Progs' best Keyboard players

King Manuel wrote: The keyboards are my favourite instrument, but I can't say who is my favourite player or who is the best. There are so many different great ones out there , all with their unique style.

Very true, but if you had to pick one sound that eminated from a keyboard player who would it be? Picture yourself stranded on a desert island and you could only chose one...come on you can do it. Torture I know, but you gotta pick. Lol

verslibre wrote: richardh wrote: Canyon Dreams 87? Didn't realise it was that old. I have what is presumably a reissued version from later. Miramar first issued it as a VHS album — Nat Geo-styled scenic visuals with TD's music. Actually, it was '88, I believe. A friend and myself found out about it "by accident." We made friends with a local guy who ran one of those new age shops because he stocked music from the electronic artists on the Fortuna / Kuckuck / Lifestyle labels (etc.), among others, and he let us peruse his order catalog. When we saw a listing for "Tangerine Dream - Canyon Dreams (Miramar)(VHS)" we ordered it simply because it was something we didn't have. The CD came out a couple years later. You have the 1999 TDI reissue?

Edited by richardh - September 15 2013 at 06:25

The keyboards are my favourite instrument, but I can't say who is my favourite player or who is the best. There are so many different great ones out there , all with their unique style.

richardh wrote: Canyon Dreams 87? Didn't realise it was that old. I have what is presumably a reissued version from later.

Miramar first issued it as a VHS album — Nat Geo-styled scenic visuals with TD's music. Actually, it was '88, I believe. A friend and myself found out about it "by accident." We made friends with a local guy who ran one of those new age shops because he stocked music from the electronic artists on the Fortuna / Kuckuck / Lifestyle labels (etc.), among others, and he let us peruse his order catalog. When we saw a listing for "Tangerine Dream - Canyon Dreams (Miramar)(VHS)" we ordered it simply because it was something we didn't have. The CD came out a couple years later. You have the 1999 TDI reissue?

richardh wrote: LOOM - I have heard of them and will now go and properly check them out

Anytime Johannes is front and center, it's righteous. Jerome also plays guitar most of the time, and he excels in the role more so than before. Robert Waters is the other keyboardist.

richardh wrote: Live Miles - yep I have that although Poland basically kicks its arse

Poland is definitely the zenith of the FFS line-up. I had that on cassette before the CD and I wore the damned thing out!

richardh wrote: BTW - Don't forget about Kyoto. Originally recorded in 1983 by Edgar Froese and Johannes Schmoelling (no Chris Franke) , it was released finally about 10 years ago as Tangerine Dream. Beautifull stuff, more industrial sounding than most TD music. Not sure why Franke wasnt involved but Schmoelling fans especially should check this out!

Beat me to it! With all the time they spent in their main studio there were no doubt periods where one guy was absent (probably taking a VERY long lunch ) and the other two were there and had a hand in recording some stuff. I reckon Edgar and Chris recorded "Valley Of The Sun" from the Dreamroots box that way.

So nobody's going to vote for Ralf Wadephul?

The last TD album I have is 'Lily On The Beach' and I wasn't too fond of that - I really gave up on them after that. 'Tangram' is another beauty

Canyon Dreams was '87, so I think that's safe. That was a good one (which I first watched/heard on VHS, bright hiss and all!). And I keep forgetting Oasis which was also above average, especially considering the albums that directly preceded it. Tyranny Of Beauty had its moments, too.

Sampling Ricochet again? Ah, well...

LOOM is where it's at these days! Johannes, Jerome, Robert...that live 2CD cooks!

richardh wrote: Tom Ozric wrote: 'Underwater Sunlight' is an inspired piece of 80's electronic-prog. The piano passage from Haslinger at the start of 'Song Of The Whale (part 2) is pure beauty. yep that's a lovely album and some surprisingly brilliant guitar as well. I'm also fond of Tyger which mostly works for me especially with the later released bonus track '21st Century Common Man Parts 1&2'

Underwater Sunlight is perhaps the last album to be feature TD's patently immersive sound, as every one had radically different synth timbres to characterize them. Everything from that point forth (probably excepting Tyger, and the 1987 soundtracks) has a more standardized approach that flirts dangerously with banality at times. There are the occasional gems in the rough, but albums like Optical Race, Lily on the Beach, Melrose, Rockoon and Turn of the Tides haven't aged well.

Edited by verslibre - September 12 2013 at 20:53

Tom Ozric wrote: 'Underwater Sunlight' is an inspired piece of 80's electronic-prog. The piano passage from Haslinger at the start of 'Song Of The Whale (part 2) is pure beauty.

Edited by richardh - September 12 2013 at 14:14

'Underwater Sunlight' is an inspired piece of 80's electronic-prog. The piano passage from Haslinger at the start of 'Song Of The Whale (part 2) is pure beauty.

richardh wrote: verslibre wrote: bloodnarfer wrote: Edgar Froese On that note, how about Johannes Schmoelling? He's the guy responsible for those great Jupiter-8 synth leads on early 80s TD albums. His successor Paul Haslinger was also conservatory-trained, but he never came up with anything as cool as JS. Agreed. I really like that era of TD from Pergamon to Le Parc.

It's amazing. Every note recorded therein is indispensable. That era had the overall richest sound palette, too. Their studio contained an astounding number of instruments and hardware pieces.