Tangerine Dream

These recordings are from shows at the Ford Auditorium in Detroit on 31st March ‘77 and the Regent Theatre in Sydney on 22nd February 1982, the two shows covered over a 4 disc set.

To start with the Detroit show, the band were on their first North American tour and by the time of Detroit were completely ‘in the groove’ of playing their music alongside the Laserium lightshow and the show there has become the stuff of legends. The lineup of Edgar Froese, Christoph Franke & Peter Baumann were playing as one and their improvisations take the music into realms that they had been building to for a few years. This was the band at their creative peak and their improvisation was showing a new audience just how special the band was. It was also the first show to really create a framework to play their music within (to properly incorporate the lightshow) and so the music has a greater sense of purpose and consistency than in previous incarnations.
As a purely audio piece it doesn’t have the sense of the music syncing with the lights but there are enough highpoints in the music to ensure the listener ‘gets it’.

Johannes Schmoelling replaced Peter Baumann and the ’82 show in Sydney has the band’s sound developed and an even greater sense of teamwork. The music had become mesmeric with a great sense of flow and ebb, their live sound equalling their recorded music in that respect. There is notably less of the improvisational brilliance but musically it is remarkable.

As is usual with Esoteric reissues, there is an excellent booklet and top class remastering.

For a Dream fan, this is an essential series and for anyone in the process of introducing themselves to electronica it is a great example of the genre.