Same on 7digital.ca but looking for a physical media version. As for Qobuz, it was still not available to Canada.
Hopefully they will reprint Volume 2! All three volumes are very well done and worth having. Regards, Dave
Last time I was Amoeba Records they had some physical copies of all 3 volumes. You could try them online. But this was back in January before covid.
It did not help TD US record sales that most of the original US fans knew to get the import releases as they were of higher quality. The artwork, the pressings were all much better from Germany. The US pressings were poorly made. Risky Business did well in the US strictly on the movies coattails to a larger group of people who never heard of Tangerine Dream.
Over the last few years as I've been building my collection, I pretty much have ended up with almost all US pressings, most of which appear to have been issued after the fact (in 80-81) by Virgin International. These are the ones with the VI prefix in the catalog number. I have yet to notice any obvious flaws. I have Rubycon, Ricochet, Cyclone, Force Majeure, and Tangram. These all sound great to me. Yes, they have generic inner sleeves and labels, for the most part, so maybe I'm missing aspects of the package. But is the sound that bad? My Phaedra, according to Discogs, is also a US version supposedly dated 1974 and distributed by Atlantic. It comes in a gatefold and includes an Atlantic inner from the era advertising the Stones, Bette Midler, Zeppelin, and Mike Oldfield amongst others. My Encore looks similar (same Virgin labels and also a gatefold) but is distributed by CBS/Sony, which is interesting because I'm pretty sure Virgin went back to Atlantic sometime in the 80s. Again, no issues with the sound. The only original UK/Euro pressings I've got are Logos, White Eagle, and Hyperborea. I don't think there were US pressings of these. All have that pizza-cutter thin vinyl that was prominent in the UK in the 80s. Actually, I do have an original Virgin UK Stratosfear in a gatefold, generic inner. The record is more in line with other 70s records and the sound is pristine. But is it the best sounding TD record I have? Hmmmm....
My VI reissues of Rubycon and Phaedra sound great. Maybe the OG pressings from the UK sound better, but I consider Rubycon one of the better-sounding discs in my collection.
I suppose it depends on what is meant by 'mainstream breakthrough', but in my group of friends our first mainstream introduction to TD in the US was watching Thief on home video. I remember everyone talking about the music at the time, and hearing that soundtrack is what got us into the band. We then found Sorcerer, began importing their studio albums, and following the film soundtrack work. Risky Business was probably the biggest film they scored at the time, and I'm sure it introduced more fans to the band, or at least made the name more familiar, but that was just a minor blip to the people I knew throughout the 1980s that got into the band.
I definitely agree that, in the U.S. in the 1980s, Tangerine Dream were almost synonymous with synthesized film scores. To the point that proper studio albums were secondary to their core competency. I get how this perception is wrong now, but at the time, at least for a hot minute, that is how they came across. If you were a fan of early synth music, e.g. Human League or OMD or even Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream was still further outside of that "mainstream" box... because nobody listened to film scores for fun, and albums like Phaedra and Encore were unfashionable to the point of burial.
Anyone else see Family Guy last night? Couldn't believe I heard TD music in the background. I think it was from Force Majeure.
It's funny that the alerts seem to work mainly for threads I have been visiting recently. And even for thos one I have not received alerts for the last post. I just saw it up there on page 1. But today my Atem / Zeit have arrived, but I have not even looked inside yet. This has been my most intensive TD year so far, and they have been a constant for quite a few years now. And I have not really started exploring Pilots more deeply, listened just to the first two (or three) albums plus Hyperbora. But exploring TD is a long and winding road, full of detours and temptations.
If you get an alert for a thread and don't visit it, you will not get another alert when other posts happen... even if it's been a long time.
If you get an alert, but you don't click on it, then you stop getting alerts for that thread. It took me years to figure this out. You can still see all the threads you're watching, though, by clicking the "Watched Threads" link in the nav bar at the top (it took me years to figure that out, too).
I reckon ‘Zeit’ is as ambient as they get. I remember Julian Cope writing something about it becoming at one with the room in which it’s playing (or something like that) and he nailed it for me. Nothing and everything happens in its 70-odd remarkable minutes.
I got a cassette of Force Majeure for Christmas from my Brother in 1979. I liked it right away, but it didn't get me to explore the band deeper until much later. I picked the 2 Virgin Years boxes for around $35 for both (Great value -still available at Amazon). I am still going through it but I still love 'Force' and have been getting into Ricochet and Stratosphere. I guess I'm partial to these albums with a more accessible sound and structure for a progressive rock fan like me. The ambient Phaedra is still not a favorite.
Welcome to the rabbit hole, thy mane is Tangerine Dream. The charming thing is that their output has been amazingly diverse throughout the years, which may allow one to shift among phases and releases throughout the years. I have got the large boxes as well as those small ones, I may come around one day to list the differences. I did that comparison already, but lost the file before I posted it. Judging from what you write, you may be well advised to stay away from the pink years box. Happy listening.
I feel the same way. Stratosphear and Ricochet are my favorites. I just can't get into Phaedra, which seems to be the album that is considered to be their masterpiece. That said, I also really like these Tangerine Dream albums: Hyperborea, Le Parc, Force Majeure, Exit, White Eagle, and Underwater Sunlight. Check 'em out!
Totally understandable but with time and patience one can hear how the pre-Rubycon period is full of golden nuggets. Took me ages to get into Zeit but once I made some time to immerse myself in it, there was no way back. Phaedra is always an enjoyable album to listen to even after +40 years. A favorite when reading some H.P. Lovecraft novels during my teens!
Force Majeure to Underwater Sunlight are their peak years if you ask me. You should check out the Session Discs from the current lineup. They seem to take the best of the '70s and '80s and meld it into something really good.
Any advice on decent TD pressings on vinyl? I have a couple from the early 80's- Stratosfear, Phaedra, Thief and I have the Waxwork of Sorcerer.
The Virgin International pressings from the early 80s sound good to me. If you're in the States and looking for their 70s material, they're cheaper than originals. Otherwise, from about 1980 on, original pressings shouldn't be hard to find or particularly expensive, except for some of the soundtracks, maybe. The RSD double-LP of Phaedra from last year, unfortunately, was kind of noisy. My copy was, and I saw similar reports on Discogs. Caveat emptor.
Thanks! I'll check out the Sessions discs. I recently listened to Quantum Gate by the current line-up on Spotify, and my intial impression was (fairly) positive, so I may order the CD, if it keeps growing on me.
Quantum gate is not bad. The Session discs are what they call instant compositions. Improvised pieces.
If anyone's interested, the Esoteric label has just reissued Pergamon on cd this week. (My copy arrived via Burning Shed.) From a glance at the sleeve notes it's a straight reissue of the 2012 edition, but as I didn't already have it, and it's remastered by Ben Wiseman, its nice to have this addition to the collection. Wiseman did such a great job on the Virgin box sets, so the audio is well up to standard here as well. And the music is excellent, using parts of Tangram still being composed before they recorded the album. Schmoelling's first performance with the band, and they threw him in at the deep end, asking him to go on stage solo and play improvised piano before the other two joined him.
