ATEM

As said before, the more digestable version of 'Zeit,' Tangerine Dream were still in a more Krautrock stage for their fourth album (which was more apperant in the Pink years), and would change for their more commerical and much more enjoyable (at least to me) Virgin years. The sound is still very experimental, spacey, yet it does not reach the comsic isolation of Zeit, and is much more consistent.

1.Atem - The early rumblings of what would become. The sound is hugely based upon Edgar Froese's amazing mellotron techniques, which he puts to amazing use throughout this entire album. Moog flourishes make an extremely comsic trip every bit more trip, as with electronic bleeps making visions of outer space even more visible, and Christoph Franke's steady percussion roles keeping an almost otherworldly beat.. The track takes a while to digest, as the opening only goes into a space drone filed with studio tamperings and horror movie soundtracks throughout, yet it always remains consistent. An amazing opening for the album. (9/10)

2.Fauni-Gena - The song reminds me more of a forest enviornment rather than anything cosmic, maybe a search through outer space and its limits? Anyways, Froese, again, puts the mellotron to the forefront with excellent drones and trippy electronics. Franke's percussion is less noticable than the last tracks, but it's mainly not about the beat for this track, more or so the lucid dreaming. A different track, yet still very great. (9/10)

3.Circulation Of Events - These last two tracks do not live up to the first two, as they are very inconsistent and drag the album down a bit. This one is very meditative, as it's almost a continuation of the last track (with wierd electronic bird noises like chreeps) but it doesn't have the same atmosphere and seems almost forced. (6.5/10)

4.Wahn - The most experimental (at least for the first part) of the bunch, as more human noises, such as laughs, crys, ect.., become more at the center of the music here. The song soon turns into an interesting mellotron peice again, yet with amazing drumming from Franke and some excellent synthesizer notes that really add to atmosphere. It's a good track, it just seems to be a bit too short for my tastes. (7/10)

The album has some huge highlights, and then some more or so medicore tracks. The album is worthy of a 3 stars, but I know that Tangerine Dream would do better works in the future and would be more consistent with their albums.