Customer Reviews

London Concert

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
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2 star:		(1)
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The London Concert was recorded live at the Apollo Theatre in London in October of 1991. This context is important because Franke was just emerging as a solo artist after leaving Tangerine Dream in 1988. The London Concert is very much in the vein of Tangerine Dream's work- especially the more straightforward melodicism of the mid to late '80's. Standout tracks include 'Vermillion Sands', 'Cloudburst Flight' and 'Dolphin Dance'- all of which are from Franke's TD days. 'Cloudburst Flight' is off the classic 1979 TD album 'Force Majeure' and 'Dolphin Dance' is from TD's excellent and lyrical album from '86, 'Underwater Sunlight'. 'Vermillion Sands' is a version of 'Cool Breeze of Brighton' that TD performed live back in the mid 80's. I realize I have made a number of allusions to Franke's years in TD and it is hard not too because it is clear that Franke is trying to establish himself in contrast to his preceding work. I think he does that effectively, with some brilliant melodies and a broad palette of sounds. The style that emerges is more minimalist than TD, and is very much in line with Franke's later soundtrack work. I would rate the London Concert as comprable to his work on the Babylon 5 series, more enjoyable than 'New Music for Films 1', and just below 'Klemania'. 'Klemania' is superior because it is more straight electronica and features Franke's trademark synth lines more prominently. All in all a good representation of Franke as a solo artist, and an enjoyable well constructed concert. Fans of electronic music, especially fans of Tangerine Dream, will likely enjoy it. But for fans new to this genre, or new to Franke I would recommend beginning with 'Klemania'.

"The London Concert" is the first (and only so far) concert album of Christopher Franke. In fact, he performed live only once, in October of 1991, and we should be grateful that that performance was recorded and published, preserved for posterity. An ex-member of Tangerine Dream, the main man behind its musical heritage, the sole carrier of the musical traditions of old Tangerine Dream, Christopher Franke proved with "The London Concert" that he, and no one else has a moral right to be associated with the band's name, although the latter is a property of Edgar Froese, property he saw fit to destroy in the 90s. "The London Concert" is a masterpiece, an album that set us on our knees, won our hearts hungry for the good old music we suspected had already perished to be found never more. When I bought this album in late 1992, I was crying loud. That's how much disappointed I was with what was done to Tangerine Dream, and that's how I loved this masterpiece of electronic music. I hope you will too, if you are still unaware that Chris Franke continues to innovate in the electronic music genre, that he successfully married orchestra with electronica, that the incredible ambient soundscapes of old glory are still with us.

The London Concert starts heavily, with an electronic orchestral intro of 'Empire of Light', with quotes from Franke's favorite album of Tangerine Dream, "Near Dark" of 1986, which was his child, where he took over compositionally, and tried to research the marriage of electronica and orchestra. The intro softly metamorphoses into the main arpeggiated theme of 'Purple Waves', known from his first solo album of 'Pacific Coast Highway'. The first five tracks are blended into one long suite named 'Circular Signs Suite', reminding us live once again that the times of old improvised compositions - suites understood as sonic images, musical journeys through the ambient world - are not dead, forgotten, but very much alive, still with us. 'Purple Waves' is very long, and multilayered, slowly progressing from the innocent piano images to the heavier, dynamic, arpeggiated rockets we missed for such a long time. The last composition of that type can be found on Tangerine Dream's 1983 concert album, "Poland". In fact, the arpeggio on "The London Concert", with the heart-wrenching basso-continuo of 'Purple Waves' is one of the most memorable arpeggios in the whole history of electronic music. I dare say that very few compositions of Tangerine Dream, even the old ones, compare to this one. A few minutes into the suite, we hear the main theme quote from 1976's "Sorcerer", and a powerful ostinato extending ideas explored on "Poland", dancing together in a incredibly intelligent, interlaced set of tunes. All that is best in electronic music is present here. Sudeenly, the arpeggio stops, to give way to the dialogue of piano and deep synthesizer tones, to bring us back to the melody of the original track known from "Pacific Coast Highway", and then, as hard as it is to believe, we hear the beloved sounds of 1975's "Ricochet". Jesus - I never suspected I would again hear this godlike music again, performed live. Travelling through the clouds with the arpeggio again, this time augmented by a solid, Spartan, but fitting drum beat, we accelerate in a powerful finale to this masterpiece, Franke's famous composition, 'Cloudburst Flight' from Tangerine Dream's album "Force Majeure" of 1979. Franke does not limit himself to quotes, he extends them in ways we daren't have dreamt about for about 20 years. I wish 'Circular Signs Suite' never ended. After a short, reflexive breath of 'Black Garden View', a fresh composition from his latest album, we again enter the world of godlike arpeggios with 'Vermillion Sands', the first offocial solo composition of Christopher Franke. This carnivorous, arpeggiated and agresssive composition will leave you shivering. Oh Lord, I didn't expect this much from life...

"The London Concert" offers so much more - I feel like I could write for hours. 'Mountain Heights' and 'Private Diaries' again offer us a live experience of Franke playing his newest 1991 compositions from "Pacific Coast Highway". Pulsating version of his composition, 'Dolphin Dance' known from 1986's Tangerine Dream album, "Underwater Sunlight" leaves you in a state of euphoria, proof that only the author of this track is able to play it with the nerve, even better than the original band used to in the days of old.

This album made me a Frankist for life. The best album of the 90s, hands down. it showed that creativity is unlimited, that the spirit of Tangerine Dream didn't die, that great music can be composed again, that there is future, and that the man whom we will follow into the future, is Christopher Franke.

This live concert release dates from 1992 and presents music from Chris Franke's earlier years with Tangerine Dream, as well as extended live versions of music from his first solo album, "Pacific Coast Highway". The blend (dubbed here `Circular Signs Suite') works well, with the welcome return of obviously electronic textures providing a more balanced mix of materials than can be found on the solo album alone. In fact, the live versions of the solo material are quite considerable improvements on the originals, with the extended version of `Purple Waves' presented here (complete with embedded TD quotes) proving beyond doubt that this man is indeed king of the arpeggiator!

In addition to the concert suite and an encore, another 8 minutes have been added to the disc in the form of two bonus tracks. These pad it all out to an almost respectable length of just over 50 minutes.

It has to be said too that the recording quality of this concert isn't desperately good, with the disc suffering generally from a quite poor dynamic range. As a concert, though, the release is first rate and should please anyone looking to return to Tangerine Dream's glory days - although I have to say that it sounds to have been a fairly tame affair by that band's standards. All in all, though, there really is nothing that should deter anyone interested in this kind of stuff from indulging themselves here.

This is like Tangerine Dream performing with Froese, Scmoelling and Baumann on break at the back stage and leaving the concert to Chris Franke. Here you can hear and distinguish Chris' contributions to the Tangerine Dream sound and music. Not a single track here is to be missed. There is an epic suite and short tracks taken from his earlier releases but only him can deliver such magnificent and mesmerizing show. More of this please.

A great disc, superb music. This isn't your kids head banger music. I really enjoy listening to smooth easy listening vocal-less music "NewAge" and when I put on discs like The London concert, by Christopher Franke I lose myself in blissful relaxation. The tempo and style are just beautiful. It is a real bonus to me to have music that could be listened do from track 1 to the end and feel like it was almost a single, 1 hour long track. I don't mean to imply that you couldn't listen to just one track from someplace in the middle if that's your style but I have a bit of OCD and like to start at the beginning and not stop till the end. The longer the set or single track for me the better. If you like other musicians like Eno, Arkenstone, Zazou or if you are familiar with the term Starstreams, you will love the London Concert and maybe even already have heard his work.

Sure this is an old cd(10 years) but its a great listen. I first heard it on the show Musical starstreams. I think it was of Forrest's favorites and it fast became one of mine as well. The main piece played was Purple Waves. It comes from Franke's album Pacific Coast Highway.
Its good on that cd too. This is kind of an extended version. If you only buy it for one piece it would be this one.
Remember that Franke used to be with Tangerine Dream and more recently, if you can call it that, he wrote the sound tracks to Babylon 5. Not his best work but just fyi. Get this one for the .28 cents

An incredible piece of music. Purple Waves has a calming and encouraging effect on me in particular.

If you like Tangerine Dream you have to check out this one. It is very much like TD and not like the other Chris Franke music that I have heard. There are no guitars. It is good space music.

One last trumpet blast from Chris before he packed up his toys and sold out for good. Enough to make a cat weep, what a waste of talent!