The sequencer albums of Tangerine Dream all Highlighted in sequence.

 

 

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

 

Here's your chance to name your Top 7 Tangerine Dream albums. Simply list your Top 7 albums in order of preference and then I'll assign points to your listings as follows:-

1. Force Majeure (12 points)

2. White Eagle (8 points)

3. Tangram (6 points)

4. Ricochet (4 points)

5. Stratosfear (3 points)

6. Rubycon (2 points)

7. Phaedra (1 points)

I've been a fan of TD for a long, long time (both joyous and painful to say, lol). Here's my list.

1. Force Majeure

2. Stratosfear

3. Exit

4. Thief (OST)

5. Poland – The Warsaw Concert

6. Firestarter (OST)

7. The complete 1980 Palast der Republik concert from The Official Bootlet Series Volume Two

8. Rubycon

9. Underwater Sunlight

10. Miracle Mile (OST)

1 Rubycon

2 Zeit

3 Tangram

4 Cyclone

5 Phaedra

6 Exit

7 Atem

1. Force Majeure

2. Exit

3. Stratosfear

4. Underwater Sunlight

5. Cyclone

6. Ricochet

7. Tangram 

Right on.

I've always preferred Rubycon to Phaedra. 

2. Rubycon

3. Cyclone

4. Stratosfear

5. Sorcerer

6. Phaedra

7. Alpha Centauri

Me too.

 

1. Force Majeure (55 points)

2. Stratosfear (49 points)

3. Rubycon (30 points)

4. Ricochet (25 points)

5. Phaedra (21 points)

5. Tangram (21 points)

7. Cyclone (17 points)

 

8. Exit (16 points)

This is tough enough when a band has 20 albums.  TD has over 100.  Here goes:
 

Ricochet

Alpha Centauri

Force Majeure

Zeit

Electronics Meditations

Stratosfear

Atem

Encore

Rubycon

Phaedra

Cyclone

 

1.  Zeit

2.  Atem

3.  Stratosphere

4. Alpha Centauri 

5. Electronic Meditation

6.  Ricochet

7.  Rubycon

 

Well, this thread doesn't seem to be a popular one. I know we've more TD fans than it looks...

Hi all, newbie here 

The difficulty when rating albums is to separate the memories of when the music was first encountered from the music itself...  

1. Stratosfear

 

Is that the Ukrainian flag in your profile avatar?

 

 

 

Many thanks

Nah, county colours...

 

 

1. Stratosfear (72 points)

Welcome Balaboola ! So agree. No idea how qualified I am to judge the 'Top' TD releases . Personal favourites simply because of the personal associations they evoke .  

1. Ricochet

2. Rubycon

3. Phaedra

4. Stratosfear

5. Cyclone

6. Pergamon

7.Logos 

 

I can't list a favorite ... however I seem to come back to any of the LIVE material that had Linda Spa and Iris Camaa ... there is a neat and well conducted feeling in the music with those folks and going from Jerome to Thorsten, it didn't lose a touch at all ... and that is hard to do for any band, but TD? It's like it got better!

Consistently, all around, the best LIVE band ever!

You'll find four Tangerine Dream concerts featuring Linda Spa & Iris Camaa on this thread:- http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=121442" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=121442

I was not aware of that thread! With the fervor surrounding the forthcoming second massive box set Pilots of Purple Twilight (which will include the unreleased film scores The Soldier and The Keep, as well as the unabridged, remastered London Dominion concert that served as the blueprint for Logos), I know just what to post!

I had to go back to Page 10 to find that old Electronica thread. I posted it 10 months ago on November 9th. I saw a recent Tangerine Dream concert in the Prog Rock Dock concert series, but it's just not the same without the much-missed Edgar Froese there at the helm

I just posted the details for the second 10-disc box set due next month. That's going to be epic!

Pilots of Purple Twilight is including, for the first time ever in remastered form on CD, a lot of fantastic material, like the Tatort tracks, which will wonderfully complement White Eagle, as they will occupy the same CD and follow the album proper. Of course, the rest of the Virgin albums are newly remastered and included. I can't wait!

If you want some live action featuring the Froese, Franke, Schmoelling line-up, I'm posting it!

Those are cool to have. They were low-priced. I just didn't like the track overlap. But the two new box sets add so much previously unheard and long unavailable vault material, they're must-haves.

I feel the same way too about the track overlap. I would have much preferred one CD for each album, even if the box set had cost more money. The first Tangerine Dream box set has five albums on three discs and the second box set has seven albums on five discs. They did the same track overlap with the Edgar Froese box set too.

Hi,

Have them all ... absolutely love it ... and I would like to find some of the bootlegs from the early days, when things were different because you could not get the same sound twice easily enough!

 are you trying to do to me Paul! top 7 i`ll be back need time to chose 7...Soon

1. Purgatorio

2. Tangram

3. Kyoto

4. Exit

5. Views From a Red Train

6. Ricochet

7. Force Majeure

 

 

Without a doubt, those ARE two of TD's best albums. The title tracks are extraordinary.

They're my two favourites too. I'm glad they're leading the poll. 

yep, it was their 'prog phase' from 1976-1979 including an actual human drummer on the Cyclone and Force Majeure albums. I would certainly expect them to poll higher on a prog site than other albums. For me the rest of Stratosfear is overshadowed by the title track while FM is let down by the slightly weak 3rd track Thru Metamorphic Rocks (not a fan of Krautrock which I assume this is meant to be) although the rest is amazing so it makes my list but a bit lower.

Doesn't Ricochet (75) also has real drums?

Basically I like everything from 74-77 equally, and each of those albums rank amongst my favorites ever.

I've put the recently released Oedipus from 1974 on top, it's a double-album that brings out the best of that period, combining dark atmospheric Atem style drones with entrancing sequenced parts. Several bits were later re-used on Rubycon and Encore's Desert Dream.

 

1. Oedipus Tyrannus
2. Encore
3. Ricochet
4. Phaedra
5. Rubycon
6. Stratosfear
7. The complete 1980 Palast der Republik concert from The Official Bootlet Series Volume Two
8. Cyclone
9. Poland
10.Atem

11.Exit

12.Force Majeure

Green Desert has real drums and it's not placing. Stratosfear ranks high because it's in the Phaedra ~ Rubycon ~ Ricochet ~ Stratosfear sweet spot. 

"Stratosfear" is such an incredible piece of work, that it may seem like the other three comps linger in the background, but for me all four comprise one grand excursion, and the title track is the overture. I love it because they made something so different from Phaedra and Rubycon whereas they could have just let the sequencers fly and gone for afternoon tea. There are many non-electronic or keyboard instruments on Stratosfear, like bass guitar, harpsichord, harmonica and 12-string guitar ("The Big Sleep..."). It all sounds so eerie, phantasmal.

My two favorite studio albums (not getting into live or film scores) are Stratosfear and Exit.

Absolutely fantastic that we have that. My single favorite concert from the Official Bootleg Series.

It's available for the first time in the In Search of Hades box set.

Ricochet

Alpha Centauri

Force Majeure

Zeit

Electronics Meditations

Stratosfear

Atem

possibly but to my ears only Cyclone and Force Majeure have proper rock drumming on them which adds another quality. Ricochet is very important though as it pulled together 2 separate eras of TD with the ambient and the prog mixing very well. That said my favourite era of TD is easily 1980-1986.

 

 

1. Ricochet (81 points)

Listen to Ricochet between 5:00 and 10:00 and the great use of tom drums (no snare or cymbals) - and there is a similar passage on the flipside.

Hi,

I would think that if Chris played drums in RICOCHET that they were on tape ... not live. It would be impossible for him to do any kind of drumming considering the incredible complexity of all the machinery that he was in charge of and was able to get them to work every day they played!

Read the book (EF's) on this ... to get a better idea!

2.  Exit

3.  Phaedra

4.  Logos

5.  Stratosfear

6.  Thief

7.  Force Majeure

 

1. Stratosfear (83 points)

The Seven Letters From Tibet

Purgatorio ( I put this No 1 on my list!)

Views From A Red Train (in my top 7 as well)

The Island Of The Fay

Finnegan's Wake

Quantum Gate

Particles (although this appears to be absent from the PA database for some reason)

I would include Kyoto but that was recorded in the early 80's although released later.

It's most likely because not many TD fans have heard those seven more recent albums listed, including me.  

Atem
Encore
Phaedra
Rubycon

Force Majeur
Pergamon-Live at the "Palast Der Republik" GDR tied with Sorcerer. Sorry try as I might I can't pick one over the other.
According to Planet Mellotron their most mellotron laden album is Encore followed by in no particular order Atem, Phaedra and Sorcerer.

Electronic Meditation is one of my top 40 Krautrock albums. 

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)

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. 

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.

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.

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).

Btw, Sean: have you heard the shelved 1974 soundtrack/score http://https://open.spotify.com/album/0Xcb5Nz1mDDdNxlxfMpSJH?si=MBZmDcY2TMe6qSlqU_iIBA" rel="nofollow - 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) 

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

1. Stratosfear

2. Rubycon

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).

1) Ricochet

2) Stratosfear

3) Poland

4) Force Majeure

5) Rubycon

6) Phaedra

7) Hyperborea

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:

Paul, it looks like, you missed my voting. 

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. 

I don't think, waiting is a good idea, Paul. 

I love Quichotte of course and gave it 5 stars 

EDIt - oops on checking I only went 4 stars

http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=93726" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=93726

 That is a positively bizarre quote. (Who wrote it?) A cross "between Bette Midler and a sitcom theme"? I don't get it. Different strokes, as they say. Johannes' piano composition is hypnotic and elegant, and he rerecorded a standalone version ("Palace of Dreams") for his 2009 album A Thousand Times. 

Again, I've never really known anyone to not like when Edgar picks up his guitar! But maybe you'd like to hear the unabridged concert? There's a lot more to it...

Hey Rollon, Yes, I am hoping one day to find the missing music on a stand-alone disc.

verslibre wrote: 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.

Yes, I know about the part-live particularities of both Ricochet and Encore.

I wouldn't say I rated the latter low, but it's not nearly as rivetting as Force Majeure.

It it wasn't for FM, I'd say that TD's downwards slide started with Cyclone.

.

FM was my favorite TD album for a long time. Those two represent different eras. FM has live drums and is the second half of TD's full-on prog rock phase. Encore was the culmination of the FFB line-up. I can't compare the two aside from saying they're both essential.

Sean Trane wrote: It it wasn't for FM, I'd say that TD's downwards slide started with Cyclone.

-------------
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ipg=50&_sop=1&_rdc=1&_ssn=musicosm" rel="nofollow - eBay

It's just that whatever comes after either sounds like déjà-vu (or more like déjà-entendu) or fails to rattle my cojones.

verslibre wrote: Sean Trane wrote: It it wasn't for FM, I'd say that TD's downwards slide started with Cyclone.  You must hate '80s synths as much as I love 'em.

It's not just the synths... I don't like much the drumming... or even Frouese's guitar intervention in the 80's

Generally , it's the whole TD 80's soundscapes that I started finding boring around the time. It had lost the magic.

It's certainly to do with my dislike of the 80's overall, but not just that.

BTW, I don't know how much their numerous film OST works provoked their sonic changes (contractual obligations to stick more with the musical zeitgeist to be chosen for the job?).

Apparently the Sorcerer thingie didn't really change their musical course, but I don't get Thief and some of their other movie collab (despite  that in Risky Business, I don't fidn't their small participation very different than what they'd done in the 70's)

Someone  who goes by the "name" getitinyoursoul in the comment-section for the Quichotte-album at RYM. I fully get it, I'm afraid. Listen to Palace of Dreams from ca. 2:45 and onwards out and tell me that wouldn't make the perfect theme tune for a relatively safe and unfunny early 1980's sitcom.

It wouldn't. Because I've never heard it, let alone thought of it, in that context. TEHO.

 

I was never a fan of TD until Force Majeure and its generally the era of 1977-1987 for electronic music that I like most. That includes Neuronium, JM Jarre , Vangelis as well as TD. I never got into the whole Berlin school thing at all I'm afraid to say. Also tend to think that the use of Mellotron in electronic music is a total cop out. Hey ho.

^ Yes I know. Our main attraction to a band like Tangerine Dream are probably very different. Pretty piano melodies such as in the intro on Quichotte is certainly not part of why I was drawn to them. Not rocking guitar solos either, that's for sure. It was mainly the sort of Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares-"journeys in sound" that interested me. I've eventually warmed up to some of their more conventional sounding albums, but much prefer their abstracted soundspaces, trips to space or whatever... over cute little sitcom themes.  

  

Don't miss Raum.

A

In 256 Zeichen 19:09

Along the Canal 5:31

B

You're Always on Time 8:10

Raum 14:54

The same but with Encore instead of Electronic Meditation (at least today)

Encore, Poland and Logos are excellent all outstanding live albums, but ever since I picked up Bootleg Box, Vol. 1, I haven't even looked at another TD album......the official releases are cut-and-paste TD shows - no knocking them, they're wonderful, but the Sheffield jam and the Croydon show from the Boot Box just lay out what the TD were putting down......eye opening stuff - highly recommended.  

It's a double album: Zeit (Time) —> Raum (Space). They're fifty years apart.

It feels more retro than I anticipated (expected) and the music's very good, the best released in a while.

-Modern day TD may superficially link Raum to Zeit all they want, I'd still argue it would be a better album with a bit of trimming. They might as well cut it down to the two "epic length" pieces and just one of the shorter ones, name it Beta Centauri - and pretend it was a continuation to Alpha Centauri - also fifty years apart.

Anyway, now I sound more negative than I rally am. I liked most of what I heard, In 256 Zeichen and the title track in particular.

verslibre wrote: It feels more retro than I anticipated (expected) and the music's very good, the best released in a while.

Yes indeed.

With Edgar gone, that would be impossible to achieve with Raum. Edgar has a credit on three tracks only; on the previous album Quantum Gate, Edgar's credit is absent from only one track.

Additionally, I wouldn't expect anything made now to match what TD accomplished in the '70s.

you can add the album yourself 

Thanks, I may do but just wasn't sure if was omitted for a reason.