Tangerine Dream Stratosfear

Stratosfear is the eighth major release and seventh studio album by the German group Tangerine Dream. The LP reached No.39 in the UK, in a 4-week chart run, and eventually reached silver status for selling in excess of 60,000 copies (£100,000+).

Stratosfear, the last Tangerine Dream album by the great Baumann/Franke/Froese threesome, shows the group's desire to advance past their stellar recent material and stake out a new musical direction while others were still attempting to come to grips with Phaedra and Rubycon. The album accomplishes its mission with the addition of guitar (six- and 12-string), grand piano, harpsichord, and mouth organ to the usual battery of moogs, Mellotrons, and e-pianos. The organic instruments take more of a textural role, embellishing the effects instead of working their own melodic conventions. Stratosfear is also the beginning of a more evocative approach for Tangerine Dream. Check the faraway harmonica sounds and assortment of synth-bubbles on "3 AM at the Border of the Marsh From Okefenokee" or the somber chords and choral presence of "The Big Sleep in Search of Hades"…

A spectacular 3CD live recording of the already legendary 2010 performance at Royal Albert Hall by the critically adored, hugely influential band Tangerine Dream! Opening with a dramatic cello quartet followed by an improvisational piano piece, this breathtaking show includes vibrant takes on classic TD material from the blockbuster albums Phaedra, Rubycon, and so much more!
The Zeitgeist Concert is a live recording of the already legendary Royal Albert Hall concert on April 1st 2010 in London.
In April 1975 Tangerine Dream played the Royal Albert Hall in London for the first time. So it was the 35th Anniversary in April 2010. In April 1970 TD released their first long-play album ever. This made a 40th Anniversary in April 2010. So TD indeed had to celebrate something which they took account of by performing a chain of very popular 33 tracks…

With "Recurring Dreams", the new generation of Tangerine Dream pay homage to the band's timeless beginnings with captivating and emotional renditions of selected classics, such as "Phaedra", "Stratosfear", "Tangram" and "Yellowstone Park". These new recordings are not just re-recorded covers but heartfelt and individual interpretations, featuring all generations of synths and sequencers, added layers and new arrangements, applying Froese's new quantum dream to these highly influential tracks.

Fans generally acknowledge the classic era of Tangerine Dream as coinciding with their Virgin years, which this collection rounds up nicely, opening with two landmarks, Phaedra and Rubycon, then including the group's broadening of scope and direction with the live Ricochet, Stratosfear, and Cyclone. This was directly after the early avant-garde years, consisting of experimental, arrhythmic work like Atem and Electronic Meditation, and before the Hollywood years, when Edgar Froese and co. began composing work for movie scores like Risky Business. Phaedra and Rubycon have not dated at all since their early-‘70s recording, despite Froese, Peter Baumann, and Chris Franke’s early adoption of Moog technology, along with Mellotron and other electric or electronic instruments. Along with the full LPs in their most recent remastering, the collection also rounds up single edits and 7” versions when they were originally available.

Tangerine Dream live in concert at Thomas Wolfe Auditorium during the Moogfest 2011.
It’s end of October, the 28th, 2011, 8 pm - a night to remember for many fans - a lot of them already in funny Halloween costumes - who turned up at Moogfest especially for the Tangerine Dream performance at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in Asheville, NC. American, Canadian as well as British TD fans have such a loyal connection to the energy of a TD concert that it is even for the band themselves always a breathtaking experience.
Now in their 44th year after the name Tangerine Dream appeared first time in public, one could assume that the musical energy has probably slowed down, but it is the opposite, a bundle of energetic rhythms, sounds and lead lines will accompany you through a night of a remarkable live experience…

Dream Sequence is an electronic wandering through this German band's most familiar instrumental endeavors. The two discs are made up of tracks stemming from such monumental albums as 1974's Phaedra and 1976's Stratosfear, merging right into some of their finest material from the early '80s. Fans of full-length Tangerine Dream tracks should take note that three of their most popular offerings are only excerpts, including "Rubycon Part One." The rest of the album is comprised of delightful synthesized washes that represent Tangerine Dream's mind-numbing electronic voyages, like the spaciousness of "Cloudburst Flight" or the finite complexity of "Logos Part One." Not all of their music basks in the coldness of keyboard machination though…

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 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.

This concert video shot at one of the most exciting venues in Germany will bring back memories to the strange years of experimental sounds & music in the early seventies up to todays' world of digital perfection. Tangerine Dream now at their 40th anniversary had always a critical as well as popular recognition. Being provocative and fairly succesful at the same time had given them an alltime controversial image. They've always taken the freedom of choice to travel on as many musical roads as they wanted to - without losing their integrity and identity. Enjoy three hours of instrumental music performed by one of the most creative bands of our time.