 |  | Bounces around inside your head |  |
I'm not an expert on TD, but I know what I like. Other reviews have complained that this is a live album with overdubs added, as if this is something to complain about. Personally, I'm more concerned with the overall sound and feel of the album. And may I say IMHO, I love this album! Let's face it. Many of their studio albums had overdubs and double tracking etc., and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Those practices became very common in the '70s. So, these guys took a live performance and added some overdubs to make a more entertaining album. That's perfectly okay with me! You're not going to hear this music on any other album! This is Ricochet! This is it, baby! The album sounds great! It drifts into some more discernable melodies than some of their earlier, more spacy works. Still, it maintains the basic spacy, ethereal, exotic, gloomy maybe a bit spooky, obscure qualities that made them famous. Synths, sequencers, maybe a quick bout with drums here and there, computerized music....a little piano and electric guitar thrown in for good measure. TD purists may put it down for not being a 'true live album'. That means nothing to me. This has the spacy, spooky obscurity of TD's earlier stuff, with some melodic tendancies. This is a pleasant TD album, and an exquisite listening experience. And isn't that what listening to music is all about? At least for Tangerine Dream fans? If you're a TD fan, this is a good pick. But if you're just a snob, well.......
September 2, 2008| | | First live album and a great one | |
Ricochet, released at the end of 1975 was Tangerine Dream's first ever live album and it's not like other live albums you might own where a group concentrates on the hits and fan favorites and maybe throw in a surprise or two. This was brand new material. Fresh on the heels of Rubycon (one of the highlights of electronic music, as far as I'm concerned), the band delivers yet another album certain not to disappoint. The music still concentrates on sequencers, relying heavily on rhythm, and it proves these guys were able to pull it off live. The album is basically one piece divided by part one and two (thanks to the album being originally released on vinyl). The Mellotron has been cut back a bit on this recording, but it's used some. The album is less atmospheric than Phaedra or Rubycon, but that shouldn't matter with the top quality material the band was presenting us. Listening to this album, I really can't help but think this had a huge impact on Radio Massacre International, a British trio that's released a ton of CDs in the past nearly 15 years (1995's Frozen North being their debut CD). Go listen to something like Emissaries (2005) and you'll hear a lot of Ricochet rubbing off on those guys (RMI are also big time Mellotron users and seems Edgar Froese in general rubbed off on them in regards to tron use, and I understand they actually bought Tangerine Dream's tron tape frame for their use).
Really, Ricochet is totally essential to your electronic collection, proving to everyone that the lineup of Edgar Froese, Chris Franke, and Peter Baumann is not only the finest lineups of TD, but probably electronic music's finest, period.
January 31, 2008This is an excellent "live" (some parts were overdubbed in the studio) album by Tangerine Dream. Chris' sequencers are just simply awesome. Edgar's guitar work is good, but a bit repetitive.
Overall, this album is a perfect sample of the classic Froese, Franke, Baumann lineup. Both tracks take you on an atmospheric and ambient journey into the universe of sound and the opening piano part of track 2 is a memorable tune that was often a staple of piano solos performed in the '80s during TD concert tours.
One of their best recordings from the '70s.
June 20, 2007| | | Gothic and gloomy electronica - great stuff! | |
This live album was released hot on the heels of their 1975 masterpiece Rubycon and has a similarly gothic and gloomy atmosphere. In contrast with other live albums however, this sounds just like it was recorded in the studio - the sound quality is excellent and the audience can not be heard at all (apart from the beginning and end of the piece). Ricochet was cobbled together from live performances recorded during the autumn of 1975 in both France and Britain. If the recording was taken from a number of separate performances, there is no evidence of that in terms of sound quality - furthermore, I feel that the the performances were seamlessly and expertly "stitched together".
The lineup on Ricochet is the classic incarnation of the band: Edgar Froese (electric guitar; bass guitar; mellophonium; mellotron; VCS3 Synthi); Chris Franke (double moog synthesizer; Synthi A; organ; piano; VCS3; drums); and Peter Baumann (Organ; Synthi A; Flute; electric piano; VCS3). The guys put in a great performance and Edgar throws in some slightly distorted electric guitar work to spice things up a bit.
The 38'14" Ricochet composition is split into two parts including Ricochet (Pt. 1 - 17'03") and Ricochet (Pt. 2 - 21'11"). The music is classic Tangerine Dream, with loads of brooding analog synthesizers, pulsating sequencers, and dreamy atmospheres. There are small drum and electric guitar parts here and there, but for the most part this is a synth-dominated album with very quiet textures. As can be imagined, there are elements of albums like Rubycon and Stratosphere (1976) on Ricochet. A very nice combination in fact.
All in all, this is a great album from the classic mid-1970's period of the bands' output and is highly recommended along with Phaedra (1974); Rubycon; and Stratosphere.
April 21, 2007| | | This is a great recording | |
This 1975 recording captures Tangerine Dream at what I think is the pinnacle year of their peak period (1974-1976), and features the classic lineup: Edgar Froese, Chris Franke, Peter Baumann. They were on top of their game at this point. Part 1 was recorded in France during the autumn of 1975 (most likely in September) and has more of a rhythm/groove to it than Part 2, thanks in large part to Froese's guitar playing. Part 2 was recorded on 75-Oct-23 at Fairfield Hall in Croydon, England. It starts off with some gentle piano playing before delving into Tangerine's more traditional synth playing, then ends gently again. The sound quality is very good and the audience is not heard other than at the beginning/end. This was not some studio wizardry, as almost all Tangerine concert recordings I've heard during this period have incredibly well behaved audiences that usually only make noise before and after a musical segment. Apparently, the band made some changes to the raw live tape in the studio. Comparing the untouched recording to Ricochet Pt 2 confirms this. Nevertheless, Ricochet is a great cd and my favorite of their original LP live releases. Both Ricochet and Boxed Set Vol 1 (which is a more complete and untouched recording from the 75-Oct-23 show) are highly recommended if you are a fan of this fruitful period of Tangerine Dream.
August 8, 2006More reviews at Amazon.com ...
(23 reviews)