Atem
Tangerine Dream

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When I first listened to Atem in 1982 I was a little bit disappointed.No sequencers, no melodies... But at that time I was 13 years old andwas expecting stuff like Stratosfear or Logos which where the firstalbums I bought. In fact it took me a long time to appreciate the albumsthat where released prior to Phaedra. It was too experimental for me atthat time and age. But if I had to make a top 10 list of all my fave TDalbums Atem would surely be amongst them. The first minutes areabsolutely glorious (or like Julian Cope said in his "Krautrocksampler"book: "music to build pyramids to") It brings back memories of mehearing this Side A as a teenager, lying in my bed late at night withheadphones on and the hi-fi full blast (and I mean FULL blast ;-),waiting for this giant crashing sound to come (when the pyramidscollapse ? ) The last 10+ minutes of this song couldn't be differentfrom the start but are also very very beautiful. "Fauni-Gena", the firsttrack on Side B.... When listening to this track I always thought aboutprehistoric times, giant birds and dinosaurs. A world uninhabited byhumans. Another TD classic. The closing track "Wahn" sounds a little bitdifferent from the rest... Some people going mad and screaming likechimanzees, beating furiously on their bongos. A track which empties anycrowed room in a few seconds ;-) I love it. It really showed to meFroese/Franke/Baumann had the guts to do what they wanted to and didn'tcare about commercial success. (although later Atem was chosen as the"Import of the year" album by John Peel. I guess TD owes him a lot forhe was the person who started TD's career) From all the albums whichwhere released until 1973, "Atem" is my favourite of them all (butclosely followed by Alpha Centauri and Zeit).

Heiko

Better late than never :-

I've listened to Atem several time this week but simplyhadn't found time to sit down in front of the PC andtype my rantings in ... until now:

Anyway, here goes:

ATEM - Virgin Records VD 2504 & Jive Electro C TANGD 2Atem 20:25Fauni-Gena 10:43Circulation of Events 5:49Wahn 4:31

Atem, which means breath or breathing depending on whichof the German speakers I've asked over the years, starts,unsurprisingly with sounds reminiscent of breathing. Veryrapidly CF starts hitting the drums which come in with a regularsolid beat over the top of which drifts in a melody. Voices (orat least voice like sounds) populate the background and someharsh tones from the electronics decide to visit as well.This part of the track can hardly be described as relaxing -the drumming is very insistent. Everything builds towards abig crescendo the drums becoming more and more frantic and aguitar making almost explosion like noises in the background.Eventually we get to just after 5:40 and the crescendo happensand the maelstrom stops abruptly and we are left with hauntingsounds rather reminiscent of Alpha Centauri. Everything getsa bit 1970's TV and Movie Space film soundtrack like withstrange noises rising, falling and popping. The track continuesto develop but is never very peaceful or calming - odd momentsmight be but - on the whole the tones used are quite harsh.One thing about this central part of the track, it's all verymonaural, everything coming from the middle of the sound-stage.After 14 and a bit minutes the track changes style again with abass sound reverberating in. The bass starts life as 2 tone,very reminiscent of slow relaxed breathing, after a minute orso the 2 tones become 4 but still with the slow regular breathinglink. The track continues with the rhythms getting much fasterand suggesting that it's all building to a second crescendo butit never does and the track fades away.

Fauni-Gena is for me a landmark track in the development of TDas it gives subtle glimpses of the way the music of TD willdevelop. Everything starts in a tropical forest with lots oftropical forest type sounds. Within seconds of each other ahaunting woodwind/flute style melody drifts in and some exoticbirds start to call. The synth's and the mellotron start to comein stronger and at times take over from the tropical soundswhich now form the background and drift in and out. The soundprogressively becomes fuller and fuller until at about 6:15a miracle occurs :-) There in the background a middle-rangerhythm develops which gives us a taste of the style of TD forthe nest 10 to 15 years (well that's my opinion anyway). Thisisn't the only "future echo" on the track, at about 10 minutesa drum-like rhythm that whose style we will hear again and againcomes in.

Circulation of Events, the most experimental of the 4 tracks onthe album and reminiscent of the immediately preceding Zeit onwhich it would not seem out of place. For the first half of thetrack the sound pulses everywhere, the background, foreground andmiddle are all full of different pulsing sounds. There are noreal percussion sounds to speak of and the whole track is quiteintense and arresting. I don't really have a lot more to say aboutthis track except that it's the weakest of the 4 by a long way.

Wahn, roughly translates as "nightmarish vision" which only reallysums up the first half of the track. We start with voices makingfull use of the sound-stage panning rapidly from left to right toleft. The voices utter few actual words, it's the sounds that areimportant. Just over a minute in the percussion starts, steady,rythmatic (did I just make that word up?) and loud at the start butthen becoming more violent and menacing as the voices too grow inintensity until the voices start to scream. Then, over just a fewseconds, the synth's start and regular melodic sounds drift in, thevoices tail off and the drumming ceases to be menacing even thoughit is still frantic. The whole thing quietens down appreciablyand it all ends peacefully with a mellow melody totally belyingthe oppressive start.

On the whole I have to put this album up there with Zeit andeverything released on Virgin. TD are clearly really getting togrips with the technology they are using and the album gives usinsights into what will come later in Phaedra, Force Majeure,Rubycon etc. once the overt experimentalism has cured itself.For me this is the real turning point in TDs career, away fromthe adolescent, naive (but still totally brilliant) earlierexperimental albums and onward into the brilliantly constructedsoundscapes that are the trademark of their golden era.Atem is a long way from Zeit and a million miles from Phaedra butat the same time perfectly explains the transition.Phaedra may be the turning point in TDs career from the pointof actually selling records and getting air-time but musically,it's Atem.

All opinions expressed are mine and you are of course at libertyto disagree vehemently but I won't listen to you, Atem is AWESOME,so there.

Jon.

WAHN(???)"nightmarish vision" is a bit of an interpretation."Wahn" means either "delusion", "madness" or "mania".Immo "madness" fits best with the music. It does soundlike what stoopid people (about all hollywood movies coveringthat theme obviously were done by such short minded persons)*think* a mental asylum sound alike.

Best Regards

Jens

Now the title/music combination makes much more senseto me and fits whichever of your possible translationsI apply. I was always uncomfortable with the nightmarishvision one as it simply didn't fit the second half of thetrack.

Jon.