The Price of Nice

Without doubt, the recordings of Tangerine Dream have made the greatest impact on the widest variety of instrumental music during the 1980s and '90s, ranging from the most atmospheric new age and space music to the harshest abrasions of electronic dance. Founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese in Berlin, the group has progressed through a full three dozen lineups (Froese being the only continuous member with staying power) and four distinct stages of development: the experimentalist minimalism of the late '60s and early '70s; stark sequencer trance during the mid- to late '70s, the group's most influential period; an organic form of instrumental music on their frequent film and studio work during the 1980s; and, finally, a more propulsive dance style, which showed Tangerine Dream with a sound quite similar to their electronic inheritors in the field of dance music.

The album cover deceptively depicts five O'Jays when actually only four members Eddie Levert, Walter Williams, William Powell and Bobby Massey sing on these tracks; Bill Isle, the fifth member, quit in the late '60s, and the cover was shot in the mid-'60s, when the group recorded for Imperial Records. George Kerr produced most of these tracks, with some productions from the Poindexter brothers; the recordings were originally released on Bell Records. "I'll Be Sweeter Tomorrow," a gorgeous ballad, became their highest chart entry to date. The follow-up, "Look Over Your Shoulder," nearly duplicated its predecessor's success; both were indicators of good things to come.

The close, two-part harmonies of brothers Don & Phil Everly – coupled with a deep country background and a sharp, melodic pop sense – yielded several huge hits for the duo in the late '50s and early '60s. Following some early country-styled recordings for Columbia Records, the Everly Brothers moved on to Cadence Records, where they added some pop sheen to their Appalachian-derived harmony vocals and, thanks to a Boudleaux & Felice Bryant song that cruised along on a shave-and-a-haircut rhythm, had a massive hit in 1957 with "Bye Bye Love," the first of several hits the brothers would score for Cadence in the next three years before departing for Warner Bros. in 1960.

This is a first part to a 2 part E.P. series of unreleased tracks from the "Tightly Unwound" sessions. The first track is a smoother, softer version of the "Tightly Wound" track from the album and it is also edited down one minute shorter than the album track. The parts edited out are mostly instrumental repeats and may not be very noticeable that they are not there. "The West Coast" is a mostly acoustic song, very short and not much of a standout, on the 2nd half you get the nice Pineapple Thief harmonies and then it's over quickly.