These are not cheap either. Stick to your vinyl copy if it is in decent shape or opt for the CD which is very good. Not shure why I got lured into that…again…
RE: Krautrock literature. Not new (2016) but IMHO an essential read, so... The Quietus extract will give you a hint as to the quality of this book. The Quietus a seal of quality, surely... The Quietus | Features | In Their Own Words | Düsseldorf 1970: The Crucible Of Krautrock By Those Who Were There Krautrock Books - The (almost) complete list – Halvmall Very useful.
@Norco74 RE: Zeit Esoteric vinyl release CD version is brilliant with great bonuses. How can they get it so badly wrong when it comes to vinyls? There always seems to be some issue either with sound quality or the poor reproduction of the art work (which by the way will be the case with the rerelease of Alpha Centauri.) Infuriating!
Yes, the vinyl & CD versions seems to be sold out. Bummer (I just discovered this!). However I am listening to it now, streaming via my Deezer HiFi subscription. www.deezer.com
I hope I'm not posting this out of turn...if so please let me know. Are there any fans here of TD's Optical Race? I remember that I owned the vinyl waaay back and didn't care for it at the time. I must have traded it off (my bad) but I want to revisit it until I find a new copy. Your thoughts?
You're not out of turn, not at all. I love Optical Race. Probably because it was my first TD purchase. It started my TD journey back in '89 and I never looked back. It sounds a little dated and a bit too slick at times, but it was miles above mainstream music to me. It helped me to branch out into wider sonic tastes. It's also one of my favorite rainy-day albums. Regards, Dave
@hifisoup RE: Optical Race Nice to get back to this almost "forgotten" period! This is the 2nd part of the Haslinger years just after Franke’s departure, and IMHO, I personally think that of the 2 halves, this is the most interesting one, if only for Haslinger’s great job on the percussion (I assume it was his) and the freshness of the material too which some people at the time thought was a little too accessible. It is TD going POP like in Pop Art (ie the cover’s art work)- colourful, accessible but still pretty edgy. They were clearly turning the page and seemingly very happy to do so, and their renewed enthusiasm and energy was I felt very contagious. The album sounds like nothing they had done before and it is now often considered as the 1st part of a sort of trilogy of albums with Lily On The Beach and Melrose (Private Music trilogy!). Retrospectively, and IMHO a pretty good and very enjoyable set of albums. The Froese/Haslinger duo I felt really worked well - Froese had clearly an immense respect for Haslinger (ie his biography) and it somehow felt like a pretty relaxed time (maybe having joined Baumann’s label contributed to this too). Being a duo, Haslinger was obviously given a great deal more leeway and he really came out of himself in these last few years, his influence was a lot more noticeable- on Miracle Mile too which was more or less released at the same time as Optical Race if I remember it. This soundtrack is to me one of the highlights of this period and to me one of their better ones- “it tops the best 10 scariest soundtracks”, according to Arrival composer Jóhann Jóhannsson (and Steve de Jarnatt’s film is excellent).
... you will have read "autobiography" in previous message!! ...another thought about Optical Race... bearing in mind that Haslinger and Baumann hit it off when TD signed for his label Private Music, I wonder whether the possibility of a Froese Baumann Haslinger collaboration ever crossed their minds at the time? Shame it never materialised!
I would've loved to hear a Froese/Baumann/Haslinger project! At least Baumann and Haslinger got together for the Blue Room project soon after (criminally unreleased). And of course Neuland much more recently. Regards, Dave
Optical Race is more or less a Paul Haslinger solo album - something like 7 of the 10 tracks being composed by him Optical Race sold more than most of their albums - reported in the music press to be 150,000 sales in the States alone (although Peter told me that the biggest selling albums were like 70,000 - although I've got to admit that he memory wasn't always great) - it was their biggest selling album in the States up to that point, remaining in the Billboard New Age chart for about 9 months, peaking at #2: 23.8.88 Daily Herald (Chicago, Illinois): It’s two-week old album, “Optical Race” (Private Music) has sold about 70,000 copies, far surpassing the sales of any of the band’s previous releases. Optical Race and Miracle Mile were released about 12 months apart Edgar didn't get on with Peter, as he found out within days of Peter visiting a few weeks before Edgar died Ralf Wadephul: “We worked together on my song Sun Gate the second time we all met. Replacing the formerly sung melody with one more suitable for keyboards, adding a guitar - it was real teamwork. This is in fact a model of how we have continued to operate: each of us creates initial compositions in his own time, then we come together and as group improvise upon, expand, recreate those original themes. It’s my ideal way of working, actually - I can’t imagine anything better than first being able to quietly work in my own home - have an idea, switch the computer on Then, when we all get together, it’s so much more functional and productive. And I have the excitement and stimulation of being part of a three-way input, developing, producing and playing new music. I admire Edgar’s ability to grasp and elaborate the mood, the feeling of a piece; Paul’s ingenious technical capacities and playing virtuosity. I hope we’ll be together for a long time.”
I really loved Optical Race and Lily On The Beach when they came out, these days I can only hear what they are missing : Franke, which makes Livemiles my practical exit point for TD.
Thanks for the link to this awesome page Jaar! I just ordered their own first book release out of curiosity, the digital version is only 10 €: THE ULTIMATE KRAUTROCK-BOOK: TIMES & SOUNDS If only to read more about this pic, which I copied from the extract of the book they have on the page:
the same UK press also praised some of the best Krautrock, but people are hardwired to remember negative comments over positive
... this is cringe making!! Let's wipe this out with a moving tribute to the much missed Florian Schneider... RIP and massive respect Herr Schneider! my tribute to Florian Schneider - YouTube[/QUOTE] Upon receiving the news of Schneider’s death, Rother said it “hit me like a blow. Even though we hadn’t met or spoken for many years, he was always firmly in my mind as one of the most important musical figures of my life.” ...let's move on... by the way the book is great.
I could tell how different it was with Franke in the band once I started delving into the back catalog after getting Optical Race. I was pleasantly surprised when I stumbled upon his Pacific Coast Highway album during my delving. I was just 2 years into my TD journey when PCH came out so I was still quite new to the game (had only a few albums due to being a poor college student at the time). Regards, Dave
@markreed ...I am sure we all missed Christopher Franke but let's face it Live Miles is pretty ... dull to say the least! Optical Race came across at the time as a breath of fresh air. That said, I see what you mean but Haslinger (Froese-Haslinger) kept me interested until 1990.
LOL! Or Studio Miles as someone on the old mailing list called it. I personally like to call it Lie Miles. Regards, Dave
I really like those side long multipart pieces, though the shine of NonLiveMiles has dulled a little over the past 30 years!
@24db RE: 1988 Have been looking into 1988 and I am trying to get my head around the chronology of events since you said there was about a year between the recording of Optical Race and Miracle Mile. What I have got so far is that Optical Race would seem to have been recorded in April. As for Miracle Mile according to VitN, Haslinger and Froese started working on Miracle Mile after Franke’s departure so are we saying that Miracle Mile pre-dates Optical Race by virtually a year? This is VitN blurb: “After Chris Franke had left Tangerine Dream in 1987, the remaining duo of Edgar Froese and Paul Haslinger scored the music for the apocalyptic movie Miracle Mile (German title was Nacht der Entscheidung) in 1988. Now my 2nd point concerns Dead Solid Perfect (which IMHO could be an interesting album…), it would seem to have been recorded during the American tour (August/September), does this mean that Wadephul contributed to the making of the soundtrack? As it is, rather a mysterious soundtrack! I have got a CD version of it and my impression (and it is just an impression) is that it is possibly mostly an Haslinger job ... (?) [/QUOTE][/QUOTE]
I don't see how Miracle Mile could predate Optical Race seeing as the film was released in 1989. They probably landed the job in mid 1988. The fact that one track was featured in the fall '88 tour seems to support this idea. As for Dead Solid Perfect, I believe Wadephul was involved to some degree as its sound is rather distinctive compared to the other albums around it. Everything else is clearly Froese/Haslinger. Regards, Dave
Optical Race was the first TD album which really disappointed me; there was one memorable track on it and the rest just didn't speak to me at all. However, I think part of its success in the US can be attributed to the fact that it got widespread distribution and promotion, something very few of their previous albums seemed to get. Private Music was distributed by RCA/BMG, which meant their product could be found in just about any record store. Meanwhile, their Jive albums were handled by indie label Relativity, and some of their Virgin releases didn't get issued in the US until long after much of the rest of the world. Exit and Thief were picked up by Elektra, but I have no idea how much or how little effort they put into marketing them.
Tangerine Dream - 22:58 Session - Ozora Festival , Hungary 2018 - YouTube This raga-like Session is mind-blowing, and very special indeed, IMHO one of their very best and certainly most “experimental”. Challenging in its spectacular creative bias and fascinating throughout. Wish this had a physical release (CD/DVD). I suppose it could no longer be a Session album since without Paul Frick but it would make a great Tangerine Dream live album, pre- Frick period. It really is splendid and unlike any of the other Sessions. Great stuff! PS: The place is quite spectacular too. Worth having a look at pix on the web.
[/QUOTE][/QUOTE] Alternatives, August 1988: Edgar: The people from the L.A. movie industry are chasing us because we were unavailable for soundtrack work for the last five or six months. The last film we did was “Miracle Mile” which will be released this August also. After this tour we’ll return to Europe and work on soundtracks again.
