IN SEARCH OF HADES (THE VIRGIN RECORDINGS 1973-1979)

This lavish boxed set offers up one of the most expansive explorations of Tangerine Dream's 1970s material during their stint at Virgin. As well as the officially released studio and live albums from that era - Phaedra, Rubycon, Ricochet, Stratosfear, Encore, Cyclone and Force Majeure - the set also offers much in the way of bonus material, including two discs of rough working material from the Phaedra sessions, a whole swathe of live performances from the time period, and an entire studio work - Oedipus Tyrannus - which hadn't seen the light of day before.

Oedipus Tyrannus is an interesting transitional piece between Phaedra and Rubycon, though calling it a 'lost album' is not quite accurate; composed as the soundtrack to a stage play, it is instead a forerunner of the group's lucrative byline in movie soundtracks which they'd get into by the end of the decade (notably, since it didn't come out on Virgin, the soundtrack to Sorcerer isn't on here). Sure, it's the spookiest and most ethereal soundtrack work they've done, given the after-echoes of Phaedra evident on it, but stuff like the battle sequence shows them perking up and showing more energy than typical for their long-form pieces at this time.

As far as the newly cleaned-up live shows go (with the exception of Ricochet and Encore), the Victoria and Rainbow concerts are dazzling improvisations from a group at the top of its form, having just produced Phaedra but with pieces like Zeit and Alpha Centauri still in its rear view mirror. Sheer spacy fun on both counts, with preludes of Rubycon on the latter. The Royal Albert Hall concert and the Coventry Cathedral performance (the latter of which is provided as a 34 minute bonus track on the Stratosfear remaster here) likewise provide a logical bridge between Rubycon and Ricochet.

The set overall seems to be a bit front-loaded; whilst there's stacks and stacks of delicious extra goodies from the Phaedra/Rubycon era in the form of live performances, Oedipus Tyrannus and the like, these extras fade away rapidly, with 1976-1979 more or less entirely represented by the albums released at the time (with a few bonus tracks here and there). Perhaps it was felt that between them Ricochet and Encore already provided enough coverage of the Tangerine Dream live experience in the second half of the decade. The set also doesn't include their soundtrack to Sorcerer - though few collections of the Virgin Years stuff do (if any) due to rights issues.

Nonetheless, such complaints are minor matters, the issues in question greatly offset by the riches on offer here. If you're already a major Tangerine Dream fan of this period, you might be tempted by this set anyway thanks to the loving restorations of the material, the nicely preserved live shows, and a whole gosh-darn studio double album's worth of unreleased Oedipal magic. If not, even though the box can be a bit of an investment, the sheer amount of bang you get for your buck here makes it worthwhile in my book.