Tangerine Dream - Logos: Live at the Dominion

The most haunted room

Logos was recorded in 1982, at a time when Tangerine Dream was having a second wind. The band had spent the 1970s creating monstrous ambient freak-outs, universe-sized abstract cosmic soundscapes that swirled and pulsed. They developed a formula whereby a giant synthesiser would produce a bouncing rhythmic sequence, and the band would improvise over the top of this with Mellotron, flute, guitar, and whatever came to hand. By the end of the 1970s this was wearing thin, and the bandmembers were growing tired of each other. There was a brief go at turning Tangerine Dream into a conventional prog-rock band, with drums and vocals, but by the early 1980s the group had adopted a modernistic, clean synth-rock sound.

Like the rest of Tangerine Dream's live albums, Logos consists of music comparable to but not otherwise heard on the group's contemporary studio recordings. As I understand it, the music on Logos is only a small part of the band's set from that night; it is apparently the first five minutes of the evening's concert followed by the last half hour. The odd thing is that it divides neatly into two halves, a good half and a dull, anonymous half. I'll say up-front that I have heard Tangerine Dream live concerts from 1981 and 1984 (on the band's second bootleg box set, and on the official live album "Poland), and I prefer them to Logos. They are conceptually similar, with the same basic sound, but they are moodier and more tasteful. Logos is nonetheless a frustrating album, because although it is mostly inferior to Poland, one section is very good, but not quite good enough to warrant buying the album.

Still, on the positive side, it's a very accessible record. People tend to love or hate Tangerine Dream's epic space music of the 1970s, whereas Logos has mass appeal. It has notes and chords. It has tunes and basslines and drum machines, although the drum machines sound feeble and play feeble patterns. Compared to the same drum machines wielded by Kraftwerk or Throbbing Gristle, at the same time, Tangerine Dream's drum programming in 1982 was perfunctory.

The first few minutes are slow and atmospheric, but there is only so much a band can do with an ominous drone, and so most of the album is fairly animated, with blippy sequences and Casiotone drums. In general, Tangerine Dream fill a lot of space with soloing, which works in the first section, because there is a strong melody and a well-defined, melancholic mood. Later in the record the soloing is just dull. It's notable that the solos on Poland - sometimes with guitar - were strong and interesting, whereas Logos sounds almost childish at times. One of the problems that faced Tangerine Dream, as they abandoned pure atmosphere in favour of melody, is that it is easy to tell when a melody is trite and simple, whereas pure atmosphere is abstract. The band's abstract cosmic improvisations of the 1970s will not date, because they sound like nothing else from the period. On the other hand, a lot of Logos sounds like early-80s television soundtrack music, particularly the section from 36:00 onwards, which could easily have been used in one of the Police Academy films, perhaps to underscore a beach party. The final minutes strive for epic majesty, but fail badly. One of the best definitions of camp that I have read is that camp is "failed seriousness", and this is often the case with Logos. The tasteless poppy bits undermine the moody, dramatic sections, turning them into the electronic equivalent of the "Dragnet" theme tune.

The instruments sound old-fashioned. Kraftwerk's synthesiser pop of the 1970s has dated, but it has dated in a charming way, whereas Logos puts me in mind of Blue Thunder and Airwolf and Knight Rider. Tangerine Dream had their pick of all the modern synthesizers of the early 1980s, and I suspect they did not take the time to sit back and ponder whether they liked PRESET 12: FM CLUNK because it was good, or just because it was new. Perhaps I react this way because I was alive in the early 1980s. Perhaps people born in the 1990s will be stunned by this vintage electronic masterpiece. To be fair, the band might have simply had a bad night - the 1981 and 1984 concerts have not dated so badly, even the drum programming in the 1981 concert is superior.

Still, back to Logos. The theme that comes in at about 20:00 is super. I first heard it on the soundtrack of the film The Keep, indeed it is the reason I bought the album. It is powerful, it sounds massive, you can hum it, you can tap your feet to it. It's simple and hypnotic. It also sounds a bit like "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes. It skirts very close to camp - the chords are almost too dramatic to take seriously - but I remember that it worked well in the film, and it is undeniably vivid.

After that point the album has nothing much of interest. It reminds me of the incidental music from Legend, but less focussed. It also reminds me of Steve Hillage's contemporary synth-pop album FOR TO NEXT, which had a whiff of Tangerine Dream about it. It was a dull, uninteresting album, but it pointed the way to greater things. Steve Hillage went on create System 7, a band that made some excellent ambient music in the 1990s, whereas Tangerine Dream's music nose-dived in quality as the 1980s continued. It was not inevitable that this would happen.

Overall therefore I recommend you buy Poland instead. It's a better Tangerine Dream live album, and a better album overall; it is the band's swan song. On the evidence of Logos it is hard to see why people remember Tangerine Dream, whereas Poland has something. Also, if you can get hold of the 1981 concert on the box set, do so - it's almost as good as Poland, despite being three years older. March 11, 2008

... Wake Up!...

Tangerine Dream (TD) has been making music so impressive and timeless that has allowed them to be out there for 40 years in a row.

Without a question, TD really are the pioneers of electronic-rock music.

Their music is so diverse that has been also labeled as ambient, electronic, new-age, progressive, techno, trance-dance, etc, etc.

I consider myself as an early follower and collector of TD music (from "Electronic Meditation" to "Madcap's Flaming Duty"). For me, their most impressive era goes from mid 70's to mid 80's (from "Phaedra" to "Live Miles"). And from this specific era their best music is (in that particular order):

1. Logos: Live at the Dominion,
2. Underwater Sunlight,
3. Poland: The Warsaw Concert,
4. Pergamon,
5. Paris Dreams Live 1986,
6. Quichotte full concert,
7. Ratikon,
8. Logotypes,
9. Wavelenght: original soundtrack.

"Logos: Live at the Dominion" is pure magic, is their best live performance, and the sound quality is superb. Even today, "Logos: Live at the Dominion" still sounds fresh and unique. I always play this one very loud with my eyes closed and when nobody is at home. Every time that I listen to this album I discover new sounds and secrets. It takes me into a wide-open-relaxing mode... ahh...

...wake up!.

I give "Logos: Live at the Dominion" 10 stars. It is the best of the best of all times.

Greetings from Mexico City. May 19, 2007

Interesting upbeat TD

This is in my top three for upbeat TD. poland,logos,and white eagle are my favorites. while poland i feel is their best upbeat album. this comes close and is a bit different in that it has a wierd trippy sound unlike most anything you have heard before. the reason it got 4 stars again is because its live and you hear the crowd in the begining and end. the first track is long at 45mins 6secs the second is an encore at 5mins 44secs the first track starts slow and builds up to a peak at around 35 to 36 mins which is my favorite part. definitly worth a buy if your a td fan and dont mind it being live. actually on the second track the live feel just adds a bit of energy to it which is cool. May 5, 2007

Absolutely the best TD album PERIOD

This was TD at their best. Listen carefully to it - I have owned this album for over 15 years and everytime I listen to it I hear something new. It is almost as if TD purposefully created little treasues buried everywhere in this album begging to be discovered. If you have never experienced TD, this is the best way to get to know them. August 7, 2003

Pretty Good set

Being a fan of earlier TD I found this album rewarding as the tunes are well-paced and not too repetitive considering their length. The production is very good and the performance masterful. Quite a lot of sequencing going on so also technically quite an accomplishment. Side two was not quite as interesting as side one. August 6, 2003

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