Underwater Sunlight [Import]

Tangerine Dream | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 10, 1996)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Castle Music UK
• ASIN: B000006ZOS
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #555,365 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Song of the Whale, Pt. 1: From Dawn...

2. Song of the Whale, Pt. 2: ...to Dusk

3. Dolphin Dance

4. Ride on the Ray

5. Scuba Scuba

6. Underwater Twilight

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Far too good to ignore!, August 14, 2000

By 

Steve Benner "Stonegnome" (Lancaster, UK) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Underwater Sunlight (Audio CD)

Tangerine Dream's 1986 album "Underwater Sunlight" is the second of their major themed studio albums, building on the success of their previous release, "Le Parc". It also marks Paul Haslinger's debut with the band, following the departure of Johannes Schmoelling some six months earlier.

Inspired perhaps by Edgar Froese's love for scuba diving, this album evokes various aspects of the underwater world but without resorting to any hackneyed techniques or sonic images which are commonplace on those `natural ambient recordings' to be found all over the place nowadays. Don't worry that this disc is awash with `soothing and relaxing synthesiser sounds (TM)' played over taped whale and dolphin sounds and the splashing of the sea, though! Rather, what you'll find here are truly musical portraits - albeit of synthesiser origin - and all of the highest possible order.

The major work on the disc is the two-part `Song of the Whale' - a classic Tangerine Dream composition. For almost 20 minutes, mellifluous guitar and soft synthesiser melodies build music which dips and soars majestically, at times driven along by sequencer-powered synthesiser rhythms and no-nonsense electronic percussion lines, at other times drifting calmly in currents of its own making. Paul Hasslinger stamps his mark on this album very early on with his rhythm guitar work permeating both parts of `Song of the Whale' and with a sparkling grand piano solo, introducing part II. Hasslinger's rhythm guitar is in evidence, too, in the next track, `Dolphin Dance', which is an altogether more playful piece, featuring more classic TD alternating synthesiser and guitar riffs over pulsing percussion and jangling guitar. `Ride on the Ray' is a more stately affair, its melodies gliding effortlessly over a glittering array of percussion elements, while `Scuba scuba' uses a serious of flowing synthesiser voices to portray the scuba diver's distorted aural perspective of the world. Finally, the closing `Underwater twilight' evokes the somewhat unnerving serenity of the half-light found in deeper waters. Starting with a subdued and rather sedate synthesiser chorus, out of whose dulcet tones an electronic tom and percussion pulse emerges, with a shower of keyboard runs slowly rising like a flow of bubbles to the surface, this track draws the album to a powerful but gentle and satisfying conclusion.

My only complaint of this album is that, like many of its day, its 40-minute duration is somewhat scant by modern CD standards. Incidentally, the 5-CD "Dream Roots Collection" includes about half of this album, scattered over its 3 central CDs. But heck, you need all of it! An absolute delight throughout, this music is really just too good to ignore and if you're at all tempted, you shouldn't hold back!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mellow Dream, August 13, 2002

By 

Jerry Fry (Freeman, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Underwater Sunlight (Audio CD)

If "Phaedra, Zeit and Cyclone" is the Tangerine Dream you're into then "Underwater Sunlight" may not appeal to your taste. It has a more mainstream sound. Or maybe I should say a more mainstream Tangerine Dream sound. I rate this CD, Hyperborea and Exit as their best. The beginning of "Song of the Whale Part Two" has some great piano and the whole CD flows well. I could try to hype every song on this CD but anyone who is discovering their sound is probably going to like this CD very much. It's different than anything they've done and sounds better than anything I've heard by them since.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE best of TD!, September 16, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Underwater Sunlight (Audio CD)

THE very best album of TD. It was my first TD album and after all those years it's still my favourite. The first two tracks are absolutely fantastic, especially the piano part. You don't know TD until you have Underwater Sunlight..!