Top 7 Tangerine Dream Albums

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Posted: August 16 2022 at 01:06

Top 7 update with Mellotron Storm's votes added:-

1. Stratosfear (83 points)

2. Ricochet (81 points)

3. Force Majeure (80 points)

4. Rubycon (79 points)

5. Phaedra (65 points)

6. Zeit (44 points)

7. Tangram (34 points)

8. Exit (28 points)

9. Alpha Centauri (25 points)

10. Encore (22 Points)

11. Cyclone (20 points)

12. Atem (19 points)

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Posted: August 16 2022 at 01:23

This was really quite difficult:

(10/10)

1. Phaedra

(9/10)

2. Alpha Centauri

3. Rubycon

4. Stratosfear

5. Oedipus Tyrannus

6. Zeit

7. Green Desert

...love these too...

(8/10)

8. Atem

9. Sorcerer

10. Ricochet

(7/10)

11. Force Majeure

12. Encore

13. Poland

14. Hyperborea

15. Exit

...post 1984 I have a hard time with virtually everything I've heard from Tangerine Dream (which is far from everything they've released)

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Posted: August 16 2022 at 01:57

Top 7 update with Saperlipopette's votes added:-

1. Stratosfear (87 points)

2. Rubycon (85 points)

3. Ricochet (81 points)

4. Force Majeure (80 points)

5. Phaedra (77 points)

6. Zeit (46 points)

7. Tangram (34 points)

8. Alpha Centauri (33 points)

9. Exit (28 points)

10. Encore (22 Points)

11. Cyclone (20 points)

12. Atem (19 points)

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Posted: August 16 2022 at 12:30

Psychedelic Paul wrote:

7. Tangram (34 points)

8. Alpha Centauri (33 points)

Hope these two will eventually swap places. I find the A-side of Tangram somewhat annoying with some real ugly sounding guitar and synths. The B-side is fine, but still a step down from the similarsounding Force Majeure. Alpha Centauri is a visionary classic, historically kind of important and a real trip.

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Posted: August 16 2022 at 12:57

Saperlipopette! wrote:

Psychedelic Paul wrote:

7. Tangram (34 points)

8. Alpha Centauri (33 points)

Tangram is one of my Top 7 Tangerine Dream albums, whereas Alpha Centauri wouldn't even make it into my Top 30, but I'm guessing you knew that already. Big smile

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Posted: August 16 2022 at 13:27

Psychedelic Paul wrote:

Saperlipopette! wrote:

Psychedelic Paul wrote:

7. Tangram (34 points)

8. Alpha Centauri (33 points)

Tangram is one of my Top 7 Tangerine Dream albums, whereas Alpha Centauri wouldn't even make it into my Top 30, but I'm guessing you knew that already. Big smile

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Posted: August 16 2022 at 16:25

Saperlipopette! wrote:

Psychedelic Paul wrote:

7. Tangram (34 points)

8. Alpha Centauri (33 points)

I often prefer more experimental and atonal sounds, but here I'd be with Tangram over Alpha Centauri. Alpha Centauri is big fun and I like it, but it lacks elaboration, whereas Tangram is very confident, mature, and beautiful, and at the same time heralding a new direction. Composition-wise it may not depart that much from Force Majeure, but soundwise for sure. It's quite accessible and melodic but also properly progressive, more than pretty much all that follows.

Edited by Lewian - August 16 2022 at 16:27

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Posted: August 16 2022 at 21:58

Lewian: Yes I noticed Tangram in general is quite cherished. But I don't really enjoy this new soundwise direction and find everything about it less beautiful than all their previous albums (and a handful of following albums). Alpha Centauri to me is a beautifully eerie and hypnotic transcendental listening experience. It's a whole accelerating universe of its own, and doesn't lack anything to my ears. I'll take the youthful post-hippie beginnings of something that matured into Phaedra, rather than the beginning of the end of their relevance (imo) any day. And Tangram doesn't really transport me anywhere.

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Posted: August 17 2022 at 01:57

Saperlipopette! wrote:

Indeed, while not offensive to the ears or the mind, Tangram is their first weaker album to that date, well below Meditations, Cyclone or Centauri all of which are placed below it in this poll...

However I'll take Tangram over anything TD has done since (Green Desert apart, but it's really from 73). Logos & Poland are OK, but they're live albums.

For some reasons, with the notable exception of Ricochet, TD's live albums (usually filled with original tracks) are lamer (this is true for Encore as well).

Edited by Sean Trane - August 17 2022 at 02:36

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Posted: August 17 2022 at 07:14

Btw, Sean: have you heard the shelved 1974 soundtrack/score Oedipus Tyrannus yet? Tis a pity it's not made available as a single (double) album release but only physically available on the expensive, 16 CD's In Search of Hades-box (which is still well worth the price). It's available at streaming services such as Spotify though.

I actually think it's up there among their canonized classics in quality - and sort of serves as the transitional missing link between the Ohr and the Virgin years (if that makes sense).

(Those later albums I prefer over Tangram are Logos, Poland, Thief, Exit and Hyperborea. None of them are among my TD top dozen favorites though)

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Posted: August 17 2022 at 07:35

It looks like, I can list two with the present ranking being:

1. Stratosfear

2. Rubycon

Edited by David_D - August 17 2022 at 11:46

quality over quantity, and all kind of PopcoRn almost beyond

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Posted: August 17 2022 at 10:53

Sean Trane wrote:

For some reasons, with the notable exception of Ricochet, TD's live albums (usually filled with original tracks) are lamer (this is true for Encore as well).

Ricochet is only partly "live": two eight-minute-long extracts from the 23/10/75 concert at Croydon were remixed and fused with a new effects bridge, while Edgar improvised the piano part which starts Side B. Side A is not live, not one bit. Either way, it's a classic.

Encore is fantastic. Side 4 ("Desert Dream") isn't live (the band even said so), but nobody's complaining. The searing "Monolight" is worth the price of admission. Side 3, "Coldwater Canyon," was only performed in the southwestern USA. How anyone rates Encore down is beyond me.

Quichotte (rereleased later as Pergamon) is a document of their 31/1/80 concert in East Berlin that also introduced Johannes Schmoelling, whose wonderful piano chops were unveiled promptly. The initial album was outstanding but the complete concert, remastered and released as CD3/4 of The Official Bootleg Box Volume Two, is even better (yes, that's an understatement).

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Posted: August 17 2022 at 16:39

For me:

1) Ricochet

2) Stratosfear

3) Poland

4) Force Majeure

5) Rubycon

6) Phaedra

7) Hyperborea

My compositions

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Posted: August 17 2022 at 16:48

Top 7 update with Modrigue's votes added:-

1. Stratosfear (95 points)

2. Ricochet (93 points)

3. Rubycon (88 points)

4. Force Majeure (84 points)

5. Phaedra (79 points)

6. Zeit (46 points)

7. Tangram (34 points)

8. Alpha Centauri (33 points)

9. Exit (28 points)

10. Encore (22 Points)

11. Cyclone (20 points)

12. Atem (19 points)

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Posted: August 17 2022 at 22:33

I've never bothered finding out whether the music I hear is actually live or not. I mainly buy live albums by bands that feature original material. That's my main attraction to Ricochet and Encore - apart from them being great, I mean. But

verslibre wrote:

[Quichotte (rereleased later as Pergamon) is a document of their 31/1/80 concert in East Berlin that also introduced Johannes Schmoelling, whose wonderful piano chops were unveiled promptly. The initial album was outstanding but the complete concert, remastered and released as CD3/4 of The Official Bootleg Box Volume Two, is even better (yes, that's an understatement).

Its funny how no two Tangerine Dream fans seem to agree with each other all that much. Even those with quite similar tastes (like perhaps Sean and myself) will choose one of the other fan's least favorite after the first five... maybe six first picks.

-Anyway, you're obviously more of a die hard fan than I am. For one I'm quite indifferent to almost 40 years of their recording career. I've only own the Quichotte LP, but it's primarely Johannes Schmoelling and his wonderful piano chops that ruins the experience for me. I found a quote that sums up how I feel about it:

...The five-minute piano solo that opens this up is not an auspicious start for Schmoelling's tenure in the band. It sounds like a cross between a mid-80s Bette Midler tune and a sitcom theme. Things only get good when the synths swallow it whole...

Yep, plus I don't enjoy Froese rocking out on his guitar 1980's style on most of the B-side either. All in all a typical "close, but no cigar" album for me.

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Posted: August 18 2022 at 03:00

When I listen to TD these days I usually dip into the various archival official bootleg releases, but from their main run of albums I would choose
1 Zeit
2 Ricochet
3 Force Majeure
4 Poland
5 Phaedra
6 Rubycon
7 Stratosfear

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I've got my doubts about how much to contribute
to the already rich among us...'

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Posted: August 18 2022 at 03:29

Top 7 update with Syzygy's votes added:-

2. Ricochet (101 points)

2. Stratosfear (96 points)

3. Rubycon (90 points)

3. Force Majeure (90 points)

5. Phaedra (82 points)

6. Zeit (58 points)

7. Tangram (34 points)

8. Alpha Centauri (33 points)

9. Exit (28 points)

10. Encore (22 Points)

11. Cyclone (20 points)

12. Atem (19 points)

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Posted: August 18 2022 at 05:36

Psychedelic Paul wrote:

Top 7 update with Modrigue's votes added:-

1. Stratosfear (95 points)

2. Ricochet (93 points)

3. Rubycon (88 points)

4. Force Majeure (84 points)

5. Phaedra (79 points)

6. Zeit (46 points)

7. Tangram (34 points)

8. Alpha Centauri (33 points)

9. Exit (28 points)

10. Encore (22 Points)

11. Cyclone (20 points)

12. Atem (19 points)

Paul, it looks like, you missed my voting. Unhappy

quality over quantity, and all kind of PopcoRn almost beyond

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Posted: August 18 2022 at 05:57

David_D wrote:

Psychedelic Paul wrote:

Top 7 update with Modrigue's votes added:-

1. Stratosfear (95 points)

2. Ricochet (93 points)

3. Rubycon (88 points)

4. Force Majeure (84 points)

5. Phaedra (79 points)

6. Zeit (46 points)

7. Tangram (34 points)

8. Alpha Centauri (33 points)

9. Exit (28 points)

10. Encore (22 Points)

11. Cyclone (20 points)

12. Atem (19 points)

Paul, it looks like, you missed my voting. Unhappy

You only had two albums in your list, so I was waiting until you had a full Top 7 before adding on the points from your vote. Wink

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