Sorcerer (1977)

Originally recorded in 1973, Green Desert did not see the light of day until it was remixed and released as part of the In the Beginning box set in 1986, then as its own album later the same year. It is difficult to ascertain how radical this release is from the original recording, but as it stands, it is a logical step between the rawer-produced Atem to the ambient/sequencer-driven style of Phaedra. A key element of this is attributable to Edgar Froese's guitar playing on the title track, an unhurried solo that lasts only about five minutes in the nearly 20-minute piece, yet is easily the most memorable part of the entire song. None of the three shorter songs are as dynamic as the first, each containing a keyboard melody played over synthesized noises and the rhythms of drums, sequencers, or a series of chords.

Tangerine Dream's 'Wavelength' is the soundtrack to an obscure Robert Carradine sci-fi film from 1983, and while it offered nothing truly fresh or groundbreaking from the band, it's still makes for a fine background listen while offering several variations of spacey/electronic ambience. Composed by the trio of Edgar Froese, Christopher Franke and Johannes Schmoelling, considering the albums around it such as 'Hyperborea', 'White Eagle' etc, 'Wavelength' still features the ghostly Melloton, as well as having a distinct mid-70's TD period sound instead of the cold plastic 80's that was emerging during that time. It's mostly comprised of short little interludes and snippets which unfortunately means that many of the tracks rarely get time to develop better, and some sections are reworked pieces from previous albums…

Music For Sports - Power And Motion is the second of a two-part compilation (the first being Music For Sports - Cool Races). It compiles ten tracks from the following albums: Transsiberia (1998, two tracks); Ambient Highway Vol. 1 (2003, one track); Dalinetopia (2004, one track); One Times One (2007, three tracks); The Anthology Decades (2008, three tracks). This compilation contains no new material, but notably two of the tracks originally had been released on solo albums by Edgar Froese.

The music of this album was inspired by the German writer Christian Morgenstern, but there was also another idea behind the CD title, as Edgar Froese explained: A different view of earth as a Goblins Club from high above during a transatlantic flight. For this release, TD could not yet use all the advanced technology planned to introduce into their music. Not all of these devices did already work perfectly, so TD had to perform with this new technology step by step. This resulted in a musical product similar to its predecessors in style. This time, TD even had used wide-spread computer samples or presets: Fans were surprised when they found the passage of foreign female lyrics on At Darwin's Motel almost identical to the track The Child In Us on Enigma's CD Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi…

The material of this album was composed during Tangerine Dream's North American tour back in August/September 1988. Weeks after weeks in tourbusses, planes, hotels and various locations gave the two guys here the opportunity to get musically into something different off stage. The plan was to release the stuff as an on and off the road album later in the year. The road feeling as well as the summertime in the states had been a strong influence for these compositions. The album was completed while hanging out after the tour at a friend's place in LA. Because of various reasons the album had a delay for over about seventeen years before it now will be presented to the public. Actually, this record is composed and performed by Edgar Froese and Ralf Wadephul (who also toured the US with the band) - Paul Haslinger was not involved in this production…

Another in the long line of soundtracks by Tangerine Dream is actually one of the strongest in concept for any film they have done. The movie has a high degree of tension and the score by T.D. does just the trick. They use mostly hard driving sequencer rhythms to maintain the tension of the film. Listeners will find that this is nearly how all of the music is composed. There is very little melody within the structures of the music. But even with this lacking, the score is very well suited and very listenable. A couple of nonsequencer tracks are also on the album and break up the hard rhythms pieces.

Tangerine Dream had debuted on record the same year of the original Moon launch, and 30 years down the road, Edgar Froese and co. decided to dedicate a recording to the next step, the eventual landing of a man on Mars. The result, Mars Polaris, is what sounds like a surprisingly accurate rendering of the unmanned Mars Polar Lander's visit to the Red Planet (destined to arrive late in 1999), though the evocative atmospheres and gaseous effects are helped along by the equally descriptive titles "Mars Mission Counter," "Tharsis Maneuver," "The Silent Rock" and "Spiral Star Date."

Exit marks the beginning of a new phase in Tangerine Dream's music: Gone were the side-long, sequencer-led journeys, replaced by topical pieces that were more self-contained in scope, more contemporary in sound. Johannes Schmoelling's influence is really felt for the first time here; Tangram, for all its crispness and melody, was simply a refinement of Force Majeure's principles, and the soundtrack to Thief not an album proper. On Exit, listeners are introduced to electronic music's next generation, notably on "Choronzon" and "Network 23," which brought the sound of the dancefloor into the mix (it hasn't left since). That's not to suggest that Tangerine Dream has stopped creating eerie, evocative music…

Another in the long line of soundtracks by Tangerine Dream is actually one of the strongest in concept for any film they have done. The movie has a high degree of tension and the score by T.D. does just the trick. They use mostly hard driving sequencer rhythms to maintain the tension of the film. Listeners will find that this is nearly how all of the music is composed. There is very little melody within the structures of the music. But even with this lacking, the score is very well suited and very listenable. A couple of nonsequencer tracks are also on the album and break up the hard rhythms pieces.

Exit marks the beginning of a new phase in Tangerine Dream's music: Gone were the side-long, sequencer-led journeys, replaced by topical pieces that were more self-contained in scope, more contemporary in sound. Johannes Schmoelling's influence is really felt for the first time here; Tangram, for all its crispness and melody, was simply a refinement of Force Majeure's principles, and the soundtrack to Thief not an album proper. On Exit, listeners are introduced to electronic music's next generation, notably on "Choronzon" and "Network 23," which brought the sound of the dancefloor into the mix (it hasn't left since). That's not to suggest that Tangerine Dream has stopped creating eerie, evocative music…