Tangerine Dream - "Rubycon" Part One 1975 (complete)
composed and played by:
Edgar Froese: Mellotron, Guitar, VC3 SynthiChris Franke: Double Moog Synthesizer, Synthi A Organ, Modified Elka Organ, Prepared Piano
Peter Baumann: Organ, Synthi A, E-Piano, Prepared Piano.
Tangerine Dream! The words themselves conjure up a different world - a world of electronic music, dazzling stage shows and long, unfurling hypnotic concept albums. Of all the german groups who came out of the late 60s experimental explosion, it is Tangerine Dream who are still consistently
making music, with around 50 albums to their credit. The brainchild of sculptor and Salvador Dali protege Edgar Froese, Tangerine Dream were first a Beatles-inspired rock band before becoming an experimental electronic group in the Berlin of 1969. Improvisation and the use of studio equipment led to a form if electronic psychedelia on such early albums as 1971's "Alpha Centauri". Yet it wasn't until the lineup settled down to Froese, Chris Franke and Peter Baumann and the group signed to Virgin, that the classic TD sound came into being. Involving long sequenced synth rhythms overlayed by various guitar, flute and organ lines, the new sound was successfully depolyed on 1974's "Phaedra", a massive-selling album whose influence is still being felt today. In retrospect, the Virgin years produced the most acessible and streamlinded TD music of their career. Albums like "Rubycon" and Stratosfear" widened the texture without losing the mesmeric synthesizer beat. The live North American album "Encore" was to be Baumann's last before he left
in 1978 to pursue an important solo career. A young Berlin organist and sampling expert Johannes Schoelling replaced him, joining Froese and Franke for an historic concert on the Communist side of the old Berlin Wall in January 1980. Schmoelling's interest in a sleek commerical sound and the quirkness of automata is apparent on "White Eagle", "Logos" and Hyperborea", all three released between 1982 and 1983. Even though they were pushing further into the high tech world of computers and soundtracks, the TD could still cleverly quite their past, as on the final Virgin studio album "Hyperborea", whose Eastern flavour casts as clever eye back to Froese's 60s psychedelic inspiration. With their lengthy tracks, mysterious titles and science fiction covers, Tangerine Dreams's Virgin albums have, with the passage of time, become archetypes. So, sit back, listen and enjoy!
Prendergast, Mark: "Remembering The Dream", 1993 in: Tangerine Dream "Rubycon" liner notes,
Virgin Records 1995 Re-Release
