OPTICAL RACE

However many Tangerine Dream albums have I got - I think I stopped counting when I got to 70. I first encountered them around the time of Alpha Centauri (a bit too "experimental", shall I say, for me), saw them come into focus when they signed to Virgin, saw them lose some of that focus after they left Virgin in the early 1980s. It was several years before I made contact again, having bought a Private Music sampler CD entitled "Some Music Is Private Music", which included tracks by such figures as Andy Summers, Eddie Jobson, Jerry Goodman - nothing second rate here. The third track was the longest on the CD - 8 Minutes 17 seconds of "Marakesh", from "Optical Race." Boy, were things back in focus, boy did they kick up the dust. I was back on board. I had to go back to catch up on "Underwater Sunlight", the first with Paul Haslinger.

There's a lot of snobbery around when it comes to Tangerine Dream. The supposed "Golden" Virgin years weren't all golden (Cyclone", anyone?) and the later years have too often been dismissed too lightly. "Optical Race" showed them starting to rock - no more "noodling and doodling" - it was loud and in your face.

I love this record. "Rubycon", "Stratosfear", "Force Majeure" had wonderful tracks, but I loved "Marakesh", "Mothers Of Rain" and "The Midnight Trail" as well. I carried on loving them well into the 21st century and the sudden loss of Edgar Froese affected me more than the loss of many of his contemporaries. Some of the later albums were better than others, but there was always something to inspire, something to make me want to listen.

"Optical Race" and its follow up "Lily On the Beach" are albums I often return to, both part of the wonderful journey that was Tangerine Dream.