where Phaedra quickly went gold - and eventually in the USA. By this time, Tangerine Dream were over their frightening experiments with totally free improv, as on Electronic Meditation, and they had already created the ultimate "barely there" ambient album in 1971's massive Zeit. Phaedra shows the band finally finding their niche and getting serious about utilizing the ever-expanding possibilities that existed with the burgeoning technology of electronic music synthesizers.

Phaedra's charm lies in its exquisite combination of the beautiful and the mysterious. What is so great about Phaedra is that it couldn't be used as cheesy background music for some sort of subliminal self-help tape. This isn't new age music. This was before all that. This is freaky music, but it's still beautiful. With Phaedra, there is always the feeling that one is encountering something strange and beautiful - something never before seen by man. It's music for spelunking! And yet, the music can be very relaxing if one allows it to be so. It's not soporific, but contemplative. Listening to Phaedra, it seems almost certain that it must have been a huge influence on albums like Vangelis' Albedo 0.39 and Jean Michel Jarre's acclaimed Oxygene. While those albums can offer similar joys at times, Phaedra sounds so much more authentic and so much less commercial. Oxygene in particular sounds almost like a novelty album in comparison.

Phaedra's sidelong title track is the most energetic and suspenseful of the album. Its driving sequencer rhythms and ascending melodies create a palpable forward momentum that eventually leads to some sort of passage into another, more peaceful realm where lonely bird-like synth calls echo and fade into the Mellotronic night.

Side two begins with what may be the best piece on the album, "Mysterious Semblance at the strand of Nightmares." This is ten minutes of unabashed Mellotron bliss combined with cosmic synth swooshes and some of the most velvety "velvet phasing" (if I may rip off a Klaus Schulze title) ever heard. The chord progressions used here create a remarkable sense of wonder mixed with sadness. It certainly lives up to its title and it is easily one of the classic must-hear tracks for Mellotron fanatics.

"Movements of a Visionary" and "Sequent C" are shorter tracks that find the band dabbling again with sequencing and Mellotron respectively.

At less than 38 minutes in length, Phaedra is a too-short journey through the inner realms of the mind. Its peaceful, mysterious strains should be essential listening to anyone interested in any kind of electronic music, and it is one of the original and best chill-out albums of all time. - SH