The MG Album Club - #31: Tangerine Dream - Stratosfear

[Unsomnambulist]

Tangerine Dream - Stratosfear (1976)



What can I say? I find this to be a (relatively) more accessible work by Tangerine Dream. I have heard other works by them that I couldn't finish and that's saying something.

Ambient, spacey, trippy and soothing. You'll have to turn this up unless you're in a very quiet room.

 

[Nickyboy]

This was the first Tangerine Dream album I ever bought. And it wasn't my last. Just superb. They were fully immersed in their laid back, ambient sound which they became known for, but hadn't reached their soundtrack/disco-lite stage yet (although "Thief" is a pretty good soundtrack).

 

[Ojai Sam]

flisten

In fact last.fm says I have only listened to TD 13 times, so obviously I have some serious homework to do.

I gather that this is the final album by the first lineup of the band. For their swan song, they added guitar, piano and mouth organ to their atmospheric bed of synthesizers, making for the accessibility that Unsom mentions. I'm enjoying Krautrock a lot more these days, and this is a great addition. Thanks, Unsom!

on the Sam-O-Meter.

 

[Old Uncle Toe]

First listen for me too. I know of Tangerine Dream but haven't made a deep dive into their discography. I hand it to TG for being on the breaking edge of electronic music. They certainly broke ground and made a statement.

This listen passed effortlessly. When I looked up, I was 3/4 through the album and didn't even realize it. Sadly, the piano that kicks in at about 9:00 into the last track was my favorite. That made me sit up and listen. The rest, while I respect the art of it, just doesn't make my ear vibrate in a way that makes me want to go back for more. I didn't mind listening to this, it just didn't grab me.

I was curious though, so I spun their first album, Electronic Meditation. That was much more psychedelic and I enjoyed it much less than Stratosfear. I listened to a couple of tracks from Booster from 2007 and it wasn't so bad. I'm listening to Tyger from 1987 now. I was surprised to hear a vocalist. The instruments themselves have a sound much like typical 1980's pop synthesizers, but they're not schmaltzy, so it isn't off-putting. I'll go a few more tracks and see how it goes.

I'm not sure I'll become a Tangerine Dream fan, but now I'm listening to a fourth album of theirs. It's interesting music.

 

[Nickyboy]

For me, Tangerine Dream's best are:
1. Stratosfear
2. Phaedra
3. Zeit
4. Force Majeure
5. Thief
6. Tangram
7,. White Eagle
8. The Dream Mixes (remixes done really well, imo)

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

This (as everyone knows) is not my usual fare - in my large extensive musical library I have exactly zero Tangerine Dream tracks or albums (so very impressive to me that Nicky can rank 8 of them). Color me (with ambient daubs) impressed. Interesting how timeless this seems - I didn't look at the year initially (and had forgotten what year Rick had gotten) and I was thinking late 90s, early 2000s. Quite beautiful at times especially the final piano work. Not sure how often I'll break this one out again, but I liked it