Exit [Remastered] - Tangerine Dream > Reviews > Exit - A classic!

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
Value for Money	Good

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

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

* 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 over here. If you're in Europe right now you would see that all people talk about the Third World War. As musicians we can use our music to say something about the positive side and hope our message gets through."

Edgar Froese had organised thousands of copies of Exit to be shipped and distributed free to various people in Russia. A short time before Exit was released; Tangerine Dream had played a special disarmament concert at the Reichstag building in West Berlin in front of around 100,000 people.

* The tracks *

As mentioned before, the first is a beautiful track called ‘Kiew Mission’. A female sensually recites the message of world peace and nuclear disarmament. Very convincing, although the lyrics are in Russian, the mentioning the continents give a good effect. It’s essentially a simplistic, yet universally understandable message.

Personally, to be picky, the next track, ‘Pilots of Purple Twilight’, is a little monotonous, and will never stand out as anything to remember. With that said, it is believed that it is Edgar Froese’s favourite tracks from the Virgin era (1974-1983).

The third track, ‘Choronzon’ has nice synth-pop tune to it, with a happy melody, and the catchy drum beat, particularly in the middle section. This is a popular track that is often performed in many 80's and 90's concerts and is often longer than recorded on this album.

The fourth and perhaps most famous, is the title track, ‘Exit’, with a spectacular and tormented synth line, present throughout the entire track. To emphasise the mood of depression, the track ends with rain and thunder. This is, by far, my favourite track on the album, and one of my all time favourite TD tracks – I could never tire from hearing this over and over – It’s absolutely brilliant!

Track number 5 is ‘Network 23’ - a fierce synth-pop sound with an aggressive beat after 90 seconds. The production is perfect, and ends with the coolest, almost stadium rocking chord progression, the band has done to this date.

The final track, “Remote Viewing”, has a familiar X-Files theme to it, though I feel it a little empty and quite anonymous track.

* Conclusion *

There have been so many releases of this album, the last being in 1995 (Virgin re-released the album on CD in the so-called "Definitive Edition" series, using the Super Bit Mapping technology), but all contains some errors, mostly spelling mistakes, but the quality of the music make up for the small ‘technical’ issues. Note. All the photos and covers were designed by Monika Froese.

This is probably one of the most popular TD albums of the 80’s. Personally, it’s one of my favourite TD studio albums of all time. It is a classic, and elegant album full of promise and after listening to it, gives a sense of satisfaction.

(thanks to 'Voices in the Net' for some information)