GREAT WALL OF CHINA (OST)

"Great Wall Of China" is another soundtrack from the undisputed soundtrack kings,Tangerine Dream,but unlike their mostly godawful feature film soundtracks,this is a documentary and they have done great things in that realm. In fact every single documentary soundtrack they have done is good,with some even quite excellent like this one. Not having seen the film I cannot comment on how the music integrates with the images but it doesn't matter if you have seen the documentaries that TD have made music for,the music is more than capable of holding it's own,unlike their more typical Hollywood style film music which only functions within the context of the movie. "Great Wall Of China",like all their documentary work,is by no means a poor cousin of their "proper" albums,it's infused with same creativity and innovation as all their best albums and this is probably one their very best albums of the last 10 years. One of the great things about it is that in the hands of lesser musicians than the Froeses,this could have been a complete klichee fest,with jangling pseudo Chinese sounds all over the place and been unbearably banal and embarassing. Being made of better stuff,TD avoid this and instead use Chinese influences very sparingly,just the odd vocal part and traditional instrumentation where it's needed and keeps the whole thing within familiar TD territory. Which means of course,for those who have paid attention over the last decade,a sort of fusing of the TD spaciness of yore with the newer forms of electronica that have emerged during the recent years. Many old fans have given up on TD because of their embracing of techno,trance etc. but I find it a natural development of the band (unlike the stadium rock horrors they chose in the early 90's). TD did invent the whole synth/electronic genre to begin with after all (beating even Kraftwerk by several years),and it follows quite naturally then that the masters starts picking up pointers and inspiration from the pupils. Not much they have done since the late 70's could be termed prog in my opinion and certainly nothing in the last 10 years but if you're not afraid of club and dance influenced music,coupled with some true weirdness ("Tiger Forest") "Great Wall Of China" is a winner. There are the usual new age tendencies here too as on so many of their recent offerings but it's kept a tight rein on and the album never reverts to the usual blandness that's normally associated with new age,and Edgar Froese deplores the term by the way and don't want TD associated with it in any way and I agree that it's grossly unfair to term TD a new age band these days. Tendencies is not the same as going the whole hog,it's more the seasoning of a dish rather than the dish itself. In summing up: "Great Wall Of China" is one of those TD albums that has it all: Techno/Trance beats,new age-ish lushness,the customary spaciness and even some experimental stuff. I don't think there's a weak moment during it's 57 minutes and I love it unreservedly and don't hesitate to give it 5 stars but keep in mind that while I do regard this a masterpiece of progressive MUSIC,I don't think it has anything to do with progressive ROCK,sometimes two very different things,so if you expect anything in the nature of rock music here,you'll be dissapointed. If however you have an open mind and is not married to drums,bass,guitars and vocals and the traditional rock trappings,I would heartily recommend this.

Yet another 'Original Motion Picture Soundtrack' from those lovable Germans, this album is solely the work of Edgar and Jerome Froese. It is also one of the most listenable albums of theirs that I have heard, although I do have to confess to not searching out their music a great deal. 11 'songs', and if you like keyboard instrumental pieces then this is one that you should probably try to hear. If you are after guitars or music that cannot be construed as New Age then look elsewhere.

Feedback #59, July 2000