Tangerine Dream- Atem (1973)

Quality: 4 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5

Atem (German for "breath") is a transitional album in the best sense of the word. Having taking the minimalist concept to the extreme on Zeit, the Dream returns to somewhat of a space rock vibe. There actually is a fair amount of percussion here, especially the raging torrent of the first few minutes of the side long title track which excitingly builds until it crashes into an ambient soundscape, thus giving the ambience more context. It's also a lot less bleak sounding. "Fauna Gena" recalls the alien landscape imagery of "Alpha Centauri," although with some added bird-like noises.

So with the return of the space rock, and ingenious use of Zeit-like soundscapes, Froese, Franke, and Baumann managed their past work magnificently. Fortunately Atem looks toward the future too. Froese seems to barely pick up his guitar here, more often opting for mellotron. It'sa definite precursor to the entirely keyboard dominated sound that would mark some later albums. We also hear the first glimmers of sequencing at the ends of "Fauna Gena," and "A Circulation Of Events." This would become a Tangerine Dream staple starting on their next album (and Virgin Records debut).

There are only two things here that really hold Atem back a little. One is the closing track "Wahn." It's far from terrible, but the Ligeti-like voices and percussion recall the undisciplined din of Electronic Meditation a little more than I like. Fortunately, it's the shortest track here by far. A bigger problem is the production. By this time, Tangerine Dream were breaking serious new ground and I doubt there were many engineers who could really record them properly, especially without a state-of-the-art sudio. The opening of the title track loses a little majesty due to murkyness and I bet even "Wahn" would be better with more crystaline sound. Fortunately, the band would get top flight recording after this album with a jump to the majors.

It's really worth noting that the first four Tangerine Dream albums almost sound like the work of completely different bands. There are some stylistic similarities, especially one the line up stabilized, but each album is very much its own experience. Even when making a misstep, it's clear that the early Dream was an exceptionally pioneering band and their mistakes are usually interesting.

I'll be saying "goodbye" to my Tangerine Dream reviews here, as they become far less obscure starting with the next album. They managed some great major label albums like Phaedra, Rubycon, Ricochet, Stratosfear, Encore, Force Majeure, Tangram, and Logos, all of which I'd easily recommend. As the 80's wore on, they got a little too slick and new-agey for my tastes, but the four albums reviewed here really are but the tip of the iceburg.

Buy Me:
Tangerine Dream- Nebulous Dawn (includes Atem)

Tangerine Dream- Zeit (1972)

Quality: 4 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.5 out of 5

Hmm... did I call Alpha Centauri minimal? It has nothing on Zeit, which is German for time. The concept here is very metaphysical, as the music here seems to warp the listener's definition of time. The instrumentation is almost exclusively synth and organ (with a few cellos on the first track), but they all blend in a way that it's often impossible to tell what is what. While Tangerine Dream previously working in a space rock genre, here they abandon any link to rock music or popular music in general.

In all honesty, this is really a love it or hate it album. Notes move very slowly and it's next to impossible to pay close attention to what's going on. In the Electronic Meditation review of spoke of the definition of music. Here there are no strong themes, but there's plenty of concept and I do have the impression that the players know what they're doing. It is the definition of "atmospheric."

The four side-long tracks vary mainly in tone, like different colored crayons. "Birth of Liquid Plejades" consists of long, drone out tones and changes very slowly. "Nebulous Dawn" shifts things with a light clopping rhythm which is mirrored by the bubbling synth on "Orgin Of Supernatural Probablilities." Things shift back to extreme darkness on side four's "Zeit."

Usually music this minimalistic has a meditative quality. Zeit's tones tend to be extremely dark and unsettling. It tends to create the bleak vibe of industrial without being industrial at all. I do put it on when I go to sleep sometimes, but I doubt everyone would want to do that as they might end up scared of the dark again.

Be careful with this album's volume too. Although the music seems to never rise above a murmur, it in fact gets quite loud at times, which accounts for some of it's unsettling nature. There is no percussion, so that loudness tends to be of a "screaming well of souls" quality.

As a fun fact, 70's Tangerine Dream mainstay Peter Baumann joined the band for this album. The bleakness and minimalistic nature here tends to obscure any distinct musical personalities, so Baumann presence isn't really noticable until the next album.

I think that if one is willing to "crack the code" on Zeit, it is a very rewarding album and creates a headspace that few other albums do. It is a bleak beauty, however, and probably isn't the best place to start. Here the Tangerine Dream becomes a slithering nightmare.

Buy Me:
Tangerine Dream- Nebulous Dawn (includes Zeit)

Tangerine Dream- Alpha Centauri (1971)

Quality: 5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 5 out of 5

Ok, let's try and assume Electronic Meditation never happened and consider this Tangerine Dream's debut. In a way it is since Edgar Froese is the only member remaining from the last album. Joining him is Chris Franke, who was hired as a drummer but would be the Dreamer to dive head first into the electronic waters and match Froese's influence in the band for the next 15 years. We also have organist Steve Schroyder who would vanish in a drug induced haze following this album.

The band's trademark sequencer patterns are still nowhere to be found here, and there is still plenty of conventional instrumentation. In fact, Alpha Centauri is very much a "space rock" album. But we do start to hear experimentation with electronics, particularly the VCS3 synth, which Pink Floyd would also use extensively (no Moogs yet though). The band was from a rock background, and didn't really know how to properly program the synth (although Brian Eno suggests that synth players throw away the manual anyway), but they still conjure up some awesome sounds here.

The band is a lot more mellow here. They occasionally whip up some noise, but it's much more controlled than on the last album, and performed with purpose. The players are actually playing off of each other here. Most of the music is minimalist, but arranged and playing with maximum effect.

Once again the band has a concept, which I think is a space voyage to a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri. Honestly, I'm not sure if that was the band's intention, but it's what I visualize and what's better than a concept conveyed completely instrumentally? There are only three tracks present here, and each of them create a ton of effective imagery. I see the album as such:

"Sunrise In The Third System" is shortly after takeoff, drifting around the earth. The organ tones have no trouble evoking an orbital sunrise. With the 13-minute long "Fly And Collision Of Cosmos Sola," we launch into hyperspace, with VCS3 patterns streaking by. Eventually we enter the Alpha Centauri system, and make a tricky landing through a turbulent atmosphere. The side long title track would be a tour of this distant planet.

Alpha Centauri is an early masterpiece by the Dream. In fact, they'd continue making stylistic changes, and never really return to this sound. There's a great mix of space rock and early avant garde electronics here in a perfect balance.

Buy Me:
Tangerine Dream- Nebulous Dawn (includes Alpha Centauri)

Tangerine Dream- Electronic Meditation (1970)

Quality: 1.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5 (but it's a bad trip)

The long and convoluted story of Tangerine Dream 70+album recorded output begins on this unfortunately disappointing disc. It's a shame as the personel present garners very high expectations. Of course mainstay Edgar Froese is here wailing away in his early psychedelic guitar mode. Soon-to-be electronic guru Klaus Schulze appears as the drummer and Ash Ra Tempel's Conrad Schnitzler complete this first version of the band. Even before the release of Electronic Meditation Tangerine Dream would fracture and only Edgar Froese made it to album #2.

The problem here is that Electronic Meditation is not a properly thought out or conceived album. There is some gobblygook about a "cycle of life" concept glueing the album together, but the fact is that this was basically a recorded rehearsal. None of the members ever thought of this as their first album. The tapes found their way to the brand new Ohr label, who wanted to put the recordings out as one of their first releases. Finding themselves in need of income, the Dream consented to this.

The cover art and title are extremely misleading. We see a heavily wired modular synth looking thing tied to a doll. Especially considering Tangerine Dream's (and Schulze's) later role as electronic pioneers it seems safe to expect that this is an album focused around electronic sounds. For better or for worse, this is really a very psychedelic guitar/bass/drums album with a touch of flute and just a few synthesized sounds basically functioning as sound effects.

Still, there are of course plenty of great albums with traditional instruments. The bigger problem is that there are no melodies here to speak of or any sort of forward motion. The band doesn't seem to have any purpose or goal. They're basically screwing around. In fact the only thing resembling a theme shows up in the only standout, "Journey Through A Burning Brain." Even here though, the theme explicitly recalls Pink Floyd's "Saucerful Of Secrets" and the revised version of Tangerine Dream would create a far superior track like this on their next album.

I teach English to Japanese students, and in my discussion class last week we tried to define the line between noise and music. I have a wide definition and would still classify this as music. One student thought that if the music is played by professionals, it is music, even if it is very avant-garde. So, that too would classify this as music. Other qualifiers included having a theme and/or concept. For the most part this album is lacking those (except for what seems to be a tacked on concept), and about half of my class probably would not call Electronic Meditation music.

I'm not here to slam Tangerine Dream. The 70's Dream in particular were certaintly one of the most ground breaking bands around, and second only to maybe Kraftwerk in terms of electronic music. But I highly recommend starting with the second album. Give this one a try if you're a completist and are already familiar with Tangerine Dream's later masterworks.

Buy Me:
Tangerine Dream- Nebulous Dawn (includes this album along with three far better ones)