Hyperborea [Import]

Tangerine Dream | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 17, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Emd Int'l
• ASIN: B000000W54
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #45,703 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #54 in Music > Imports > New Age

Track Listings

1. No Man's Land

2. Hyperborea

3. Cinnamon Road

4. Sphinx Lightning

Editorial Reviews

CD reissue of this title from the innovative German Electronica outfit, one of the most influential instrumental outfits of the 20th century. Tangerine Dream has never produced anything calculated to make the masses jump off their chairs and start screaming Top 40 tunes, but they have managed to have an immense impact in the world of Electronic and soundtrack music. Their 107 (and counting) studio, live and soundtrack releases have their own driving hypnotic pieces that might differ from release to release, but they are all uniquely Tangerine Dream. Document. 2009. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars North star, March 8, 2000

By 

loteq (Regensburg/Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hyperborea (Audio CD)

I listened to this CD during a journey through the Austrian Alps a few years ago, and I found the music very stimulating. Taking a closer look, "Hyperborea" is just an arty patchwork of difficult anti-rhythms and well-known space-rock ingredients. And that's exactly the point why TD's early-'80s work is so attractive and easy to listen to. The title track with its slow, relentless beats and mighty synth sounds is impressive and corresponds to the cover image. "Cinnamon road" is sparkling and refreshing high-tech pop in the style of TD's early-'80s soundtracks like "Flashpoint" and "Risky business". "No man's land" and "Sphinx lightning" are densely percussive tracks with a somehow claustrophobic atmosphere. Although this album contains music which is as stiff and desolate as an Icelandic glacier, it's well-devised and enjoyable. After this, Schmoelling's departure proved to be a severe blow for TD's creativity. When Franke also quit a few years later, this once pioneering band had already slipped down into the realm of mediocre adult alternative music. So, I would say "Hyperborea" is TD's last album which shows some progressive elements.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DARK, COLD, AND HEAVY. I LOVE IT!, October 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Hyperborea (Audio CD)

This album has grown with me a lot through the years. Initially I bought the LP, but I think the CD version really does it justice. Hyperborea is totally synth-based, and there is a strange concept in it: The concept of Death! For, how else can one reconcile Hyperborea, the mythical land of eternal happiness with the 'tomb' culture of Ancient Egypt? This is, by the way, my own personal interpretation, and no TD fan has to agree with it. Edgar Froese once stated that every listener should feel free to draw their own conlusions about the themes of the TD music. The music of H does reflect, however, a strange duality: The first track, quite upbeat and pleasant, industrial sounding towards the end, has a definitive Mid-Eastern flavour, and develops a theme that TD revisited later in the song Valley of the Kings, from Lily on the Beach. The awesome composition Sphinx Lightning is a dark marathon through desolate lands and twilight areas. It begins with a heavy, ominous theme, develops into a rhythmical and sophisticated techno, then enters a strange, lingering atonic scale and, after a pure electronic percussion passage, concludes with a glorious (resurrection?) theme. Hyperborea is certainly not a melodic album (the title track is the only exception). In fact, I think that this is the least melodic CD of all the Schmoelling albums. The synth sounds selected by the band are harsh, unreal, unlikely. The first track, for example, offers a weird combination of exotic and industrial sounds. Cinnamon Road is one of the most aggressive and vibrant songs TD ever recorded. Thrilling tune! The title track, Hyperborea, on the other hand, is so majestic and beautiful, that some TD fans bought this album just for this song. Personally, I do not favor any song over another in this album, simply because every one of the four tracks that consist H has its own personality. I do find, however, Sphinx Lightning the most interesting of all. The vast majority of techno and industrial music today pales in comparison with this 1983 TD album! There is soul and heart here; there is mysticism and spirituality, not just a pathetic manipulation of wave files and all that nonsense that is considered by some today's 'progressive' or 'experimental' music.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost flawless..., August 29, 2000

By 

Neil Thompson (Birkenhead, Wirral United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hyperborea (Audio CD)

By the time "Hyperborea" came along in 1983, the TD line-up of Froese, Franke and Schmoelling was well established and was churning out high quality, original composition for film scores, live performances and the annual studio releases.

To be objective, there isn't a great deal of difference between "Hyperborea" and "White Eagle" (the previous studio album) from a sonic perspective; the same studio set-up, perhaps? There does seem to be more use of sampling (orchestra stabs and bells most noticeably) than on most TD albums,but it's never intrusive, certainly TD didn't embrace the Fairlight with as much enthusuasm as, say, Jarre!

"No Man's Land" has an Eastern flavour, synthetic sitar and toms working well together and slowly building to quite an intense ending (with the aforementioned orchestra stabs). This is the most radical track on the album, and the trick of taking an ethnic theme (in this case Indian) and synthesizing it was used later on the "Poland" album, with the Polish polka of "Tangents".

The title track is treading on "Cloudburst Flight" (from "Force Majeure") territory, and while the atmospheric theme works beautifully, the track is somewhat spoilt by the uninspired drum track. (Well, I did say it was almost flawless)!

"Cinnamon Road" is one of those 4 minuters that you get the feeling Johannes Schmoelling can knock out all day; catchy tune, strong voicings; one for the live encore!

The track that dominates the album, however, is the awesome "Sphinx Lightning". The opening chords are immensely powerful, this is the track that clearly inspired much of the "Poland" performance, with sounds and sequences from this track popping up all over the place on that album. From the dramatic opening we have one of the great sequences... ever! Similar in style to "Mojave Plan" from "White Eagle", but with strange vocoded voices lilting across the surface. Ten minutes through and the composition breaks down to a single melancholy sitar and introspective pad before the rhythm begins to resurface. Fans of Froese's solo work will recognise the opening sequence of "Pinnacles" in those watery droplets...

From here it's drama all the way; huge power chords and a soaring melody lead us to the climax; this is TD at their best. 20 minutes of ever changing themes, held together by ethereal meandering. For fans of the Schmoelling era, this is one of the defining moments. For further listening, try out the soundtracks from the same period; "Firestarter" and "Flaspoint" most notably, and for live genius, nothing tops "Poland".