ENCORE (LIVE 1977)

After I have played this album I cannot for the life of me think how they start and end each piece. This is a double album that contains four sides of music but I simply do not remember starting each side. Maybe it the years of decadence and swinging from a bong, the nitrogen bubbles in my brain or the fact that I may have a short attention span or something. One thing I do like is a good riffing and hypnotoic guitar wail, and Encore is flooded with those strains as Edgar Frose' Les Paul gets caught up in a mesh of modulation and beats and pure electronic ambience provided by Chris Franke and Peter Baumann. Sometimes being on auto pilot can be a good way to get through to Tangerine Dream's music, just sitting there late in the evening slipping away. I can imagine going to a Tangerine Dream concert and seeing sofa's and settee's all over the venue just for the lazy indulgence of it all. I do not think it would be possible, for me at least, to keep fully alert at one of their gigs, but in a positive way mind. I like to semi-drift off when listening to the Dream. But if you smoke and your lazy it might be a safer thing to stay clear of these guys. Encore is a trippy album, but staying awake for the encore might be a little ambitious.