ENCORE (LIVE 1977)

I have to confess, my love of this album stems from a section of "Monolight" which starts around 4:00, and lasts for about 4 minutes. This is an absolutely wonderful swirling and cascading synthesiser piece, with a lovely haunting tone, and a lush melody.

"Encore" is of course a live album, recorded during the band's tour of the USA in 1977. You'll be hard pressed though to spot much to indicate it was recorded live, apart from brief cheers before and after the tracks and occasionally during the tracks, presumably in reaction to the novelty of the accompanying laser show.

The album was originally released as a double LP, with one track on each side. The CD version draws together all four tracks unedited on a single disk. The tracks are very typical of the band's studio releases around that time, to the extent while they are original tracks, they reflect some of the themes from those albums.

The opening "Cherokee Lane" begins with the ubiquitous wind noises and bubble effects, before the familiar plink plink of a TD rhythm is picked out, laying the basis for flute like synth. While the pace remains pretty much unaltered, the band weave through various themes and sounds in familiar fashion.

Apart from the aforementioned section of "Monolight", the rest of that track has a pleasant, rambling feel, ending with some Pink Floyd ("Ummagumma") like effects. The Pink Floyd similarities continue in the intro to "Coldwater canyon", which opens with some "Echoes" like sonic pulses. Edgar Froese switches to guitar here, adding another dimension to the track, which is generally slightly harder.

The final track, "Desert dream" is the weakest of the four. The music would make for good backing to a creepy movie, with spacey ambient sounds, and a slow plodding rhythm.

This was Peter Baumann's final album with the band, and "Encore" certainly makes for a decent finale to his work with them. Those who enjoy the music of the Tangs, but who generally have an aversion to live albums should fear not. "Encore" is to all intents and purposes, simply another TD studio album.

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