Customer Reviews

Epsilon in Malaysian Pale

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Please seek out the original version of this one instead of this re-dressed updated version. The original would get a 5 star rating from me but this one has so many little changes and add ons that it's just a mess. The newly added sounds really stand out as well...they just don't fit into the aural landscape that's beneath them.

Why can't Edgar leave well enough alone? It was perfect before, but this is just unlistenable. Do yourself a favor and find the original version instead. You'll thank yourself that you did.

Why would one want to paint earrings and make-up on the Mona Lisa? That's just what Edgar has done here. Too much fluff.

Maroubra bay is now just annoying. It sounds as if my kid is riding around on his tricycle ringing the bell the whole time.

If you do not have a copy of the first issue, try finding it instead. It is beautiful! Mr. Froese should have left it alone.

I can not believe that this turned out so badly. I was waiting forever for the re-release, and the moment I heard that Froese had "added" something to it, I felt sick to my stomach.

After listening to this now three times over two weeks, my stomach is empty!

DO NOT BUY THIS - this was sacred territory, and the creator of it, has all but ruined it.

"Epsilon in Malayisian Pale" is the second solo album of Edgar Froese, recorded in 1975, after Tangerine Dream published one of their best albums, "Rubycon". The album starts with ambient samples of monkeys in a jungle. As an intro to an album like this, the monkeys do just fine. However, in 1997 Edgar Froese and his son published "Ambient Monkeys", an album filled with monkey screams from beginning to end, with classical and their own tunes mixed in. An aborted concept, if there ever was one. Mercifully, the samples do not last long on "Epsilon in Malaysian Pale", and soon enough we have an opportunity to hear an expansion on ideas explored on Tangerine Dream's "Phaedra". Similar synthesizer passages accompany the electronic flute. Painting musical passages, Froese takes his time to wander here and there, and roundabout, not paying too much attention to the timing and construction. This is the first album of Froese, where his lack of appreciation for that aspect is in evidence. However, we must give him due credit that in 1975 he still knew where to end a composition.

Lighter in touch than the mother band's albums, "Epsilon in Malayisian Pale" delivers variations on a theme that are pleasurable to listen to for every fan of the old, good analog music. Actually, two-thirds into the title track, 'Epsilon in Malayisian Pale', Froese quotes from "Rubycon", and from a chaos of sound samples emerges the main theme of the album. With flutes and mellotron playing along, the bubbling Moog rhythm theme takes over the track, and while the composition does not deliver as much as it suggests it will at the beginning, it's good enough. One simply cannot become satiated with this music.

The second half of the album consists of a single long track, 'Maroubra Bay', which is indeed superior to the rest of the album. If you're looking for a definition of a good Edgar Froese music, search no more, it's here. The chilling introduction reminds us of "Rubycon", and hints a bit towards Tangerine Dream's soundtrack, "Sorcerer", a masterpiece of electronic music, a type soundtrack you have never heard before or after. Just like on "Rubycon", the intensely atmospheric synthesizer passages transform into a brilliantly performed and unforgettable dynamic arpeggio. If Christopher Franke and Peter Baumann had thrown their two cents into this composition, 'Maroubra Bay' would have constituted another milestone in Tangerine Dream's musical heritage. Since it's a solo album of Edgar Froese, one must admit that the man had a streak of genius back then in 1975. "Epsilon in Malysian Pale" is one of the most important recordings of the decade, one which you shouldn't miss under any circumstances.

Around the same time that Tangerine Dream released their monumental 1975 classic "Rubycon", Dream founder Edgar Froese released his second solo album entitled "Epsilon in Malaysian Pale" - a loosly-based concept album inspired by his travels in Malaysia and Australia.
The album was not as successful as Tangerine Dream's group efforts but over the years, "Epsilon In Malaysian Pale" has become a fan favorite and a treasured rarity.
Consisting of just two long tracks, the album's main instrument is the Mellotron, a keyboard which pre-dates today's digital samplers utilizing tapes to play back the sounds of strings, woodwinds, horns etc. Froese was a master at the Mellotron and this album displays his best examples of what could be done with such a primitive yet pioneering device.
The title track is divided into three sections. The opening section consists of beautifully played Mellotron flutes and strings and definitely creates images of being outdoors. This leads into a darker section consisting of a sequencer loop accompanied by Mellotron strings. After this, the piece comes full circle with the same flute/string motiff only played in a much more minor key.
The second track, "Maroubra Bay" is a dark 17-minute piece opening with thick eeire Mellotron-string chords. A horn-synth lead cuts through the dark chords attempting to bring calm to the chaotic chords. Several minutes later, a hypnotic sequencer pulse enters into the mix punctuated by synth and Mellotron. Then, the thick Mellotron chords return to bring this haunting piece to a close. An interesting footnote to this piece is that there is a backwards version of this track in existance with the entire piece going in reverse from back to front (I obtained this version from a fellow TD collector who had it on a bootleg). The fascinating thing about this piece is that it sounds close to identical in reverse as it does at its normal forward speed.
Even 30 years after its release, Edgar Froese's "Epsilon In Malaysian Pale" is one of his finest solo efforts and is a sought-after collectors item. The work on this album is pioneering in many ways with excellent composition and structure. It is definitely an album worth owning.

Recently, Edgar has decided to re-record and remix this album. The new version has recently been released and is available through Edgar Froese's website.

No, Edgar, it's not necessary to toy with a miniature masterpiece. The original is one of the most beautiful mellotron-dominated albums you'll ever hear. This "redux" version is pointless and, even worse, offensive to the very spirit of creation itself. What the hell were you thinking, Edgar?

If you're looking for what has to be the most Mellotron plastered album ever known (with the exception of Celluloid's Neptune, released in 1983, which I hadn't heard yet, which is said to be 100% Mellotron, but unfortunately only available as a rare LP), then look for Epsilon in Malaysian Pale, second solo offering from the main guy of Tangerine Dream. Recorded in between Rubycon and Ricochet, it seems without Chris Frank and Peter Baumann around, Froese simply went hog wild on the Mellotron, and he does indeed. He made it quite obvious he was a big fan of the instrument (and admitted once the polyphonic synths started appearing in TD's setup in the late '70s and early '80s, did he lose interest in the tron). The album starts off sounding a bit like "Fauni Gena" off Atem, with the jungle sounds, but about 80% of the title track consists of Mellotron, in which flute and strings are the most dominant. "Maruba Bay" is a bit more synth dominated, and unsurprisingly the closest to the TD sound, but with a more impressionistic feel. Still the Mellotron is dominant as ever. There is more tron on this album than on any Tangerine Dream album. Another great album to have if you're in to electronic music.

This is one of Froese's most touching creations. I would put it on whilst having psychedelic excursions back in 1983 - it could detangle my mind quite nicely with its slowly unwinding patterns. It is as cool and spirit refreshing as the dewy ferns on its cover.

I have seen a few negative reviews for this album, and I believe they are posted in wrong place.

There are two versions of Epsilon in Malaysian Pale. This page is about the original 1975 recording, by Edgar Froese. There is also 2007 remake, by Edgar W. Froese. You can tell the original from the remake by cover and by spelling of the artist name.

All negative reviews are for the 2007 remake, and they don't really belong here.

The bad news is that the CD of the original version is extremely hard to find as of 2008, and if you are in such luck to spot it on auction somewhere, it will be very expensive (the LPs are still in abundance though). The result is that most people buy the CD not knowing that it is actually a remake of the original work.

The original Epsilon in Malaysian Pale (1975), represented by this page, is a masterpiece. It is, by all standards, one of the finest pieces of mellotron music ever produced. It is a result of Tangerine Dream founder solo work when TD was at its artistic best.

If you love Tangerine Dream's Phaedra or Rubycon, you must give a listen to this album and I guarantee you will admire it.

Edgar Froese knows his genre. I've owned this LP since 1977 and have yet to tire of it.Maroubra Bay has a way to sooth the most stirred up 1990s soul with its repetitive rhythms of typical 70s West-German electronic "eternity music."Ypsilon in Malaysian Pale with its locomotive-esc circles sends you on a relaxing journey leaving your mind open to explore deeper.