TURN OF THE TIDES

Although I had known about their existence since the late 70s, it was only in the mid-2000s that I started listening to Tangerine Dream, thanks to an unconditional fan of the band. The first album I enjoyed the most was the masterpiece "Stratosfear". I quickly became familiar with other unquestionable masterpieces such as "Phaedra", "Rubycon", "Ricochet", among many others of musical excellence. After understanding the lineup and sound changes of the group throughout the first two decades of its existence, it was natural to choose to move on to subsequent albums, and there were four that received a lot of attention: "Turn Of The Tides", "Tyranny Of Beauty", "Goblin's Club", and "Mars Polaris". And this is exactly my order of preferences among these works.

The band now revolves around Edgar and Jerome, supported by a series of guest musicians. Among them, the highlight goes to Linda Spa and her saxophone, without which rich moments would not have existed. In addition to the presence of a wind instrument, the band now relies heavily on the drums of both Edgar and Jerome, as well as their guitars and those of other guests. Personally, I don't quite understand this need for guest guitarists, the work Edgar did on "Ricochet", for example, is very beautiful. Well, in addition to the presence of winds, orchestrations, and an intensification in the use of guitars, there has been a noticeable reduction in the participation of synthesizers.

And what about the music itself? Well, "Turn Of The Tides" exceeds in beauty. The opening, a re-recording of Mussorgsky's "Pictures At Exhibition", needs no comments, and the three tracks that follow, "Firetongues", "Galley Slave's Horizon", and "Death Of A Nightingale", are nothing short of formidable. In the first two, the prominence is on the guitars, including acoustic, of a guest named Zlatko Perica, while in the third, Linda Spa's saxophone shines. The brilliance of these tracks is repeated in "Jungle Journey" and "Midwinter Night". On the other hand, "Twighlight Brigade" seems to me to be just an average song, while the weak point of the album is the disco beat of the title track.

And the other albums? In "Tyranny of Beauty", the brilliance of Linda Spa's saxophone is repeated, but not so much in the guitars, and there are more average songs like "Twighlight Brigade". In "Goblin's Club", the limitations are amplified, and it's biggest problem lies in the absence of excellent compositions. Finally, "Mars Polaris" does not feature guest musicians, and perhaps because of this, the compositions no longer have the same appeal, I couldn't "get into" this album.

3.5 stars, rounded to 4. I would give 3 to "Tyranny Of Beauty", 2.5 to "Goblin's Club", and 2 to "Mars Polaris".

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