Tangerine Dream Virgin

A rather confusing package for those with a newfound interest in Tangerine Dream, The Essential Tangerine Dream might appear to be a three-in-one compilation by glancing at the front, since it lists three titles - two of which happen to be title tracks of Tangerine Dream albums - seemingly picked at random. As it is a single-disc compilation that features full-length versions of tracks by a band that thrived in the ten- to 20-minute format, the set is more like a sampler than an all-encompassing anthology designed to satisfy the curious. That said, this is an excellent sampler, one that should spark further interest in the group's deep discography.

Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce the release of a newly re-mastered edition of the classic album Atem by Tangerine Dream. Released in 1973, the album was the band’s last release on the Berlin based OHR label and heralded the beginning of Tangerine Dream’s wider international acclaim. Championed by DJ John Peel, Atem enjoyed success outside of Germany and eventually led to the group signing to the newly formed Virgin label. This Esoteric reactive edition is expanded to include a bonus CD of a previously unreleased forty minute live performance given by Tangerine Dream at the Deutschlandhalle in Berlin on November 29th 1973 and features a lavishly illustrated deluxe booklet with new essay.

Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce the release of a newly re-mastered edition of the classic album Atem by Tangerine Dream. Released in 1973, the album was the band’s last release on the Berlin based OHR label and heralded the beginning of Tangerine Dream’s wider international acclaim. Championed by DJ John Peel, Atem enjoyed success outside of Germany and eventually led to the group signing to the newly formed Virgin label. This Esoteric reactive edition is expanded to include a bonus CD of a previously unreleased forty minute live performance given by Tangerine Dream at the Deutschlandhalle in Berlin on November 29th 1973 and features a lavishly illustrated deluxe booklet with new essay.

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…

Tangerine Dream experiments with an ever-widening lexicon of sound on White Eagle, though the arrangements tend to suffer for it. The album's principle work is "Mojave Plan," a four-movement, 20-minute song that represents some of the darkest music they've recorded in a while. Perhaps it was Edgar Froese's fear of nuclear annihilation that fueled this bleak view of the future, but the piece's effectiveness is undermined by the decision to continually dabble with different sounds. Where earlier extended pieces tended to move the listener from point A to point B, "Mojave Plan" doesn't flow so much as fuse disjointed sections together. The remaining songs are more cohesive, though Christopher Franke's sequencer patterns, while initially intoxicating, remain static here…

Encore - Tangerine Dream Live, 1977 is one of the better concert albums from Tangerine Dream. As with most of their live releases, this disc features all new material. Each of the long-form (over 16 minutes) pieces has its own set of movements. In effect, it is like listening to four electronic symphonies. This is also one of the strongest TD lineups. The set features Edgar Froese, Christopher Franke and Peter Baumann on synthesizers, effects and other electronic devices. (It is Baumann's last recording with the band.) The music ranges from dirge-like drones to piano solos to crashing experimental textures. There are echoes of progressive and avant-garde rock. The set is uniquely Tangerine Dream, however, with similarities to Genesis, Pink Floyd and other art rock practitioners of that era.

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"…