DECADES: 70S

Tangerine Dream is a German progressive electronic rock band that was formed in Berlin in 1967 by Edgar Froese. Tangerine Dream is considered a pioneering act in the electronic music. The band's career is divided into several phases. The first one started in 1970 and ended in 1973. It marks a sound inspired by the psychedelic era of Pink Floyd in the Syd Barrett's phase, with several keyboard interventions and sound effects. It's close to the German progressive scene called krautrock. Their electronic work in those years produced albums that had a pivotal role in the development of the German music scene known as "kosmische music". In those years Tangerine Dream released four studio works.

"Decades 70's" is a compilation album of Tangerine Dream that was released in 2013. As its name indicates it covers the 70's but it's only focused in the first years of their career, 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 "Resurrection" and "Cold Smoke". From "Alpha Centauri" we have "Sunrise In The Third System" and "Ultima Thule Part 1", despite this last track have just been released in the format of a single, at the time, a rare single in our days. From "Zeit" we have "Zeit". From "Atem" we have "Circulation Of Events" and "Fauni-Gena". From "Green Desert" we have "Astral Voyager" and "Indian Summer".

So, "Decades 70's" has nine tracks. "Resurrection" begins with an almost solemn organ melody, to which a narrator declaims a true incomprehensible text that was recorded backwards. In the further course, the theme of the opening track is taken up. "Cold Smoke" begins with quiet organ sounds, which are repeatedly interrupted by short outbursts of chaos. Then the cello scrapes again, and snappy drums come and go, and another relentless psychedelic guitar attack ensues. The pounding drums and acid guitar is one of the main characteristics of this track. I think it was mostly Pink Floyd that gave the inspiration to this track with its lengthy guitar and organ freak outs. "Sunrise In The Third System" contains some slow spacey sounds and effects. It's a stealthy and hypnotic piece, with a dense organ and a ghostly flute. It has also 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 musical world. "Ultima Thule Part 1" is an excellent song despite be short, an absolutely astounding piece. It offers a very edgy music, dominated by heavily distorted guitar sounds, which is still kept in the style of the debut album. This is an accessible slice of psychedelic rock that implemented heavily distorted guitars and drums for a change. "Zeit" 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 land or continuing the journey towards unexplored coordinates. "Circulation Of Events" hasn't a recognizable melody or rhythm. It's dominated by organ and synths, slightly rippled by the vibrations of VCS3. It can be seen as a sinister sounding piece due to the strange electronic effects, basically nearly six minutes of humming and gloomy electronic sounds, making a great tension, a reminiscent of the earlier work "Zeit". "Fauni-Gena" shows the primitive ancestor lost in the lush and bewildering rainforest. It sounds as a forest of an alien planet bending the sounds of birds and other creatures with Mellotron and flute. The Mellotron is mysterious with notes which are the wide eyed wonder of a human being showing the hesitation of him probing the primeval environment. The band did a superior job evoking birds and insects through electronics, creating a virtual mechanical botanical garden. "Astral Voyager" is carried by a fast sequencer-like motif, and with its digital-sounding sounds much like an intensive Edgar Froese post processing, more after 1984 than after 1973. If one knows the Edgar Froese's pronounced "improvement vein", this assessment becomes almost to certainty. You may never know how it sounded in the original version, really. "Indian Summer" offers wave movements and scattered string chords that come across as suspiciously modern. This sound image is interspersed with delicate melody lines. It's a mellow piece on which some synthesizers take the lead from time to time.

Conclusion: We can really say that "Decades 70's" is a very good compilation album of Tangerine Dream that is only focused in their first years, the years that became known as "The Pink Years", the years when the band was linked with the Ohr record label. As I said, it comprises only tracks that were recorded on their first studio albums, "Electronic Meditation", "Alpha Centauri", "Zeit", "Atem" and "Green Desert", despite the last one have just been released in the 80's. So, these albums that are more linked with their most psychedelic, avant-garde and most experimental phase. This is a very interesting phase from the band, the phase where Tangerine Dream used for the first time the synthesizer and Mellotron. This was also the phase where their most known and best line up started with Froese, Frank and Baumann.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)