PINNACLES

This album sounds a bit like Tangerine dream's "White eagle", "Hyperborea" and some of their soundtracks of the corresponding years. There is omnipresent, varied and lively beat sequencers and many discrete keyboards layers. There are melodic keyboards and background floating streams of keyboards. All is recorded in very interlocking multi- sequenced patterns; it is mostly repetitive, but never dull. Froese has always this subtle way to merge his electric guitar sound with the keyboards arrangements. The keyboards layers are so well made that one may easily pretend it is a true Tangerine Dream's album, featuring the 3 official members of the early 80's! It is a very good album if you want to relax.

I would recommend any of Edgar Froese's five studio albums from the seventies. They all have merit, and if you can avoid the ones Froese has re-recorded you will be doing yourself a huge favour. "Pinnacles" was released in 1983 and is still quite a good album but not as organic as the seventies releases. I guess it depends what you are into when it comes to Electronic-Prog.

"Specific Gravity Of Smile" opens with atmosphere and this synth that sounds like whistling. Sequencers 1 1/2 minutes in. The whistling synths stop as other synth sounds replace it. An electronic beat dominates until 7 minutes in and then it turns spacey. Sounds slowly pulse later. "The Light Cone" is one I can't get into at all because the electronics have a higher pitch to them. "Walkabout" opens with what sounds like a gong then atmosphere and an electronic beat take over.

"Pinnacles" is the 22 minute side long closer. We get an uptempo electronic soundscape and the higher pitched synths sound just like the ones on Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" which was released a couple of years after this one. They will come and go early on. It settles 7 1/2 minutes in as the sound changes. An electronic beat comes in before 9 minutes.

Not a bad album but I miss the warmth of the mellotron from earlier releases.

There is one precious stone here

Last Edgar Froese's album from its "classic" 70-80 period, "Pinnacles" features a cold synthetic sound similar to "White Eagle". It also adopts the same structure of the TANGERINE DREAM studio albums of this period: one twenty minutes long suite, one short track and two mid-length pieces. The title comes from a region in Australia with strange rocks rooted in the desert sands.

"Specific Gravity Of Smile" displays an enigmatic soundscape over a fast watery sequence. A bit lengthy, but enjoyable. Maybe the German electronic band SOFTWARE took inspiration from this track, as its sonorities are very similar to their first albums, released the following years. The two middle compositions are the weak part of the record. The slow "The Light Cone" is rather anecdotal and a bit cheesy. "Walkabout" is slightly better, resembling a slower version of "Desert Run" from the Logotypes suite composed one year before and reworked in 1983 as "Sign In The Dark" for "The Keep OST". Here, the result is unfortunately not as nice.

Longest composition of Edgar Froese, the title suite is also one of his greatests! It can be divided in three equal parts. The rhythmic beginning contains strange eerie sounds and synthesizer textures reminiscent of TD's "Convention of the 24", but is not the most interesting section. In contrast, the pretty middle part is really magic. Different from other Froese or TD tracks, the atmosphere is simply unreal. The final section creates a mystical soundscape similar to "Green Desert" with its guitar incursions and floating keyboards. Trippy!

The main interest of "Pinnacles" is undoubtedly its title track. Clearly an essential listen for every TANGERINE DREAM or spacey old-school electronic progressive music fan. Once more, this shows that Froese and co. were still alive during the first half of the 80's. It's a pity the other compositions do not reach the same quality, otherwise the album would have been great. Overall, the record is pleasant but uneven, due to its weak middle part.

After that, we'll have to wait 22 years for Edgar's next studio opus...