FORCE MAJEURE

I always felt that Force Majeure, Edgar Froese's solo effort Stuntman, and Tangram were the transitioning of Tangerine Dream into the 1980s, moving away from the 1970s sound to a more modern, synthetic sound appropriate for the new decade. It has a lot to do with new, prototypical digital synthesizers like the PPG 360 starting to become implemented, and the Mellotron pretty much making an exit. Force Majeure returns to being all instrumental, once again, after the presence of vocals on Cyclone wasn't too well received (to me, it's not that bad, and rather underrated). Force Majeure was an obvious giant relief for fans. Like Cyclone before it, it flirts more with prog rock than most of their other albums, since Klaus Krueger (spelled Krieger on both albums) provides drums, once again. The title track is a side-length piece, really tripped out parts, but there are parts where Edgar's guitar playing takes on more a role, giving it that prog rock feel, but there's plenty of sequencer action to let everyone know this is Tangerine Dream. At the end, they go a bit more the pop-route with some polyphonic synth riff and something that sounds like a drum machine. "Cloudburst Flight" clearly shows a more '80s direction the band was going, especially that whistling synth lead sound you continue to hear even as late as Le Parc in 1985. "Thru Metamorphic Rocks" features the Yamaha CP-70 electric grand piano, and guitar, plus drums, giving it that prog feel, then the sequencers kick in sounding like it was lifted right off Edgar Froese's 1976 solo album Macula Transfer, making me know who was responsible for the sequencers here. The only Mellotron I seem to notice on this album is that brass heard on this particular song, showing that Edgar Froese was losing interest in the Mellotron, thanks to those new prototype digital synths like the PPG 360 creeping in. Yes, I can notice that '80s sound starting to creep in, but it still showed that Tangerine Dream was still capable of making great music, and it's worth having, but may not reach the heights of albums like Phaedra, Rubycon, or Ricochet.