STRATOSFEAR

Oh, what a great departure from their previous two works Phaedra and Rubycon! Instead of the dark, abstract and structureless sound landscapes, Stratosfear is highly melodic, pleasant and has fine harmonies and rhythms. Tremendous jump forward, as far as I´m concerned. I was never a fan of pure eletronic music (or any kind of music, for the matter) without a defined melody line or some hint of coherent structure. And you have all this here. Their first real symphonic efford combined with their great expertise in eletronic sounds and effects.

Of course is not prog per se. It is still basicly an eletronic album, with some more conventional instruments on the forefront sometimes (guitar, piano) and the use of the programmed rhythms is quite primitive, of course, but highly effective and not intrusive in any manner. But the songwriting is the real difference between this CD and the previous ones: simply superb, with gorgeous, inspired tunes and terrific performances. A real pity that this would be their last with the classic line up of Froese, Franke and Baumann.

Production is excellent for the period. All four tracks are good, but highlights are the title track and the epic Invisible Limits. this last one in particular seems to be a great sum of all that Tangerine Dream has done so far mixed with the new direction. A real gem. My only gripe with this CD is the fact thatm at 34.39 minutes, it´s a bit too short, even for the 70´s standards. You´ll find yourself longing for more.

If you´re interested to know this legendary band and, like me, prefer the more melodic side of eletronic music, this is an excellent place to start. Rating: four strong stars.