If Caesar heard this music playing from the other shore. His dreams of empire would have been done, nothing more.He'd soil his toga,run for home, hearing Tangerine Dream, blasting out this score. Peace & Love, forever more.

This track is one of my absolute favorite TD tracks. When finally we emerge from that etherial opening into their dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-… sequencer stuff - OMG, it’s so powerful. I love it. That whole section feels like a musical interpretation of an MC Escher etching. The flow and shifting changing patterns all tightly interwoven. Plus it REALLY COOKS there for a spell. A Masterpiece.

Excellent reaction, Justin. "Rubycon" is probably our favorite album of Tangerine Dream; we like both sides equally. "Zeit" (German for "Time"), their 1972 double album, is a very different beast. It has no rhythm whatever, and the first track ("Birth of Liquid Pleiades") starts with four real cellos. Definitely not for everyone and also probably not something to listen to often, but when you do it is always extremely rewarding.

Try Cyclone. There are vocals, flutes and drums in addition to the usual sequencers. The album was somewhat dismissed by critics but it remains one of my favourites, especially the side long Madrigal Meridian.

Glad to see you come back to TD. This album is a transition album with dreamy gentle sections, and driving rhythmic sections. Now, although 'Stratosfear' is the next studio album ( and the tour where I first saw Tangerine Dream ) , the next album in order should be 'Ricochet' - part studio and part live - and probably my overall favorite ( well, but then we've got the 'Sorcerer' soundtrack, and the 'Thief' soundtrack, and Frose's "Maroubra Bay" from 'Epsilon in Malaysian Pale'. . . . arrggh !) But yes, do Ricochet next.

My father showed this band to me when I was just a kid. I miss him so much. Thank you for your reviews man. I really like this channel. Stay safe! From Brazil.

Tangerine Dream has such a large and varying catalog and as others have mentioned, the band evolved (with different musicians) to less 'ethereal' music. I like it, but others don't. I think an album that is sort of mid-way is a live album called 'Pergamon'.

"Without the music of Tangerine Dream, life would be a mistake." Their decades-long art is an endless treasure chest, to be sure, but I would have to add my recommendation to the 1979 album 'Force Majeure' for next. Three compositions of sheer radiance :)

Thanks Justin but I still think you need to check out ‘ricochet’ which is my favourite TD album and all the better for the fact that it was recorded live. Almost 50 years ago it seemed like Tangerine dream had captured the future on vinyl. Its weird and maybe a bit sad that the music still seems futuristic now.

The first few minutes of part two are absolutely terrifying. It makes me think of a recording of an air raid siren being played at the wrong speed. Extremely disturbing.😮

This is probably TD's best piece of music, imo. The vox humana mellotron parts (no monks were harmed in the making of this record) do indeed sound like the Ligeti music from 2001 (the film, not the year!) and what follows must surely have influenced Vangelis' Blade Runner soundtrack. I can't have been alone in thinking (in 1975) that, in the future, all music would sound like this. I was wrong but sometimes I still wish I was right.

It's good that you give TD the time to listen as early TD is often a difficult listen and appreciation for many. They were very much a live experience band with amazing improvisational skills. Frequently you don't know what they are playing as all their compositions seemed to be interwoven and fused together. There is a vast collection of the band's concert recordings on "The Tangerine Tree". That said, now you are ready for the next album Ricochet (1975), probably their best 70's album. It's a natural progression from Rubycon, If I gave Rubycon an 8 out of 10, Ricochet on the same scale is a straight 10.

Glad you have found one of the most unique groups in the music. Really way ahead of their time. Discography spans over five decades and to me, the journey starts from the beginning. TD's style has changed a lot during the years, but perhaps because of the founding member and the soul Edgar Froese, TD always have retained something familiar. The next ten + albums are absolute classics.

Ok,I have a big soft spot for Tangerine Dream..and this particular album. This was my first electronics album. I purchased this back in 1981 Justin. I absolutely fell in love this amazing, dreamy,deep, unsettling masterpiece by TD. I played this to death butty..I love the cinema scope,sounds...effects...I got transported to a distant planet that HR Ginger my have lived on. Dark,yet beautiful... unsettling,but calm as a passing river...what a great voyage back to my twenty s Justin..great choice my friend.. great review,as usual...wow...thanks for an early Xmas present Justin..awesome!!!! Me Debbie hope you two have a wonderful Christmas, you deserve it butty...love from Wales ♥️🫶

Dark ambient synthscape. Superb.

Another live album that no one is mentioning is Logos from 1983 - it's such a good album!

One of the original trio's very best albums. I herewith recommend RAUM, their latest recording, especially the stunning track 'In 256 Zeichen'.

I wish they had had something akin to this in the Harry Potter movies' soundtrack instead of the common symphonic stuff. That human voice, or should I say Vox Humana mellotron is eerie, perfect for the dementors to show up. Fyi, creatures drying people out of happy feelings and finally soul.

Might be more appropriate for Halloween than Christmas time, but hey....I'm easy. One of the bedrocks on which the electro-ambiant movement was built.

Some more upbeat melodic classic tracks is white eagle, Dolphin dance and cloudburst flight.

The intro to part two makes me think of sirens for an alien invasion. The synth choir section reminds me of the male choral parts of the 2001: A Space Odyssey soundtrack (I'd recommend listening to Atmospheres which accompanies the 'Star Gate' sequence in the film).

Rubycon can be likened to sound painting, like musical Dali (besides Edgar Froese met the painter in the 60s and was inspired by the surrealist movement and that suits me perfectly because Dali is my favorite painter). For me the two parts of Rubycon are complementary because built in the same way and they both start in an atmospheric, strange and vaporous way then in their second part come to be grafted very successful hypnotic loops created by the sequencers, and to finish the trio returns to ambient and dreamy mode. Everything is beautifully linked and coherent in its entirety. Rubycon is a work of art impervious to time and trends. Justin, for the next Tangerine Dream album, I suggest Stratosfear (1976) because while keeping some sounds similar to Rubycon, it offers new ones and the melodic aspect is put more forward (while not losing sight of the mysterious atmospheres so particular to TD). It's my second favorite after Rubycon and I think you might like it too ! 😉

Raum mostly comes from the current bands' live improvised sessions - which they then cut up to form structure and worked on. On some of the tracks, they used Edgar's ideas for sequences and melodies but now are using software that can alter any note polyphonically to fit in with their material (Melodyne) - this is a different approach to their previous album where they were playing over Edgar's sketches and sounds and/or writing music that would work as an intro or outro.

Love this era TD. I'd do the albums Ricochet and Stratosfear next. Poland (double live album from a later era) is one of my favourites as well. About time you got back to some more Sabbath & Jethro Tull too ;-)

I listened to this whilst concurrently listening the "Finnegans Wake" from Audible, and thought it made a most harmonious dish. I then remembered that I had seen something about the band doing their own version of Finnegans Wake...and sure enough, there it sits, on Bandcamp, with several songs in the series. For a whole host of reasons, I too shall be doing such an album. One doesn't spend decades studying something without seeking some sort of return. :) I think I may have seen Tangerine Dream in the 70s, but great concerts were so pullulative back then, and substance abuse so rampant, it is hard to tease out the full panoply of experience. I did have Phaedra and USA Live, I believe it was called. Earphone music for sure. Have you covered Kitaro, Tomita or Osamu? Also very good with the knobs.

Like your review and description. Nice articulation. I've followed TD for years and adore them. I'd recommend Tangram + Force Majeure + Ricochet + White Eagle + Underwater Sunlight. See then in concert if you can...

i always thought that tangerine dream never got the credit they deserved for heavily influencing giorgio moroder on donna summer's " i feel love"

Michael Palin (of Monty Python fame) made some excellent travel shows such as "Around the world in 80 days with Michael Palin" and "Pole to Pole with Michael Palin". This reminds me of Neuronium's "Chromium Echoes" but it predates the Neuronium track. edited to add this the great music for painting, at least for me.

I first heard TD in the late 70s as a pre-teen and fell instantly in love with them. I still prefer their early stuff. This particular album is fantastic. You should definitely react to more of them.

heard the album Tangram by Tangerine Dream already ? Or Ricochet ? Stratosfear ? Sorcerer ? Or Poland and/or Exit ? I love synths, since the late seventies , and those sequencers and arpeggio's . Froese , Franke , Bauman , Schmoeling , Haslinger ....

My favorite Tangerine Dream album is Underwater Sunlight

The first time i heard TD was when Alan Freeman played the 1st half of Side 2 of Ricochet on his Saturday Rock Show on Radio 1! As it happens, I think it's probably their finest moment, though Zeit, Atem, Sorcerer, Exit are all great too. You could also try the Spanish group Neuronium (3rd, 4th, 5th albums) - for a few brief years they were the hottest name in Synth music (really!)... 😸

For me personally this music creates ongoing vivid images in my mind. It feels like they create a soundtrack to my memories that are deep hidden inside of me. Memories that are slowly coming to the surface and then fade away again like the change of sequences in the music. TD has changed their style more than once, as the members of the group changed as well. Later drums and percussion and guitar became an important element. Every incarnation of the group has its own style. For me every incarnation has its right of existence. The only incarnations you can argue about are the two incarnations after the death of Edgar Froese. If you want to listen to something completely different to this, I would suggest their albums Tyranny of Beauty from 1995, or Optical Race from 1988. Stratosfear was mentioned a lot, too. Stratosfear from 1976 gives you a hint of what is about to come in the future.

Remember that the moog squencer preset rhythmic patterns had to be constantly switched between by hand to achieve the constantly shifting bass and rhythm sounds

Awesome stuff. Love when and how that sequence comes in.

JP...try "Epsilon in Malaysian Pale" by Edgar Froese...that will take you on a trip!

The album is a solid gold gem of the finest calibre - only the follow-up, the semi-live Ricochet exceeded the perfection of Rubycon, just a little. Thanks as ever for your thoughtful and perceptive review. But PLEASE next... try Edgar Froese's first solo album, Aqua, which is chock-full of incredible music, the likes of which have never been bettered. I would first suggest the mysterious and magnificent NGC 891 (which is the name of a galaxy far, far away, well off the usual Hitchhiker hyperspace expressways - NGC stands for New Galactic Catalogue). The first time I heard it, I was laying on the bed in the sunshine in an illegal state of mind - and there is a sound a few minutes in which scared the living daylights out of me, as it sounded like a jumbo jet was about to crash in the back garden. Still gets me that way all these years later (even though the state of mind has becalmed in more recent times). That's the beauty and benefit of listening to sounds recorded via the artificial head system on a quadrophonic record deck! After that, your next port of call should be the tricksy-beat of Panorphelia. A recommendation which I've not seen anybody else make - though I didn't have time to read all the comments, so I may have missed one or two - is an earlier album by Tangerine Dream - Alpha Centauri. It is very much the forerunner to their classic Virgin trio, but virtually completely beatless - no sequencer, no pulsating beautiful desolation, just eerie mystery - especially when a dislocated voice far in the background intones... well, I won't offer a spoiler here - just listen to a brilliant piece of early 70s soundscaping. Finally JP, can I bring you more up to date with two recent developments on the TD sound. I don't know if you've yet come across the name Redshift, but please do a listening review to some of their 'old school' TD-style-given-a-makeover. The band have issued around 15 albums since 1996, all of which are very creditable, but very pricey, and I would suggest the album Ether as being possibly the best of the bunch. I believe you will enjoy it immensely. Sadly, the band are no more, as their main musician, Mark Shreeve, passed away last August. And then I'd love to witness your reaction to Lithuanian musician Edgaras Žakevičius, who trades under the name Stellardrone. His music is mesmerising and melodic, shifts almost glacially, and he pretty much gives it away online (although if you buy the CDs, you will pay the usual going rate). Just one track I would really like to recommend - as you might expect from a committed Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy fan (that's me, that is) - the beautiful Milliways. If that name means nothing to you, it was the name of the Restaurant At The End Of The Universe. Only available on a compilation as a download, for which I don't have the technology. One day, one day, when circumstances improve... Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! And Thanks For All The Fish - sorry, reviews!

Hey Justin! Preparing for the blizzard that is coming to the Midwest. Wishing you and your family a Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year!!! Cheers!🥃🥂🍻🍺🤶🧑‍🎄☃️🌲🔔⭐🎁☮🎵🎼🎶

This remains my favourite TD album.

Both their earlier and later albums are very different. From Exit on they gradually moved to a more 'pop' side - lighter sound, shorter tracks, more accessible, more melodic etc. Zeit is one of TD's early works, and it's.. a void. An infinite black cosmic void. Empty yet impressive

The mysterious and mesmerizing "Rubycon" exists outside time, but "not distant, it still sounds relative and like it belongs here and now" as you put it. What's next? The less ambient "Ricochet" leads to the more melodic "Stratosfear". In hindsight, those two were transitional albums on the way to "Force Majeure", a more structured new stage in TD's development that's true to its title and definitely the most different of the three with no loss of quality. I recommend the latter as your next stop before moving on to the 80s.

This album is included in my 40 or more Tangerine Dream CD collection and in my opinion, their 90's sound is much more enjoyable.

Listen to Edgar Froese - Maroubra Bay from Epsilon In Malaysian Pale album

The early T.D albums are all fantastic to my ears.... i still have them all on vinyl.

Justin a lot of these sounds are included on my Mellotron Cards. There are 8 chapters covering their career but every time I posted them on youtube I incurred a Copyright Claim. I just push one key and the very beginning just appears.

Since the Rubicon is a river I'm guessing that's what the water noise is meant to be.

Danke!

Definitely should react to Force Majeure next.

I am not making a suggestion. Back in the old days I used to have my favorite bag of herbal remedy. I would turn down the sound on the TV and use the stereo to replace the audio. This Tangerine Dream album sounds like it might work with the right movie. Pink Floyd was well worn.

Force Majuere is good and Exit but I really like Melrose. Their music varies much more than you realize. In the 2000s, they had a harder edge to them which I also like a lot.

Ricochet, stratosphere, Encore, Cyclone, White Eagle, Pergamon (live). These are even better than this good but in between album.

The absolute best for me!

I'm assuming this is all done on analog synths, much like JMJ's Oxygène the next year.

I would try out their live album Poland. It is my absolute favourite.

Justin, I can see where you go by asking a different album: Stratosfear, Ricochet, etc are very good, but very much the same to what you've already listened to. I'd go with ZEIT, a very different beast, it's like music from the beginning of the universe, but a dark and ominous universe! Another one would be LOGOS Live, a very different album, early 80s, with very tasteful drums and melodies, that's really another side. So, Zeit and Logos, totally different albums but really worthwhile both!

For me Cyclon by Tangerine Dream is a great album, a bit different, as it has vocals and some changes in the lineup.

A far cry from Too Hot For My Chinchilla!

Another side of TD? Try Hyperborea, where they introduced drums!

Feels good! 🙂 If one day you feel like a piano concerto with a bit of extra jazz thrown in you might find you fancy *Credo Part 1 - by Refugee* . Nice thing is that if you like it, there's a Part 2, too. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/oN2qYJRlqLSqf5s.html

The only instrumental synth band that mean anything to me don't belong to this particular era. I'm talking about the late eighties/early nineties duo The Orb. Their debut album "Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld" is a classic mix of chill out and deep dub echoes with a definite Floydian influence. One half of the duo is Youth, the original bass player for Killing Joke, who guests on a couple of Kate Bush albums. He's now back with Killing Joke, as well as being a recognised producer. I just find their style has more going on, compared to what i consider the monotonous nature of Tangerine Dream's albums. There are definitely proggy elements to the band, and the aforementioned album is certainly worth looking into!

Aaah, a soundscape... how quaint. I think i may've actually been impressed when, as a kid, I first heard this. But as i've touched on before I now find a lot of these things rather passé. Listening to it now I found it rather uninspired, and a tad insipid.

I get this is iconic, but honestly there is so much better TD than this. Try Force Majeure, Optical Race, or Stratosphere. If you want the best of the best, try some live stuff, namely Encore (1977), Poland (1984), or if you really want a treat, try 220 Volt Live (1993). You need better music recommenders! Really, sit down with a cup of coffee and 220 Volt Live then get back to me.