Tangerine Dream - Live in Paris (March 31, 1986)

On March 31, 1986, Tangerine Dream played two concerts at the Olympia (and not "Olympic") Theater in Paris. Their last concert in Paris was in 1981. These two 1986 concerts were a surprise for Parisian TD fans. First, they discovered a new line-up of the band: Johannes Schmoelling was replaced by a young Austrian musician, Paul Haslinger. Then, Tangerine Dream had a new sound, more digital, more percussive, with impressive multilayered sequences, precise harmonic and melodic arrangement: the music was played very loud and the audience discovered a kind of new electronic music, sophisticated and full of the same kind of energy a rock band could display. Last, but not least, the band played with an impressive light show, perfectly synchronized with the music.

23 years after, these Paris concerts remain very special... They opened the way to a new step in Tangerine Dream career, but the trio Franke - Froese - Haslinger was the most creative link between the early eighties and the nineties.

Christopher Franke's art of sequencing was at its peak... Computers, samplers and digital synthies replaced the old analogic Moog sequencers: they added a new percussive dimension, new rythmic possibilities.  As far as I know, few musicians went as far as the programming work of Franke on some parts of this concert...

Here is the Tangerine Tree archive of one of these concerts. It is number 69 of the series...

I hope you will enjoy...

link: mp3

download

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Tangerine Dream - Live in Brussels (9 February 1976)

On 9th February 1976, Tangerine Dream was playing at the Auditorium Paul-Emile Janson in Brussels (Belgium). It was a fantastic show, one of the best live performances of the trio Baumann, Franke and Froese in this period. Fortunately, someone in the audience recorded the show. This 1st generation tape was re-mastered by 3N and a splendid artwork was created by Giuseppe Milazzo. This concert is volume 27 of the Tangerine Tree Project, gathering almost all the live performances of the band.  It should be noticed that Tangerine Dream gave its agreement to this project, as far as it was a non-profit venture, produced by fans to fans.  The music is "a perfect mix of sequencers, mellotrons, guitar". One should add that it was one of the most creative period of Tangerine Dream and that their live performances were unique events where improvisation played a very important part.  This Brussels concert was exceptional by the interplay between the three musicians: some parts remind Ricochet or Encore, two official live recordings.

The sound quality is very good, and the silence of the audience is just impressive... Tangerine Dream concerts had such an hypnotical power...

I hope you will enjoy, and I will post in the future a selection of Tangerine Dream shows, my personal "best of" for the musical as well as for the audio quality...

link: mp3  :  2 parts

TDTr27.1.zip

TDTr27.2..zip

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Tangerine Dream - Live in Shefield (1974)

This is the second volume of the Tangerine Tree series. Edgar Froese, Chris Franke and Peter Baumann played at the City Hall in Sheffield, on October 29th, 1974.  This is a pretty good recording (soundboard ? radio broadcast ?), remastered by Jabberwock. The design is by Maff & Gustavo Jobim

In this 44 minutes long track, Tangerine Dream's music is serene, floating and meditative: it is a long improvisation, where mellotron, organs, EMS Synthy and treated piano create beautiful soundscapes: it is true electronic chamber music, creating slowly evolving climates, with a kind of special German romantic touch... 

Enjoy !

mp3

link

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Tangerine Dream - Live at the Reims Cathedral (13 December 1974)

The Reims Cathedral concert is among the most famous, the most exceptional concerts ever played by Tangerine Dream. The location was unique, the scandal was huge, the rumor followed Tangerine Dream for years...

German cosmic music met one of the most famous French cathedrals. Electronic meditations, pop culture, uncontrolled young audience, drugs... It was too much, and special religious ceremonies were performed after the concert, to restaure the cathedral's sanctity.

This high quality recording from a radio broadcast was remastered by 3N and is volume 30 of the Tangerine Dream Tree series (92 volumes), a team project realized by fans for fans, offering the best live recordings of Tangerine Dream since its early beginnings, with great audio mastering and splendid artwork. Let's add that Tangerine Dream gave its agreement to this project, just asking the live recordings to be shared for free. 

This concert at the Reims Cathedral is so great... Peter Baumann, Chris Franke and Edgar Froese played two long parts, where improvisation and experimentation were at the forefront. Mellotron's flute and string parts, Moog sequences, EMS synthies effect, organs, electric piano, various delays and electronic treatments: no computers were involved, just three musicians interacting in real time, creating cosmic and floating climates, where neo-classical melodies meet avant-garde bruitages.

The Reims Cathedral concert allows us to listen to Tangerine Dream at the Phaedra and Rubycon era. Playing live, outside the security of studios, with all the risks linked with analogic equipment, with improvisation, with a real audience in a mythical place... It was a big challenge...

This concert has a vintage sound, I love it... This is cosmic and electronic music with a unique human touch... I am sure you will enjoy it...

link / mp3

TDReims74.zip

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Tangerine Dream - Ricochet (1975)

If I was to choose 10 CDs as an ideal collection for living on a desert island, Tangerine Dream's Ricochet would be one of them. This is one of my all time favorite albums... and if anyone among you, dear blog visitors, does not know it, do you a favor... and discover it now !

Ricochet is an album that, more than thirty years after its release, does not sound outdated or old-fashioned... It kept all its mystery and beauty, it is among the few great masterpieces of the German electronic music of the seventies.

The basic materials are live recordings during concerts in England and France by the trio Peter Baumann, Chris Franke and Edgar Froese, but these materials were edited, mixed and reorganized in studio, in order to create these two long and splendid tracks.

Tangerine Dream's previous albums, Phaedra and Rubycon, already featured electronic sequences, but they were still minimal and experimental. In Ricochet, sequences are at the forefront and create innovative harmonic, melodic and rythmical patterns. Nobody used Moog sequencers in such a way, beyond the mere repetition of loops or basic grooves, as a leading melodic voice. And I don't see anything equivalent in the more recent electronic music relying on computers. 

Everything is perfect in these two tracks, from the haunting romantic piano notes opening part two to the spacy guitar leimotiv of part one, from the overdub of drums upon some bass rythm to the use of delays on the most melodic sequences.

Ricochet contains the quintessence of the concerts of the Dream in the seventies, a flight outer space, very far out, a psychedelic travel through the waves of the sound, and a very human and romantic feeling, between rock and classical music...

Absolute masterwork...

link: mp3 / 320

TDRic.zip

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