SUNRISE IN THE THIRD SYSTEM - THE PINK YEARS ANTHOLOGY 1970-1973

Tangerine Dream is a German progressive electronic band that was formed in Berlin in 1967 by Edgar Froese. "Sunrise In The Third System ? The Pink Years Anthology 1970-1973" is a compilation album of Tangerine Dream that was released in 2011. As its name indicates this is a compilation that is only focused in the first years of the career of the band, the years that became known as "The Pink Years". Thus, has only tracks that belong to the first five albums of the band when Tangerine Dream was linked with their record label Ohr, "Electronic Meditation", "Alpha Centauri", "Zeit", "Atem" and "Green Desert", despite this last one have just been released in the 80's. So, from "Electronic Meditation" we have "Genesis" and "Journey Through A Burning Brain". From "Alpha Centauri" we have "Alpha Centauri", "Sunrise In The Third System" and "Ultima Thule, Pt. 1". From "Zeit" we have "Birth Of Liquid Plejades" and "Zeit". From "Atem" we have "Atem" and "Wahn". From "Green Desert" we have "Green Desert" and "Indian Summer".

"Sunrise In The Third System ? The Pink Years Anthology 1970-1973" has eleven tracks. "Genesis" is dominated by Schnitzler's scratchy creaking cello, combined with wild drumming and furious flute sounds performed by their guest, Keyserling. After a while something like a rhythm develops, but as soon as this is the case, the piece is already over and it goes straight and abruptly into its second track. "Journey Through A Burning Brain" begins as a freeform piece, then the organ enters with mighty tones, and finally the piece develops into a garish guitar orgy. This is a track that encapsulates the whole krautrock vibe and it's a perfect example of crunchy rock and roll. It's probably the highlight on "Electronic Meditation". "Alpha Centauri" has an interesting improvisation based around spacey electronic sounds, organs and Froese's guitar. At the end goes into a poem spoken in German and climaxes into one of the few cases of human vocal-harmonies on a band's album. The flute makes a fine atmospheric contrast. It's an incredible spacey and timeless experience. "Sunrise In The Third System" is a stealthy and hypnotic piece, with a dense organ and a ghostly flute. It has a clear nod to Pink Floyd thanks to the sound of the organ. It forms a perfect introduction to the main cosmic journey, a kind of decompression chamber that helps the listener get acclimated to the alien landscape of Tangerine Dream's world. "Ultima Thule Part 1" is an excellent song despite be short, an absolutely astounding piece. It offers a very edgy music, dominated by some heavily distorted guitar sounds, which is still kept in the style of their debut album. This is an accessible slice of psychedelic rock that implemented heavily distorted guitars and drums for a change. "Birth Of Liquid Plejades" is the first movement of the album "Zeit". It opens with the gloomy sounds of cellos improvising around some droning chords. After about eight minutes, it has transformed into a more electronic piece, maintaining the same doctrine of forlorn ambiance, except through the use of droning synthesizers. It's hard to pinpoint a particular idea here, but it's incredible the way it can captures such powerful emotion so abstractly. "Zeit" is the last movement of the four movements on their album "Zeit". It consists of free form synths and electronic effects along with Froese's guitar. It goes into full avant-garde weirdness with a barrage of terrifying sounds. It leaves the listener with the possibility of returning to the land or continuing the journey towards unexplored coordinates. "Atem" has a kind of a mysterious and epic ancient feel. It picks up the thread that started three years earlier with "Electronic Meditation", with Franke's impetuous drumming dictating the rhythm in a swarm of noises and effects, the organ and the synths to leave a liquid trail. "Wahn" in the beginning is a bizarre conglomerate of vocal excesses, Mellotron bursts and echoing drums beat out of the cosmic frame. In the first minute we have voices before the powerful finale with drums and lots of a Mellotron work. "Green Desert" is a nice atmospheric piece that begins with synthetic humming and shimmering. This merges into an extended and carried guitar solo by Edgar Froese, accompanied by some creative and driving drums by Christopher Franke, as well as all sorts of electronic sounds such as strings or choirs. "Indian Summer" offers wave movements and scattered string chords that come across as suspiciously modern. This sound image is interspersed with delicate melodic lines. This is a very mellow piece on which some synthesizers take the lead from time to time.

Conclusion: "Sunrise In The Third System ? The Pink Years Anthology 1970-1973" is a great compilation album of Tangerine Dream, another one exclusively focused on their first musical era. As I mentioned above, we have only tracks that belong to the first five studio albums of Tangerine Dream that were recorded between 1970 and 1973, despite the last one, "Green Desert" have only been released in 1986. This is a very interesting compilation album because it covers their psychedelic period, their most experimental and avant-garde phase. So, if you aren't much acquainted with this early phase of the band that is less known, this compilation album is a great starting point and a good introduction.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)