Electronic Meditation

Tangerine Dream | Format: MP3 Download

Product Details

• Original Release Date: November 19, 2002
• Label: Castle Music
• Copyright: 2002 Sanctuary Records Group Ltd
• Genres: Dance & DJ/Electronica, Rock/Progressive
• ASIN: B000QR2FTQ
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tangerine Dream...In The Beginning., May 13, 2003

By 

Louie Bourland (Garden Grove CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Electronic Meditation (Audio CD)

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A brain does indeed burn..., November 2, 2005

By 

Jeffrey J.Park (Massachusetts, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Electronic Meditation (Audio CD)

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Destroys all preconceptions of Tangerine Dream, February 18, 2005

By 

W. T. Hoffman "artist and musician" (Pennsylvania, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Electronic Meditation (Audio CD)

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.