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| Tangerine Dream - Zeit |
 Released: 1972/1987 Label: Zomba Entertainment Inc. Cat. No.: (also released as Castle EMS 347*) Total Time: 75:55 | |
Reviewed by: Stephanie Sollow, April 2000 So here I am, having reviewed five more recent Tangerine Dream releases, taking a look back to their early years, starting with Zeit (1972), one of their first. But, first, a little background, not on Tangerine Dream but on my experience with Tangerine Dream. My first Tangerine Dream purchase was Canyon Dreams - I'm not sure what prompted me to pick this cassette out of the handful of Tangerine Dream disks there, but I suspect it had to do with release dates (some bizarre notion of mine to start with the recent and work backwards). At any rate, Canyon Dreams was the first, others followed, including the "going backwards" of buying Zeit. At first, then, I wasn't very impressed with this album - the more new age/rock styling being what I had been used to up until that point, meant that I found this very unmusical. I'd yet to truly discover Steve Roach, Robert Rich, etc. and ambient as a whole. With that said, I now listen to Zeit now with older, more experienced ears. Zeit is subtitled "Largo In Four Movements." The first movement is "Birth of Liquid Plejades," which at first sounds like an orchestra tuning up for the performance as strained, sustained violin-like notes hover as if in a moment of suspended animation. But not quite so still as they waver, breathe, while richer, cello-like tones lean in and out, as if making caressing gestures. A look at the guest credits tells us that these are no synthesized cellos, but real-life cellos - four of them in fact (but no violin). Certainly there are synthesizer tones in there, as Chris Franke and Peter Baumann are playing VCS 3's and guest Florian Fricke (Popul Vuh) is playing a Moog (on this track only). But, you can almost imagine a galaxy on the cusp of birth - some undulating something waiting to burst forth, and while it doesn't burst, it does expand. There is a quite stillness surrounding the music that evokes a sense of the universe, of a great, unfathomable expanse. The latter half of the movement simply shimmers, where synths are the fore, undulating hypnotically. "Nebulous Dawn" (Second Movements) continues almost seamlessly (though there is a break between movements) from the end of "Birth." Gentle, rolling percussion is pushed along by…well, undulating synths… Other synthetic sounds rumble beneath… High-toned chime-like effects cut sharp lines across the dark tapestry… deep, dramatic, churning sounds bubble up from below, only be quelled…the tension of this track is great, as it gently, dramatically builds…then falls back. This dawn slowly grows chaotic as chopper-blade like sounds flit in and out, only to be replaced by other exotic sounds… the sound of water or liquid dribbles in momentarily, merging into big bubble like sounds… The third movement "Origin Of Supernatural Probabilities" starts out with understated strummed notes over subtle keyboard drones - perhaps the former is Froese on gliss guitar (though looking at the related musical term glissando, perhaps not). More darkly percolating tones oscillate like a heartbeat, albeit, a racing one. This "origin" is alive. There are sections, during the third movement where light, operatic voices float up from the void, voices that at almost angelic. Why try to describe what I'm hearing? And to such a degree? Because if, like me, your familiarity with Tangerine Dream extends only as far back as the 80s, or maybe only the Legend soundtrack, you can see why long time fans have issues with more recent fair. Nothing of theirs from the last decade, at least that I've heard, is anywhere near as ambient as this. And where does that leave me? With me thinking this is a great, atmospheric suite of space rock - another fine example of the juxtaposition of stillness and movement. More about Zeit: Track Listing: Birth Of Liquid Plejades (20:00) / Nebulous Dawn (18:00) / Origin Of Supernatural Probabilities (20:12) / Zeit (17:43) Sound Clips: www.tangerinedream.de/samples/zeit.html Musicians: Contact: Website: www.tangerinedream.org Discography
[*It's this LP/CD release that's listed at the Tangerine Dream site. | |
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