5.0 out of 5 stars
Quality, not quantity, September 2, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Electronic Meditation (Audio CD)
So-called "top 1000" reviewer credited "paucity" of stars based on length of disk time (see below). Length of disk doesn't matter. Put into historical context, the disk stands as pioneer work by a great band.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
disturbing/beautiful, August 29, 2001
This review is from: Electronic Meditation (Audio CD)
this is a really nice cd, at least if you're into trippy and somewhat disturbing music. it's the kind of stuff that would sound like noise rather than music to people only used to top 40, but after you get used to it, you see that it has a logic all its own. highly recomended.
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0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Anarchy rules..., November 20, 2002
This review is from: Electronic Meditation (Audio CD)
If you're familiar with Tangerine Dream only as a synthesiser group, specialising in "New Age Ambient" music (as many people think of them), then "Electronic Meditation" will come as something of a shock. This was the embryonic Tangerine Dream's first record release, recorded in October 1969, a couple of years before even the name Tangerine Dream had been heard outside of Germany.
Bear in mind that 1969 was only five years or so after Robert Moog and David Buchla almost simultaneously released the world's first commercial electronic music synthesisers: such instruments were still rare, expensive, and of fairly limited capabilities back then, and the 'electronic' of the title refers not to the use of any such instrument, but rather to the treatments applied to the sound produced from the standard acoustical instruments - guitars and piano (Edgar Froese), cello and violin (Conrad Schnitzler) and drum-kit and metal sticks (Klaus Schulze) - and the use of Farfisa organ. The music itself is difficult to describe unless you're already familiar with the cult experimental free-form rock that was prevalent across continental Europe (especially Germany) in the late 60s. If you imagine three guys hammering and scraping away and generally torturing their instruments, often with little or no seeming regard for what their fellow group members are doing at the time, then you'll have a pretty fair idea! But don't let that put you off: this is important music which at one time had a huge cult following and it deserves to be heard still. And, who knows, you may even discover that you like it!
Be warned, however, that this disc runs for fewer than 35 minutes. (Hence the paucity of stars!) And it was recorded 'live' in an old warehouse, using less than the highest of fi recording gear, so it has a much lower dynamic range than we're used to hearing these days, and in parts sounds positively muddy. Which was probably intended... You should also be aware that there is three disc boxed set of early TD releases which includes this album, together with "Alpha Centauri" and "Zeit", which - if you can find a copy - is great value.
Incidentally, if you do find you like it and want to hear more like it, then you should definitely check out the other early Tangerine Dream albums, "Atem", "Zeit" and "Green Desert", as well as the early musics of Klaus Schulze and other experimental groups of the time, like Amon Dhul and Ash Ra. Or you may prefer to explore the more up-to-date approach to experimental electronic music-making, by investigating the many treasures available from Centaur Records and the Consortium to Distribute Computer Music releases, or the electroacoustic masterpieces on offer from electrocd.com...
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