Epsilon In Malaysian Pale - Edgar Froese

Advantages: Good solid Tangerine Dream music
Disadvantages: Quite quite their best

...* Exit – The entrance * It was recorded in the summer of 1981 and released in September of the same year, containing 6 tracks using the very latest electronic equipment at the time. There were no acoustic instruments used at all. They didn’t use engineers either. They just had everything around them, the same way as on-stage during concerts. According to Edgar Froese, they built everything around a MCI mixing console, because they needed to have all the instruments within easy reach. * Some history * The album was about world peace, with an anti-nuclear message, as the first track, ‘Kiew Mission’, suggests. It features a Russian actress reciting words about world peace and communication. The album's press release included: "The words are directed at people in Russia. It's a very spiritual message we hope will ease the situation... Read review

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Advantages: Unreleased tracks
Disadvantages: Price, some 're-mixing'

...to the original recordings. Many of the ‘classic’ tracks that have been "tangenized" are completely new re-recordings like Monolight and Desert Dream played with modern equipment and according to the TD style of the mid-90's. I think Phaedra, in particular, is very different to the original – a bit too different perhaps, though I can’t find a single ‘bad’ track in any of the disks, even the "tangenized" ones. The box includes a 74-page booklet, filled with quite large sized photographs of various landscapes and computer graphics that don’t appear to have any obvious relevance to each other or the text. The booklet also contains extensive text by Edgar Froese about the music of TD. The whole box gives the humble TD fan a nice retrospective look at the ‘virgin years’. if you’re looking for a good, all round complication album by Tangerine Dream... Read review

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Advantages: Solidly written, psychedelic rock.
Disadvantages: Not much variety.

...Before I put anything else, I have to say I really can't stand A Whiter Shade Of Pale. I find it one of the most tedious and boring songs I've ever heard, especially when heard in comparison to a lot of the other truly exciting music released in 1967. In which case, I was extremely pleasantly surprised to find even the most slow songs on their debut album were far more pleasant on my ears than their hit single. The record is mainly formed from the sort of styles you'd expect. Mid-tempo, slightly bluesy numbers, led by that familiar organ sound that made A Whiter Shade Of Pale so famous (and unbearable, for me). The use of piano on the album is also quite extensive, which adds a much needed depth, and a suitable contrast to the widely used organ. This formula is repeated throughout the record, leaving most of the variety coming from... Read review

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