THE HOLLYWOOD YEARS - VOL. 1

I first got this disc a few years ago, in my crazy days of buying anything from Tangerine Dream. It's a pretty good album, but not among their best. It is a collection of songs that they wrote for movies, but that were never used. I don't give a lower rating for soundtracks or collections, as the buyer should take that into account when they decide if they want it. Although this is listed as a studio album, it plays like a soundtrack. (which it is).

The album was produced in 1998, with Tangerine Dream now just consisting of Edgar Froese and his son Jerome. By this time TD had lost the experimental edge to their music, they were producing mellower ambient stuff with tracks that are becoming harder to distinguish from each other. "Goldhunter" and "Chamber of Hope" are probably the best tracks, but all the music is a pleasant, if unremarkable ambient mix. If I were to recomend a TD soundtrack I would suggest "Canyon Dreams" or "Thief" instead. If you like later TD (or ambient music) I would instead reccomend "Mars Polaris"