Tangerine dream best album?

I seem to remember that (other) pictures from the same shooting were used for the Poland single releases?

 

Everything in the 80's is worth your time , up to Livemiles except Tyger, which is abominable. When Franke left, the downhill trend became a landslide.

 

Must admit I really like Optical Race, too, and absolutely love Miracle Mile and Lily on the Beach.

I highly recommend the 2017 CD version of Miracle Mile for those of you who haven’t checked it out.

 

1. Poland or Logos. Hard to pick between those two
2. Thief
3. White Eagle
4. Force Majeure
5. Ricochet

Post-Edagr any of the Sessions disc, although III is probably my favorite.

 

Optical Race is excellent. If there's a problem with it, it's the tech of the time. Gone are the huge sounding analog sequencers, gone was the beefy percussion. In their place we got we constituted state-of-the-art at the time, and it turns out it's a little bland sounding (this issue also affected others of the period, such as Klaus Schulze).

That said, the melodies are still there, and I love Optical Race. Buy it just for Cat Scan! I actually owned an Atari ST at the time the album was made, and let me tell you - what they did with it is miraculous. It was an okay system for gaming at the time, but little else. Even if it played a small part, it's incredible. But as far as the album goes, it's the last step across the bridge from old TD to new TD which was fully realized with Melrose and Lily.

Miracle Mile (and that 2-CD set especially) is phenomenal. Turn that one up LOUD, the percussion is killer.

True Story - last month I tried Melrose again, and it was the first time it was released (I bought it on day of release) that I didn't take it off before the end.

 

Always loved the die-cut sleeve. I'm going to stream this!

You are right about late 80's digital technology being a bit tricky for the 70's pioneers. Apparently they were so used to handling a monster like the big Moog that those little machines proved to be a real challenge.

 

The trouble is, we expect all new tech to be "better" than what went before. In the case of 80's synths, they were better in just about every way except the sound they made.

I mean, touring with synths became easier, maintenance was easier, they were easier to play, and the variety of sounds expanded. But the one sound they couldn't make was that heavy analog boom of the earlier synth and sequencers, and it was much missed. We've come full circle now, of course. TD and others loved working on the cutting edge, and that's why they adopted this stuff at the time. The trouble was, on reflection, the new synths weren't really suited to their style of music. This is what led to their reputation changing to being "New Age" merchants. It's that bland sound the instruments made at the time.

 

I believe the cover with Jerome's face with the neon lines was strictly the US release on Elektra Records. Everywhere else in the world was on Virgin with the other cover.

I prefer the Elektra cover myself. Living in USA I'm most used to it. But I also think it's more interesting than the Virgin cover.

Regards,
Dave

 

Miracle Mile is one of TD's finest soundtracks. The movie is good too (though the concept is dated with the Cold War).

The Private Music albums are some of my favorites. Optical Race was the first TD album I bought (back in 1989).

Regards,
Dave

 

I had an Atari ST at that time and it was fine for making music. The ST had MIDI ports and there was sequencing software available (Steinberg Pro24).

 

I had an Atari ST as well with C-Lab Notator (today called Logic) and it is absolutely NOT miraculous. Those sequencing programs were so much ahead of everything else available up to that point. You just have to remember that nothing sound wise was going on in the Atari. Just the pure midi sequencing wich was done in hardware sequencers prior to that.

 

Agree! Had one back in the days, making music was fun.

 

I understand why many would have a problem with the sound of Optical Race and Lily on the Beach, but I think there’s too much wonderful material on both albums to just dismiss it all due to the sound.

That is, if you can at least tolerate the sound, or find it somewhat charming. If you flat-out hate it, I guess it’s hopeless.

 

Yeah, most of what I did with it was working with the internal processor etc, so it was.... limited. Although relatively good for the time. Of course, these were the days before Intel, before even Object Oriented Programming, let alone today's techniques. It was crude in the extreme. But if you were using other components, such as the MIDI port, things would have been different.

 

This run of albums was amazing. I enjoy all of them & couldn’t possibly pick just one.

Phaedra
Rubycon
Ricochet
Stratsofear
Encore

 

Half of me says Force Majeure, half says Rubycon.

 

Otherwise you couldn't use the ST for music production

 

Le Parc and Underwater Sunlight are their best 80s sounding albums IMO. The 80s synths and production work well with the compositions here.

 

Rubycon - Ricochet - Stratosfear - Encore - Force Majeure - Tangram. That's it for me, but I do like them a lot. Stratosfear is my favourite.

 

For me it would have to be Exit, but Le Parc is awesome too.

 

I'm curious why you don't elevate Underwater Sunlight to the level of those. Actually I'm getting a general vibe in the thread that Underwater Sunlight isn't quite considered a masterpiece - whereas I think it's certainly among their very best. I'd love to hear your views on it.

 

I’m always looking for new great music. And I didn’t remember why I didn’t like Underwater Sunlight. So I listened to it on Apple Music today. And I’m very sorry, but I don’t hear any strong melodies on this album. The music just meanders through a loop of chords, without telling a “story”. I don’t hear anything inspiring.

 

No need to be sorry, we like what we like. Did you listen to the entire album, or just the title track?

Basically, the album is in two parts. Side One is a side long piece (for Vinyl) and can be thought of as an updated Tangram. I think it's very evocative. Side two, with four tracks, is where you'll find the music that is more akin to Le Parc.

Still, not say you should or must like it. In my mind, it's right there with the likes of Le Parc. Let's face it, they were in an amazing moment, and sustained it for a good deal of time.

 

Shortly after this album came out I had a strained muscle and had to have hydrojet massage. Somehow the
physiotherapist always played "Underwater Sunlight" while I was lying in the tub. Haven't really heard it since but it definitely fitted into that situation.

 

An Atari was used for all of the sequencing on Depeche Mode - Violator and there are some very intricate things going on. I still have my ST.