Virgin People 1984

The Virgin Years 1977-1983 is the follow-up to last year's The Virgin Years 1974-1978 (see review) by Tangerine Dream (TD). The latter album was a 3CD-box set comprising the five remastered albums TD recorded for Virgin Records between 1974 and 1978: Phaedra (1974), Rubycon (1975), Ricochet (1975), Stratosfear (1976) and Cyclone (1978) plus a selection of rare single releases, 7-inch edits as well as two rarely heard radio adverts. However, it didn't contain Encore, originally released in 1977. The follow-up to this previous release contains seven albums plus two singles all packed on a 5CD-album set.

David Sylvian - Weatherbox (1989) {5CD Box Set + DVD, Virgin Records DSCD1 rec 1983-1987}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 961 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 478 Mb
DVD5 -> 1.63 Gb | All Regions | PAL 4:3 | Dolby AC3, 2 ch | ~ 26m | ISO Image
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 180 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1983-87, 1989 Virgin Records | DSCD1
Rock / Experimental Rock / Art Rock / Ambient

DAVID SYLVIAN Weatherbox (Rare 1989 UK deluxe 5-CD box set spanning David's career and his many collaborations. Includes the releases: Brilliant Trees, Alchemy, Gone To Earth, Gone To Earth - Instrumental [Exclusive to this box set] and Secrets Of The Beehive. Also includes a 60 page booklet which documents each release and all the musicians involved plus fold-out poster. The artwork and design is by Russell Mills and Dave Coppenhall with sliding lid on the top of the box. The accompanyment by the likes of Bill Nelson, Sakamoto, Jansen/Barbierri/Karn, Russell Mills, Robert Fripp, Michael Brooks et al bears testimony to just how many TALENTED ARTISTS are influenced and eager to work w/ Mr. Sylvian.

Curated by the band’s current label, Cherry Red Records, this three disc box set was released in 2008 to herald a complete overhaul of the band’s catalogue from 1976 to 1997. Cherry Red acquired the rights to these albums, and rolled out a reissue programme that saw each album get a dramatic upgrade in sound quality, accompanied by bonus discs of previously unreleased songs or live takes. However, while Hawkwind’s legacy is impressive, it’s fair to say that not every album is a winner, and certainly in the later years the albums suffered from a lot of filler, and leader Dave Brock tended to recycle and re-record older tracks and simply badge them with new titles. This set manages to filter out a lot of the weaker material, and concentrates on the tracks that define Hawkwind at their best…

Peter Mergener is one of the artists you might like to refer to if you want to prove that the music business is unfair. His first formation Software was musically equally groundbreaking as German compatriots Tangerine Dream and their 80s output possibly better than that of direct inspiration Klaus Schulze. Still, even though they did manage to become an underground sensation, their music never made it to those big concert halls and only occasionly to the radio. After the breakup of his band, Mergener continued as an acclaimed solo artist, who again won the hearts of a dedicated group of music lovers with a prolific body of works. It would be well deserved, for if you haven't heard of Peter Mergener, you haven't heard of electronic music!

Despite being credited to both Edgar Froese and Jerome Froese, in fact only the final track of the disc carries anything of Edgar's fingerprints, being an alternate mix of his own composition Mombasa, originally released just a few months ago on Booster III (2009). All of the other remixes on DM V are solely the result of Jerome's work on classic TD material from the seventies and eighties, all of which have the original music more or less discernible at some point within them. The most deeply buried of the originals is the brief inclusion of a snatch of Rubycon (1975) as an inner layer to The Return of Time, largely swallowed by a newly minted percussion pulse and swathe of electronic textures. Other tracks, however, offer substantial representations of clearly recognisable original thematic materials, in bold but entirely appropriate new ways, such as the title track from Exit (1981) as Flow Paths…

Tangram marked the beginning of a new musical direction for Tangerine Dream. It's closer to straight-ahead, melodic new age music and more tied to their soundtrack material. The first of the two side-long pieces progresses through several different passages that use gently brushed acoustic guitars as well as the requisite synthesizers. For new age fans, this is the first glimmering of Tangerine Dream's eventual direction during the '80s.

Tyranny of Beauty is one of Tangerine Dream's best CDs of the early and mid-'90s. That's not saying a lot. The group's albums from that period - and even back into the late '80s - are relatively weak. And, to be sure, this disc has its weaknesses. However, they are overshadowed by its strengths, and the disc earns high praise. The TD lineup for this CD is Edgar Froese, Linda Spa, and Jerome Froese. Mark Horn and Gerald Gradwohl contribute various guitar performances. Those performances are the keys to this disc's merit. Gradwohl's lead guitar spots play off and to Edgar Froese's lead guitar. The sparring adds clout to the atmospheres. The atmospheres, in turn, build upon each other and create a grand soundscape. The strongest track is "Stratosfear 1995," a redesign of the Virgin era standard. This CD is a return to the basics with polish and tact. It is essential Berlin school electronica.

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."