RICOCHET

We had many forerunners in electronic musical history, such as the German Karl Stockhausen, the Frenchman Pierre Schaeffer and the Italians Luciano Berio and Bruno Maderna. But things caught on rock when George Harrison himself launched the eclectic Electronic Sounds, in the late 60s. By this time, the Moog synthesizer (created by Robert Moog) was already the great villain of rock, competing with the guitar. The Beatles' latest album (Abbey Road) even has its "B" side filled with Moogs. Experimental bands such as The Nice, Popol Vuh and Ash Ra Temple were already starting to include this instrument in their albums. The ultimate face of electronic rock would come to light in the hands of the Germans Klaus Schulze, Edgar Froese and Conrad Schnitzler, or rather, Tangerine Dream, with their first album (fully electronic), Electronic Meditation, recorded in Berlin in 1969 and released in 1970. The group, until today led by Edgar Froese, is responsible for an extensive discography that influenced many people. Klaus Schulze left the band after this first album and became the "number one keyboard player" in the world, with an incredible and unique heritage in rock history. Also with an eclectic, numerous and creative discography, Schulze would be responsible for encouraging people from all over the world. But the focus here is the posthumous tribute to the recently deceased EDGAR FROESE.and his group Tangerine Dream.Edgar had parallel to Tangerine Dream, a very prolific solo career with great albums such as Aqua, Stuntman and Pinnacles among others. Edgar was born in Germany in 1944, after the war. He died on January 20, 2015. In the beginning, Edgar was a guitarist in the experimental Hendrix Power Trio line(1969) where the newly formed band did not contain the main element that would enshrine it all over the world: the synthesizers. With the release of Electronic Mediation (recorded in 1969) in 1970, Edgar would go to the metaphysical, fiction and occult theme. The sound of the new proposal would open up extraterrestrial territories and inhospitable to the ears of rockers accustomed to guitars and limitations of basic rock. The new song was 90% based on synthesizers, organ and mellotron, with some guitar patches and some acoustic drum seams played by Chris Franke, mixed with electronic beats. With the release of strange and bizarre albums such as Atem, Phaedra and Rubycon, the new vanguard of German kraut expanded, leaving even record-loving Pink Floyd's Ummagumma astonished. In 1978 the group revises the kraut line (with the LP Cyclone) closer to progressive rock, and would revise it again with the LP Green Desert (1986) with more insertion of guitars, vocals and acoustic drums. But these 2 albums are one of the few records of the band in this area, which had as pillars Edgar Froese and Christopher Franke, going through numerous formations with excellent guest musicians. In general, they passed through the band, modifying and adding with their utopian touches, musicians like Peter Baumann, Johannes Schoemmeling, Paul Haslinger, Michael Hoenig and, currently Edgar's own son, Jerome Froese, among others more recent. But of the great and remarkable phases that are divided into 3 periods (the vintage), the middle period (the 80s and 90s) and the current one, the most promising ones are from the 70s and 80s. Tangerine Dream characterizes the Berlin School as well as Kraftwerk characterizes the Dusseldorf School...different in proposal and metaphysical conception, but both based on synthesizers. GReat albuns like Ricochet, Pergamon, Alpha Centauri, Phaedra, Rubycon and the second phase White Eagle, Force Majeure,Tyger, Underwater Sunlight, Firestarter(wonderful soundtrack),etc...are a must for any progr. electronic fan!!!

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