Tangerine Dream - Phaedra

This 1974 masterpiece from Christopher Franke, Edgar Froese, and Peter Baumann ebbs and flows with richly dark soundscapes of electronic sounds and synth. Phaedra was a progenitor for much ambient--and some dance--music, influencing such artists as Steve Roach. After listening to Phaedra it's easy to understand why. The signature pulsing of thick, beautiful Tangerine Dream synth falls across the ambient treasures here, pulling along the orchestral dreamscape before oozing aside for thick washes of expansive sound. The now-classic title cut is both soothing and ghostly, throbbing with subtle sequences and twisted metallic calls before diving into a swamp of nightmarish whistles and hoots. "Mysterious Semblance" soars and swoops like a lovely electronic eagle, bringing tripped-out light and cosmic dignity to the collection. This and the follow-up Rubycon are juicy pieces to the Tangerine Dream pie. --Karen Karleski Amazon.com essential recording

A Classic in Sound and Scope

It is what any band hopes to accomplish...and few can achieve.

This 1974 release is a classic, as it set the foundation for the meditative, electronic "Berlin sound" that carved a trail from ambient music to clubland. Edgar Froese, Christopher Franke and Peter Baumann craft remarkable soundscapes in the four numbers, with the title track a free form artistic masterpiece that clocks 17:45.

The remaining three pieces wonderfully use technology - Franke, Moog analog-sequencer; Froese, Mellotron and Baumann, VCS 3 - and the emerging potential of the studio; on Sequent C', Baumann's performance on the flute is bolstered by tape echo.

If there is one TD album that is a must for any collection, this is it. November 11, 2008

What would a tangerine dream if a tangerine could dream dreams?

Pure spacy, cosmic, stoic, yet richly felt sound...that is the best way to describe Phaedra. The year was '74, and TD was still imersed in the concept of delivering a wall of concentric, parallel, conflicting, yet coherent synth-oriented sounds. Don't look for melodies that you can whistle along with, or simple beats that you can dance to. This is a spacy trip through caverns and canyons between stars and galaxies. This is a soundtrack to a tangerine's dream. This is an audio vision described through synthesizers and electronic music that is unlike anything any other artist can offer. It's just a beautiful trip through pure spacy sound. If you like music that you need an imagination to appreciate, I very highly recommend this gorgeously obscure album!
September 2, 2008

The Best

If you're interested in exploring electronica or "Kosmiche Musik," then this is the place to start. Few come close to this perfection. I have the LP! May 24, 2008

Phaedra

I was disappointed that the packing of this item was not well-done. The CD case was cracked, although the CD itself is fine. April 9, 2008

Awful

TD should stick to movie music. After hearing several soundtracks, and more recently "Thief" with James Caan, I decided to sample some CD's.

This one is terrible; it doesn't go anywhere! It's even hard to believe there is a score. Maybe you have to be high on something to like this kind of stuff, I dunno.

Back to Mozart.
March 10, 2008

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