So What Else Do You Listen To?

[Eclipse]

i've been listening to a lot of mozart, beethoven and bach lately.

[PublicImage]

Hanatarash, György Ligeti and Papa Sprain.

[William]

My last.fm profile can probably tell you what else I listen to. I'll post what I have on my facebook profile for music I listen to:

Tangerine Dream; Electric Light Orchestra; The Alan Parsons Project; The Beatles; Creedence Clearwater Revival; Billy Idol; Jean Michel Jarre; Software; Toto; Depeche Mode; Talking Heads; Crowded House; Motorhead; Deep Purple; Black Sabbatah; Jimi Hendrix; Vinnie Moore; INXS; Icehouse; Phil Collins, Genesis; Alexander Brandon; David Bowie; Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark; Kitaro; Billy Joel; Barry Manilow; Elton John; Howard Jones; Vangelis; Pink Floyd; Hall & Oates; Queen; Pet Shop Boys; Hot Chocolate; Ray Lynch; Erasure; Giorgio Moroder; A-ha; Robert Schroeder; The Beach Boys; The Doors; Underworld; Dead Or Alive; Kraftwerk; The Carpenters; Bread; Cold Chisel; Split Enz; Daddy Cool; Paul McCartney; John Lennon; The Travelling Wilbury's; Carly Simon; Carl Douglas; ABBA; Roxy Music; Donna Summer; Mi-sex; Coldplay; Def Leppard; Bob Marley; Cheap Trick.

Those are just a few. Didn't want to post the full list because I'd be here all day. lol

[PublicImage]

Zeit by Tangerine Dream is a masterpiece. It's definitely among my top ten albums of the 1970s. For similar and possibly superior albums, see Klaus Schulze's Irrlicht and Cyborg. I don't really like anything TD have done since the late-1970s.

I made a new last.fm account recently. Only 185 artists in the library, but I've only been scrobbling for a little over four weeks.

http://www.last.fm/user/schoenburger (nb: I only accept friend requests from people who actually use it to talk)

[William]

While Zeit might have been good for it's time, I simply can't stand it. I must say I'm a Tangerine Dream Addict because I listened to them endlessly for a few years but their real early stuff I just couldn't get into. I don't mind the stuff from 1974 to 1989 or so, starting with Phaedra and then ending with Paul Haslinger in the group. I really dislike the TD years with Linda Spa and without the core members that made TD into what they are, most notably Chris Franke, Peter Baumann (until 1977) and Johannas Schmoelling (1980 to 1985 I believe). I really like the albums 'Encore', 'Exit', 'Poland' (one of my all time favourite albums), 'Tangram'. Have you heard any of the Tangerine Tree or Tangerine Leaves stuff? It's basically live recordings taken by members in the audience. The Tree versions are usually the better quality ones. There's a lot of quality stuff to be found that I never even knew existed and I definitely recommend it if you like Tangerine Dream.

[Massed Gadgets]

I have to agree with Roger on this one, Zeit is a brilliant album, and certainly one of the Tangerine Dream albums I listen to most often. But I also think other early albums like Atem and especially Alpha Centauri are amazing too. I even like Electronic Meditation, even though it's neither meditative nor electronic. My Tangerine Dream interest tends to extend a little beyond 1980. Exit and Logos were pretty good albums, and I think Hyperborea (especially the title track) is awesome. But after that I kind of lose interest. I want to like Poland: The Warsaw Concert (I have a friend who also cites that one as his favourite) but I find the sound of cheesy 80's keyboards they were using at that point a little harsh on the ears. As far as live TD albums go, my album of choice is Encore, which I love.

I also love Edgar Froese's solo stuff, in fact, Epsilon in Malaysian Pale is one of my all time favourite albums. It's a pity he felt he had to 're-do' parts of that and other earlier albums with modern keyboards as it leaves the beautiful, warm music sounding cold and flat. I would love those original recordings on CD, but all he will make availabe is his reimagined versions. Sad. I'll have to stick to my vinyl. Aqua and Macula Transfer are also brilliant in their original versions. Ages has some good stuff, but a lot of filler too, it would have been better as a single album. And despite the shrieking early digital synthesizers he started using, I do like a lot of the music on Stuntman.

[Hudini]

As for Tangerine Dream, my favourite albums are "Rubycon" and "Stratosfear", but then again nobody asked me anything...

[rosm]

Hudini, what's your favourite TD album?

Now somebody asked.

I don't know much TD albums, but I like Ricochet. I've heard Zeit but it didn't get stuck in my brains like Ricochet. I know that in later times they mad horrible cheesy music, in my ears anyway. No offense to anyone who likes that...

[Hudini]

I haven't really heard much of their work released after late 70s. A friend of mine who has a rather bad taste in music told me their last few albums were great so I never bothered obtaining them.

[Stephen]

I'd say that Zeit is quite possibly the most atmospheric album I've ever listened to although maybe not the best one to advise the newcomer to TD to listen to first.If ever there was an album to make you feel as though you were drifting through space or exploring planets then this is it...although those planets are distinctly unfriendly ones. (I think I may have paraphrased someone elses writings there). I love all of their albums from the Ohr and Virgin releases but after Force Majeure I lose interest as their albums become a bit more like muzak rather than those earlier more challenging ones.

[William]

Lol, seems like I'm the only person here who doesn't really like the first 4 or so albums; Electronic Meditation, Zeit, Atem, Alpha Centuri. One I really like which was released in 1975 but was actually made around the same time as the 4 first albums is one called 'Green Desert'. I think my favourite albums from the 70's were Force Majeure (Force Majeure is one of my favourite songs, especially the ending...so relaxing), Green Desert, Ricochette and Encore.

[Massed Gadgets]

One I really like which was released in 1975 but was actually made around the same time as the 4 first albums is one called 'Green Desert'.

Oh yes, I really like that one too. It was actually recorded originally in 1973 but abandoned before it was finished in favour of the Phaedra project. Years later, Edgar Froese put the finishing touches on it and it saw an official release in 1986. Normally, as I mentioned in the post above, I hate when an older recording is tampered with like that, but since the original recordings were never released, who knows how complete they were or what they really sounded like. Green Desert, as it stands, very sounds like a recording that bridges the gap between the early Ohr period and the upcoming Berlin school period on Virgin Records, so I imagine it does not sound that different from they way the band was intending it to sound back in '73 when they were recording it.

[Hudini]

If I were a mod around here, I'd split this thread and make a "Tangerine Dream" one.

[William]

Oh yes, I really like that one too. It was actually recorded originally in 1973 but abandoned before it was finished in favour of the Phaedra project. Years later, Edgar Froese put the finishing touches on it and it saw an official release in 1986. Normally, as I mentioned in the post above, I hate when an older recording is tampered with like that, but since the original recordings were never released, who knows how complete they were or what they really sounded like. Green Desert, as it stands, very sounds like a recording that bridges the gap between the early Ohr period and the upcoming Berlin school period on Virgin Records, so I imagine it does not sound that different from they way the band was intending it to sound back in '73 when they were recording it.

Yeah, I thought it was a little before then and yes you can definitely tell it was worked on in a later years, mainly because in 1973 period they weren't using many sequencers or such (the sequencers came into effect in around 1974 for Phaedra when they got a Moog Modular synthesizer). I don't like when stuff is tampered too much either but I think that they did a fine job with Green Desert and I'm sure it's a lot better than what it was originally.

And yeah, might be a good idea to perhaps split this topic and make a TD one. If it's not possible to split topics in this forum then I'd be happy to make a TD thread if any are interested?

[Stephen]

Have you heard any of the Tangerine Tree or Tangerine Leaves stuff? It's basically live recordings taken by members in the audience. The Tree versions are usually the better quality ones. There's a lot of quality stuff to be found that I never even knew existed and I definitely recommend it if you like Tangerine Dream.

I've got something like 37 of those and there are some really top quality recordings on them. The scheme had the approval of the band themselves and it's a shame others didn't offer the same service for their fans instead of getting their management to put a stop to free trading, even though the TD one itself was wound up some years after for, I believe, legal reasons. I never found out what those legal reasons were but my guess would be that the record company wasn't getting a cut and didn't like it..I could be wrong though. They even designed the artwork for the albums so that when you lined them up they fitted together and the edges of them formed a photo of the band, it didn't make any difference to the music of course but it was a nice touch.