DREAM SEQUENCE

As an introduction to the unique Tangerine Dream musical universe "Dream Sequence" is probably as good as it gets. They have released quite a few compilation albums since this one but if my memory serves this was the first TD compilation and it's still the best. The chief reason for that is that it covers the Virgin years,74-83 which many considers to be their best period. And there's no denying the many classics they made during those years,this is after all the period that featured albums such as "Phaedra","Rubycon","Ricochet","Stratosfear","Encore","Force Majeur","Tangram","Exit","White Eagle","Logos" and "Hyperborea",a quite stupendeously impressive list of albums to have been released within a mere 9 year period and they are all represented here. Naturally with TD favouring long epic pieces during these years,"Logos" for instance is a continous 45 minute piece,most of the longer tracks are here in excerpt form but what has been chosen from each track is always the best bits and this is after all supposed to be an introduction for people not familiar with TD,or not very familiar,and as such it works well. This was the album that properly introduced TD to me back in 85,I had only heard "Thief" previously and was looking for something that would present me with a potted history of the band,giving me an overview of the band's music in as handy a package as possible and "Dream Sequence" certainly fullfilled that wish. In addition to presenting the essential bits from the 74 to 83 period "Dream Sequence" also throws in the best tracks from the then most recent soundtracks,"Thief" and "Risky Business". In the case of "Thief" there's "Beach Scene" and from "Risky Business" ,"The Dream Is Always The Same" and "Love On A Real Train". The reason I'm withholding the 5th star is the omission of the title track from "Hyperborea" which is completely unforgivable and only including just a snippet from "Phaedra" rather than the whole thing which is only 16 minutes long after all so if they had thrown out the mediocre "Dominion" they could probably have been able to squeeze it in. For someone unfamiliar with Tangerine Dream I can suggest no better place to start than with "Dream Sequence" for a good overview of what is arguably their best period.