Customer Reviews

Electronic Meditation

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Historically speaking, Tangerine Dream's debut album "Electronic Meditation" is arguably a classic. If you've only heard the bands later work from the mid-70s onwards, you're in for a big surprise here. Tangerine Dream was still more or less an acid-rock band during this time and this was also recorded before synthesizers and electronics fully took over into the bands sound.
Tangerine Dream was formed in September 1967 and had already gone through numerous line-up changes before making this debut album. By the time 1969 rolled around, the group consisted on founder Edgar Froese on guitar and keyboards, Klaus Schulze on drums and percussion and Conrad Schnitzler on cello, violin and flute. It was this line-up which recorded "Electronic Meditation" in October of that year. Joining them on the album were two additional players, Jimmy Jackson on organ and Thomas Keiserling on flute. For over 30 years the two guest musicians have never received credits for their work on this album. It wasn't until Sanctuary Records reissued the album in late 2002 that they got their long overdue recognition.
The album opens with "Genesis", an extremely weird track consisting of strange string sounds and Schnitzler's groaning cello. As the piece builds up, Schulze comes in with a tribal drumbeat and Froese stabs away on his electric guitar. A flute also dances around the organized chaos. As this piece builds up to its climax, it cuts off abruptly and leads into the next track "Journey Through a Burning Brain".
This track begins with what sounds like the band tuning up. There are discordant guitar phrases, random drum hits, flutes fluttering at will and an organ doodling in the background. Soon thereafter, the organ begins with a chord structure which builds and climbs up a chordal scale. When the organ has reached its peak, Edgar Froese comes in with a stellar rhythm guitar backed by Klaus Schulze's steady backbeat. Then, it's off to a full-fledged freakout as the entire band begins jamming on all four cylinders. The band blows and blows until everything falls apart leaving behind a cathedral-like organ passage accompanied by flute.
"Cold Smoke" begins with a quiet organ passage which gets interrupted twice by loud jolts of percussion. After the second loud crash, Schnitzler comes in with a violin. This leads into an organ/drums exchange. This is followed by yet another acid freakout as Edgar rips into a psychedelic feedback drenched guitar lead a la Jimi Hendrix. Like "Genesis", the music builds up to a climax and is cut off abruptly.
After the sudden end of "Cold Smoke", we are treated to the sound of someone breathing very heavy into a microphone. This begins the next track, "Ashes To Ashes". This is probably the most relaxed piece on the album. The organ and drums lock in the groove while Edgar comes in with a very bluesy guitar lead. Schnitzler can be heard playing some off-key flute as well. The overall sound of this track can be described as Hendrix meets The Doors. The organ playing has Ray Manzarek written all over it while the guitar work is very much in Jimi's style.
The closing track, "Resurrection" opens with a high-volume organ accompanied by a voice recorded backwards. The voice is actually Edgar Froese and he is reading instructions for going through German customs. No evil subliminal messages here. This is followed by a brief reprise of the opening track "Genesis" which brings the album full circle and to an exciting conclusion.
Die-hard Tangerine Dream fans will no doubt want to own this album if they haven't done so already. This is a completely different style than the synthesizer/sequencer-based sound they would adopt only four years later. However, the historical aspect of this album should not be overlooked. "Electronic Meditation" is an album of importance and can be quite an extraordinary listen if heard with the right set of ears. There is no other album in Tangerine Dream's vast catalog that sounds as 'far-out' as this.
After the release of this album Klaus Schulze and Conrad Schnitzler both left the band. Schulze joined Ash Ra Tempel and later went onto a prolific solo career. Schnitzler formed Kluster (later Cluster) and also pursued a solo career. Edgar Froese, of course, is still keeping the Dream alive to this day. A lot has changed with Tangerine Dream of the last 35 years but "Electronic Meditation" is how it all began. Check it out and be nostalgic.

Recorded in 1969 and released in 1970, this debut is significant in that Tangerine Dream was finally up and running after a few years of false starts and shifting personnel. The harsh, mechanical "sounds" on Electronic Meditation bear no semblance to the synth-heavy soundscapes that Tangerine Dream would eventually become associated with, although this is still a very important work and reflects avant-garde tendencies that were being used during that time. Specifically, all of the pieces were heavily influenced by the experimental trends pioneered by the British psychedelic/proto-progressive band Pink Floyd - especially their multi-movement suite "A Saucerful of Secrets" (Pink Floyd, 1968). This tendency is best illustrated on "Journey through a Burning Brain" where tribal drumming that emphasizes the tom-toms and floor toms (by future electronica wizard Klaus Schulze), sustained "churchy" sounding Hammond organ chords played in a minor key (some passages quote directly from A Saucerful of Secrets), and heavily distorted guitar parts figure prominently. What sets this recording apart however, is the wild abandon with which the pieces are constructed. For example, the pieces lapse into free-form "chaos" that can get very, very heavy at times. Although instrumentation is sparse (organ, guitar and drums), other instruments such as the cello and the flute are also included and lend a somewhat pastoral aspect to the chaos. This CD was nicely re-mastered by Castle and features the original artwork, although the sound quality is pretty poor. Then again, Electronic Meditation was recorded under primitive conditions with primitive recording equipment, and it seems unlikely that any amount of fiddling would help improve the sound quality. This recording is for the adventurous or the devoted Tangerine Dream fan (like me). Also recommended from this early period is Alpha Centauri (1971), which is where the classic Tangerine Dream sound starts to emerge.

I found this title in the bargin bins, on cassette for $2 at the mall. Now, the only music I knew of Tangerine Dream, were some of their mid 70s LPs, with the endless synth arpeggiators and layered keyboards. Then starting around 1979 their sell out period starts. I had no idea, that the band helt a secret. After the first time I played this, I RUSHED OUT to find it ASAP on CD. It's fantastic, a real mind blowing rock album, with touches of the Kosmische direction. It manages to be spacey at times, rock at times, and freakout at times, while still being an organic whole. This is avante-guard Berlin music at its hippie heights, and I think ANYONE into the Krautrock scene, would fall in love with this title. Also highly recommended, are the next 3 LPs they recorded. None of them have the rock elements as well represented as they are here. I think that Froese ought to dig this LP out, blow tbe cobwebs out of his head, and listen to where he started from. If you do like the sonic wallpaper sound of later Tang Dream, this might not be for you, however. Geile Musik, Mensch.

This album is very little like what Tangerine Dream had done since, be it their next three albums for Ohr, or the better known electronic albums they did starting with Phaedra in 1974. The original LP on the Ohr label originally came with a rubber balloon, you can be certain not too many copies with the balloon intact are floating about, although it did go through a second print without the balloon. What's really interesting about owning the original LP is the song titles are in German, with the English translations in paranthesis. In other words, "Genesis" is "Geburt", "Journey Through a Burning Brain" is "Reise durch ein brennendes Gehirn", "Cold Smoke" is "Kaulter Rauch", "Ashes to Ashes" is "Asche zu Asche", and "Resurrection" is "Auferstehung".

Electronic Meditation consisted of Edgar Froese on guitars, organ, and keyboards, Klaus Schulze on drums, and Conrad Schnitzler on cello. Supposedly there were two other guys, uncredited who provided stuff like flute. What's really hilarious is the original LP spelled Klaus Schulze as Claus Schultze! They also tell you the story behind the concept of the album, in both German and English, describing each of the five pieces. I love how it says, "Does a brain burn? Can you travel in it? In times of electronic experimental music everything is possible. When you unfold this record cover you'll see a dissected burning brain. When you hear the record a dissected human life will pass in front of you. One among a billion". They even give the birthdays to each of the three musicians, Edgar Froese with 6.6.44, Klaus Schulze as 23.3.46, and Conrad Schnitzler as 27.1.40 (although current sources say he was born in 1937).

Let's get with the music, this is without a doubt their most rock-oriented album, where guitar and drums dominate. This is more or less the style Ash Ra Tempel would perfect on their 1971 debut (in which Schulze happened to appear on, by the way), particularly the first half of the album ("Amboss"). The album starts off slowly with "Genesis" with lots of droning sounds, before kicking in with "Journey Through a Burning Brain" which starts off with lots of organ, and the music starts getting more and more intense until they go totally hog wild on guitars! "Cold Smoke" starts off again with organ, but doesn't take quite as long before the wild guitars pick up again. "Ashes to Ashes" is much shorter, and once again starts off with organ, but even quicker when the guitars arrive. "Resurrection" has some speaking (I believe in German) in reverse, before the album closes with the same droning sound you heard on "Genesis". The album title is pretty deceptive, as it isn't particularly electronic, and it isn't particularly meditative. In fact this is the only Tangerine Dream album without synthesizers! Instead a lot of the instruments are electronically treated with sound generators giving strange sound effects in between the guitars and the feedback. And of course it isn't meditative because it is often quite harsh.

Admittedly the sound quality isn't the best. I not only own the Ohr LP copy, but a CD reissue from Relativity (which I owned for much longer than the LP), and with the exception of lack of LP crackles and pops, the CD sound quality isn't much better. But then the band wasn't on the biggest budget, and I've heard plenty of other recordings from this time period of similar quality, so I'm not complaining.

Sound quality aside, this album really is a lot better than the reputation would have you believe.

The first TD album is probably the least understood one. Many people suspect that the "poor" sound quality is perhaps intentional. Of course it is! Not once do the musicians try to generate nice sounds; that should be proof enough.

The whole album is an experiment in distorsion and total demolition. Each TD record evokes some mental images, here you'll see demolished walls, blasts of plaster powder, smashed windows, etc.

Pink Floyd's Ummagamma undoubtedly inspired this exercise in extreme dadaism. Although they dressed like the Floyds at the time, there certainly is no plagiarism here: the Froese-Schulze-Schnitzler trio super-boosted the concept of "Careful With That Axe, Eugene" to stellar proportions.

I'm a novice to this band, starting my listening at the beginning. What I hear here is maybe four parts psychedelic rock ala Pink Floyd and Amon Duul, one part sonic experimentation ala Stockhausen and the Glass/Reich/Riley axis. It's pretty basic in a way and a critic could claim this to be just an alternate slant on Pink Floyd's innovations, but the seeds of the German aesthetic which was to define itself over the coming years and profoundly influence Brian Eno and a host of other musicians is in here, for sure. This is mood music, take it or leave it.

I had to wade in the water with this group. I had no idea what to expect. I first downloaded "Genesis", and found it to be powerful, and then "Cold Sweat" convinced me to buy this cd. This still reeks of psychedelia, and I would love to see some material surface from thier real early days back before they went completely new age. The guitar work is reminiscent of Ritchie Blackmore, or Jimi Hendrix take your pick. I look back, and wonder what would've happened if I experimented with this group when I was in my *****? I have no idea, but I dug them finally. This is really prime work.

This 1970 debut from Tangerine Dream marks their first foray into mind bending unusual and unique music that cannot be categorized.However,unlike their subsequent albums after this,Electronic Meditation is not a space music or ambient music album.It is,however,an experimental album in the true sense of the word.TD's debut album was recorded when they were still,in a sense,a rock band.The album's title is deceptive,because there are no electronic instruments here except for the electric guitar.No trademark TD synths here.However,the album is still equally captivating,from the opening moments of the eerie,cello grinding,flute crazy opener,"Genesis",to the experimental rock jams of "Journey Through A Burning Brain" and "Cold Smoke",Electronic Meditation is full of surprises from begining to end,and never ceases to amaze me,every time I listen to it.If your'e looking for music that truly stands out from the rest of the ordinary competition,do yourself a favor and listen to this incredible,fascinating album.I guarantee you will never look at music the same way again.Have fun,and enjoy!I know I did!

Well, I really like Genesis and Burning Brain. The rest was very badly mixed, with annoying guitar and feedback through most of the remaining tracks, with some meditative stuff on the two short tracks at the end. Obviously the mix was designed to "blow your mind" though it would have helped to specify the proper drugs to be on. A remix would help this material immensly. Other than that this sounds like an experiment by some inspired and experimental musicians. Like I say, the first two (long) tracks are quite interesting, that's why this is three stars and not two.

This, TD's debut album,contains some totally different music compared to Alpha Centauri,Zeit ,or any other TD album in history.It has 5 tracks full of organs,flute,primitive synths,and yes,even acid guitar.Some of the album even has some rocklike sections,such as the end section of #2,Journey Through A Burning Brain and Cold Smoke,#3. #1 Genesis, is basically a wierd creepy,uneasy 6 minute track full of wierd scraping cellos and guitar. #4 Ashes to ashes is a full blueslike 4 minute track. #5 Ressurection starts out with some talking in German and a dramatic organ,then it sounds just like #1 Genesis,and suddenly ends.Wierd CD,but I'm sure it has some fans.Maybe even some new fans,huh?