Ambient Highway 4 [Import]

Edgar Froese | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 25, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Tangerine Dream Prod
• ASIN: B0000DDBRW
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #342,474 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An old dog still performing the same old tricks, er, I mean tracks..., October 17, 2008

By 

Steve Benner "Stonegnome" (Lancaster, UK) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ambient Highway 4 (Audio CD)

The "Ambient Highway" series of discs essentially consists of yet another repackaging of the collection of Edgar Froese solo music re-mixes released on the 1995 2-CD set "Beyond the Storm". The original two CDs are here padded out to four volumes (each sold separately) with the addition of eleven previously unreleased tracks, together with the Froese solo compositions included in the Tangerine Dream "Tangents" and "i-Box" disc sets of 1994 and 2000 respectively. In addition, a fifth CD, "Introduction to the Ambient Highway" offers a compilation of tracks culled from across the other four volumes. And if you're totally confused by all that, you are almost certainly not alone.

Most of the previously released tracks which appeared on "Beyond the Storm" were heavily remixed versions of the originals, featuring additional voices, percussion lines and in some cases completely new tunes greatly out of keeping with the original work. Many of those tracks which are included again in this edition have been further subjected to the Edgar Froese compulsive tinkering treatment, but this time in a much more effective and less damaging way. By and large most of the remixing consists principally of re-levelling (the levels are very high on this set of discs), adjustments to the EQ (there is a lot more bass punch, as well as a greater clarity to some of the lines in the new versions) with just the occasional additional harmonic or textural layer. Most of the time, the changes have brought the music more alive and removed much of the blandness which often plagues Edgar Froese's work. Going back to the disc sets after "Ambient Highway" makes most of the earlier releases sound thin and unfinished by comparison.

Volume 4, like the other volumes in the "Ambient Highway" series, features eleven tracks of Edgar Froese solo material, presenting a mix of tracks from both "Beyond the Storm" and "Tangents", sandwiched between opening and closing pieces of previously unreleased material. At 9 minutes duration, the opening track, 'Colorado Dawn' is one of the more substantial new pieces in the entire collection. It starts with a broody collection of opening voices over a steady growling bass and a steadily growing beat, through which the sun seems to rise and burn away the mists. In common with most others it sadly doesn't really go anywhere much after that. The closing 'Raindrops on Black Skin' is a gentle piano and synth string ballad, which somehow feels altogether too lovey-dovey and syrupy to be taken seriously.

Of the remixed tracks, those from the "Tangents" disc set are the most heavily altered. 'Great Barrier Reef' has been made to sound much more bright and brittle overall but has also been beefed up with a hammering bass percussion line and extra harmonic layers, turning the mundane original into a much more potent affair that positively sings and dances its way to a close. Both 'Vulcano' and 'South Dakota' have been less noticeably added to, with generally subtle additional harmonic layers, plus some remastering to provide both tracks with a substantially more punch.

As a collection, this volume is on a par with the others from the series (The Ambient Highway Vol.1, Vol.2, Vol.3) and should appeal to any lover of Froese's particular brand of "new age ambient". It would not be my first choice by any means but I guess that its greatest attraction will be as part of the complete set for the collector.