Electronic Meditation
Tangerine Dream

D:Studio [Electronic Meditation] [iš šio albumo [tadream] fanų elektroninės konferencijos]

Well, it's been over a year since I last listened to this, and onlythen because I had just bought the newly remastered version on CD. Ithought I'd dust it's cover once again so that I can start thisdiscussion off. I tend not to listen to this too much as I find ithard work, more noise than music, and none of the driving sequencesthat made me fall in love with the Dream.This is probably the least Tangerine Dream-like of their albums, andyet it was the one that started the whole experience off for us.Electronic Meditation: 19701. Genesis (Geburt)2. Journey Through A Burning Brain (Reise durch ein Brennendes Gehirn)3. Cold Smoke (Kalter Rauch)4. Ashes To Ashes (Asche zu Asche)5. Resurrection (Auferstegung)These are the days of Ed, Klaus Schulze and Konrad Schnitzler, and thedays when the TD sound was created with 'conventional'instrumentation. No big Moog's here. Pounding drums, relentlessalmost, bring me in mind of Klaus Kreigers drumming on Force Majeure.Flute, cello, and guitar make up the rest of the cacophony that isGenesis. Why this track ends up on so many samplers is beyond me. Theonly saving grace is when the organ at the start of Journey Through ABurning Brain. Julian Cope describes Genesis as 'never more than astrung-out beginning to a very wild record'. I'd be more inclined todescribe it as shite. But that's because I'm a Scouser and such wordsare in my everyday vocabulary.The second track, at least in the second half has a bit morestructure, but it's still far too much noise and not enoughatmosphere. Cold Smoke has a much nicer, laid back feel to it. Well,at least for one minute until the cutlery and the mixer that wouldlater appear on Oasis make their first entrance...With Ashes To Ashes, this whole album is beginning to drag now.. Ican't tell one track from the other. I'm sure glad that this isn't theonly TD I'd ever heard or I would hate them with a vengeance.Resurrection sparks a little bit of interest, mainly because of thebackwards voices on the recording (not sure when this was first doneon an album, but it must have freaked a few people out back in 1970).Thankfully, before too long, this album grinds to a halt, and I'm sorelieved when I get to take this out of the player.I suppose Ed can be forgiven, as in a 1984 interview, he says thatthere was no intention to release this album. I've made a roughtranscript of the interview below.Interviewer: I started the proceedings by asking how the originalmembers of the band first got together.Edgar: Terribly (laughs) the thing was that the whole recordingsession erm, I mean was a recording session, it wasn't plannedto release the first record at all. It was a Sunday afternoon whenwe came together on a small studio in Berlin, and we were justsitting together and playing around a bit and someone did tapeit. And a couple of months later we had already forgotten aboutthe session, about the tape, about everything and we got a letterfrom a German record company saying that "Oh, we are veryinterested, very unusual kind of music, we want to release it"and we couldn't stop laughing about it because we said what an idiot(laughs) who would want to release such a record? Because, as youmust know, at those days, Germany had no music identity at all really,and so we were not prepared to copy the American music, to copyEnglish music, so we tried to do something on our own you know?And what we did was just rehearsing, I mean we just tried to figureout which way to go. And that first experiment, call it an experiment,should be released on a record, I mean was very fascinating.I'm not sure where the interview came from, I only know that it wasdone in London in 1984.The album cover is another thing. It is without a doubt the one that Ifind the most disturbing. There's something about a naked decapitateddolls body that doesn't quite gel with my sensibilities. Even now,after owning the LP for something like 15 years, I don't like lookingat it. The photo was taken by Monica Froese, but having seen some ofthe beautiful things that she has created, I can't see a picture ashorrible as this coming from her mind.. I'm sure that the idea camefrom one of the guys, and Monica merely took the photo. Perhapssomeone will put me straight on that one...I own this album only for completeness, but if I had to give away justone of my TD artefacts, this would be top of the list. If you don'town this album, take my advice and don't bother with it... not unlessyou are one of the mad completeists that I'm sure most of us are.Historical interest only I'm sure....Regards,LawryHmmm haven't heard this in a while...Definitely one strange album :-)I'm listening the album as I write this.I first heard Genesis on a compilation album and thought that the wholealbum was like this, but then I bought (one of my last albums to purchasefrom TD) and heard Journey through a Burning Brain and that ..hmm they canplay chords too! (and they are quite nice too...imagine those chords playedthrough a mellotron and you know what I mean)So it wasn't as bad as I thought (or told).Genesis is a nightmare track...if it is dark and you lay down and listen tothistrack then you're in the middle of a nightmare.Cold Smoke starts scary, complete with the odd organ chords and someone'playing' on a guitar or something. Out of nowhere comes Klaus on drumsand that repeats itself complete with a broken microphone :-). Couldn'treallylisten to the end.Ashes to Ashes...now thats better...it surely sounds sixty. Eds guitarthroughan fx box (highlight of the album).Resurrection has those same chords as Journey through a burning Brain(which are quite powerful imo)...strange ending like Genesis.It's not an album which you play over and over again...definitely not, butit has got some kind of atmosphere...but I'm not in that kind of atmospherevery often :-)Marcel

Electronic Meditation [1970]Edgar Froese, Klaus Schulze, Konrad SchnitzlerGenesisJourney Through a Burning BrainCold SmokeAshes to AshesResurrectionThe first release by a band called Tangerine Dream. At times sounding like anorchestra tuning up, at others like a well-oiled jazz trio, this album isprobably the most non-TD sounding album that Ed has released. Of course, thisis not too surprising when we consider that this is a recording of three guysplaying with their equipment (no laughing at the back there!).Not something to be tried on unsuspecting family members - both my wife and myson were a little taken aback by the even-more-obscure-than-normal noisesemanating from the stereo yesterday as I got in practice for the review.Perhaps surprisingly, my 7 year-old son did identify it as TD, but that may bebecause I only listen to TD as far as he's concerned (how wrong can you be?).Klaus provides some pretty groovy, foot-tapping moments with the drums. Theflute is occassionally used to make some very eerie,electronically-generated-sounding effects so that I think the direction isthere even without the equipment which would come later. For me, the mostirritating thing about the album is the overuse of the grating guitar : Journeyin particular has too much screaming twangs which drown out what could be somereasonable work. Whilst the end of Cold Smoke also features plenty of guitarwork, it seems more in tune with what else is going on and so adds rather thandetracts.Looking slightly ahead from this album, I can certainly see the progressioninto Alpha Centauri (one of my favourites) - the drums are surprisingly similarin style (IMO). What I can't see is how they moved from this into Zeit, but Isuppose that's for another week.Using the Armin Scale of marking, I'd give this a 3AS - raw in places,irritating in others, but original and occassionally groovy.--------------------------------------------------------------Craig R. J. Cordrey

The weekly discussion is a thrill, I can't wait until we start reviewingPhaedra, Rubycon and other real classics. It is a fantastic idea and I willenjoy listening to all the albums thoroughly. Might I suggest that when we'refinished with the TD albums we continue with solo projects???But this week it's Electronic Meditation and I made a real effort and sat myselfdown to try and listen to it. After Genesis I simply HAD to shut down the CDplayer. Sorry folks, especially everyone involved recording the music, but Ifind the album almost unlistenable. I saw the CD in a record store along withall the other pink years albums and bought them, even managed to knock off a fewpercents of the price as I bought all five of them at once.The other four, Alpha Centauri, Zeit, Atem and Green Desert are good albums bymy standards, but this one I simply don't understand.Looking forward to poping Alpha Centauri into the player again and give it aspin, I think I'll start ahead so I come prepared to next weeks task.Thomas