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Our Top Reviews
Reviewer: Dave Dutton
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Recommended for those looking to listen to something a bit …
Review: An incredible journey at the beginning of this legendary group. Far removed from what their sound is generally recognized for, this avant-garde debut is the grandfather of the Krautrock movement of the 70’s. Recommended for those looking to listen to something a bit off the beaten path.
Reviewer: Jack
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good stuff, again
Review: So, I’m into collecting Tangerine Dream. This particular work stands well with many of their other productions. I am still enchanted by the diversity of their music. They have a signature but each album is unique.
Reviewer: Louie Bourland
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Tangerine Dream…In The Beginning.
Review: Historically speaking, Tangerine Dream’s debut album “Electronic Meditation” is arguably a classic. If you’ve only heard the bands later work from the mid-70s onwards, you’re in for a big surprise here. Tangerine Dream was still more or less an acid-rock band during this time and this was also recorded before synthesizers and electronics fully took over into the bands sound.Tangerine Dream was formed in September 1967 and had already gone through numerous line-up changes before making this debut album. By the time 1969 rolled around, the group consisted on founder Edgar Froese on guitar and keyboards, Klaus Schulze on drums and percussion and Conrad Schnitzler on cello, violin and flute. It was this line-up which recorded “Electronic Meditation” in October of that year. Joining them on the album were two additional players, Jimmy Jackson on organ and Thomas Keiserling on flute. For over 30 years the two guest musicians have never received credits for their work on this album. It wasn’t until Sanctuary Records reissued the album in late 2002 that they got their long overdue recognition.The album opens with “Genesis”, an extremely weird track consisting of strange string sounds and Schnitzler’s groaning cello. As the piece builds up, Schulze comes in with a tribal drumbeat and Froese stabs away on his electric guitar. A flute also dances around the organized chaos. As this piece builds up to its climax, it cuts off abruptly and leads into the next track “Journey Through a Burning Brain”.This track begins with what sounds like the band tuning up. There are discordant guitar phrases, random drum hits, flutes fluttering at will and an organ doodling in the background. Soon thereafter, the organ begins with a chord structure which builds and climbs up a chordal scale. When the organ has reached its peak, Edgar Froese comes in with a stellar rhythm guitar backed by Klaus Schulze’s steady backbeat. Then, it’s off to a full-fledged freakout as the entire band begins jamming on all four cylinders. The band blows and blows until everything falls apart leaving behind a cathedral-like organ passage accompanied by flute.”Cold Smoke” begins with a quiet organ passage which gets interrupted twice by loud jolts of percussion. After the second loud crash, Schnitzler comes in with a violin. This leads into an organ/drums exchange. This is followed by yet another acid freakout as Edgar rips into a psychedelic feedback drenched guitar lead a la Jimi Hendrix. Like “Genesis”, the music builds up to a climax and is cut off abruptly.After the sudden end of “Cold Smoke”, we are treated to the sound of someone breathing very heavy into a microphone. This begins the next track, “Ashes To Ashes”. This is probably the most relaxed piece on the album. The organ and drums lock in the groove while Edgar comes in with a very bluesy guitar lead. Schnitzler can be heard playing some off-key flute as well. The overall sound of this track can be described as Hendrix meets The Doors. The organ playing has Ray Manzarek written all over it while the guitar work is very much in Jimi’s style.The closing track, “Resurrection” opens with a high-volume organ accompanied by a voice recorded backwards. The voice is actually Edgar Froese and he is reading instructions for going through German customs. No evil subliminal messages here. This is followed by a brief reprise of the opening track “Genesis” which brings the album full circle and to an exciting conclusion.Die-hard Tangerine Dream fans will no doubt want to own this album if they haven’t done so already. This is a completely different style than the synthesizer/sequencer-based sound they would adopt only four years later. However, the historical aspect of this album should not be overlooked. “Electronic Meditation” is an album of importance and can be quite an extraordinary listen if heard with the right set of ears. There is no other album in Tangerine Dream’s vast catalog that sounds as ‘far-out’ as this.After the release of this album Klaus Schulze and Conrad Schnitzler both left the band. Schulze joined Ash Ra Tempel and later went onto a prolific solo career. Schnitzler formed Kluster (later Cluster) and also pursued a solo career. Edgar Froese, of course, is still keeping the Dream alive to this day. A lot has changed with Tangerine Dream of the last 35 years but “Electronic Meditation” is how it all began. Check it out and be nostalgic.
Reviewer: Bryan
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: sweet, sour and juicy- just like a tangerine should be
Review: Update- March 2, 2012Wow did I REALLY submit a review for this album over 4 years ago? Anyway I was actually wrong about something. Despite how unbelievably chaotic and dangerous the music of Electronic Meditation is, I’m actually finding with repeated listens that it’s not only listenable but actually, dare I say it, *melodic*. I’m not even kidding. You’d know if I was kidding because I’d say it and… I’m not. Nope, April Fools Day isn’t for another month either so you can’t say I’m playing a prank!”Journey Through a Burning Brain” has some EXTREMELY good guitar playing with a strong psychedelic leaning and instant connections to Pink Floyd’s “Interstellar Overdrive” with some emotional (believe it or not) guitar trickery somewhere in the middle. What makes the song work so well is around the 3-minute mark when the organs get REALLY thick as the other instruments take a back seat, and it sounds like a thing of absolute heavenly beauty to me. The guitar solo afterwards is really fantastic as well because it reminds me of Jefferson Airplane, another band I love. “Cold Smoke” surprisingly reveals several layers of melody as well. I LOVE the middle section in particular that sounds like it would fit in on Van Der Graaf Generator’s VERY underrated debut called “The Aerosol Grey Machine” and one song in particular called “Octopus”. Listen to the middle section from both “Cold Smoke” and “Octopus” and tell me there’s really a difference. I love both songs quite a bit so my comparison is only just that- to compare two songs that sound identical to me.Let me put it another way- BOTH jams totally remind me of mad-dashing my way through a Castlevania game whipping candles! Or perhaps a more accurate comparison, witnessing Scooby Doo and Shaggy running through a haunted hallway of a castle! Oh and the guitar jam? It’s *unbelievable*. AGAIN -just like the rest of the song- it’s melodic and I’m not even joking! Anyway these two songs ALONE take up most of the album, and considering how melodic they sound to me now… yeah, Electronic Meditation is certainly on the melodic side.Is there a way to define THIS album? I thought Pink Floyd and King Crimson were the only experimental bands from back in the day. Nope, these guys are just as insanely atmospheric and experimental. Actually other experimental artists include Frank Zappa, Henry Cow, David Bowie, Yes, and Gentle Giant.The rest of the material is only slightly less exciting. “Genesis” contains ship horn sound effects leading into a speedy flute solo that turns melodic before its conclusion. “Ashes to Ashes” is a *wonderful* 4-minute guitar jam. “Resurrection” has eerie and inspiring organs and German vocals before turning into the same ordeal that begins “Genesis”.Sometimes when I listen to this music I get the feeling the members of Tangerine Dream were influenced by the Doors more quiet and atmospheric bits, and of course, Pink Floyd’s legendary Piper at the Gates of Dawn and A Saucerful of Secrets albums. It’s like a blend between the two. An album well worth checking out. I get the feeling the band Yes was listening very closely to what these guys were doing for their Tales from Topographic Oceans album. You want music that’s completely warped and in its own little world? You found the right album. Electronic Meditation it is. Electronic Meditation is really underappreciated by just about everyone who thinks it’s mediocre or terrible. It’s not. Far from it. The keyboards, guitars and drums are simply being performed in a really twisted way, that’s all. A wonderful album.
Reviewer: littlebigman
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Has to be taken on its own is right!
Review: I love TD and have listened to a lot, bought a lot and searched for a lot. Found this on CD used somewhere around 91′. Took it home and thought it to not be much at all like any other TD since. I am however very glad I have it. For special musicians you hold highly, you should always look into the history of them and then, stinks or not, have their first album. I did happen upon some very promising moments on this but would never put it on for company or at a party. I have listened to it while driving down the road stoned and of course anything sounds good then.If you are not a TD fan, you may want to save your money and then again it might be the catalyst that gets you going on TD. As another reviewer before me said “it has to be taken on its own”.
Reviewer: Eduardo Uhden
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Para formar parte de mi colección. Tan impresionante como siempre. No podía esperar otra cosa. Seguiré esperando a que edite más.
Reviewer: Krass
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: .. geben sich Tangerine Dream auf ihrem ersten Album auf dem sogar Grossmeister Klaus Schulze mit wirkt.Der diese Musik selber als Punk bezeichnet. Womit er natürlich nicht sagen wollte, das hier die Punkwelle vorweg genommen wird. Sondern das jeder Musiker (vermutlich unter Drogeneinfluss) einfach seinen Assoziationen freien lauf liess. Egal ob er sein Instrument beherschte oder nicht. :-)Das Ergebniss überascht nicht. Der psychedelische Einfluss Ende der 60er. Wie er insbesondere von Pink Floyd geprägt wurde ist hier sichtlich zu hören und noch heute denke ich oft immer ein bischen an Pink Floyd wenn ich diese Aufnahme höre. Natürlich verfügt “Electronic Meditation” nicht über die Qualität die Pink Floyd an den Tag legten. Aber ihr psychedelischer Einfluss ist unverkennbar. Es ist auch bekannt das zumindest Klaus Schulze zu der Zeit auch ein Konzert von Pink Floyd besuchte.Fazit: Interessante freie Assoziationen experimenteller und psychedelischer Art. Die den Zeitgeist des Entstehungsjahres (1970) gut wieder spiegeln. Eine interessante Zeitreise auf die man sich aber natürlich einlassen muss. Wer mit der Musik aus der Hippigeneration nicht viel anfangen kann der wird zwangsläufig verwirrt sein.Wer aber aufgeschlossen für experimentelle Musik ist und psychedelische Gittaren und sphärische Orgelklänge liebt der wird auf eine interessante Reise gehen. Eine Reise Zurück an den Anfang der kosmischen Musik.
Reviewer: Mr Creosote
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Tangerine Dream’s debut album is what it is: a grotty old rehearsal jam, never originally intended for release, but gamely over-dubbed and spliced with even more sonic wierdness by Froese & co when, to his surprise, Ohr records contacted him and said they wanted to release it! As most of your probably know already, the music itself is drugged-out psych-rock, blistering and scrabbling away somewhere between Hendrix and Pink Floyd. If you are a fan of the bands later synth-based work, this album will probably come as a bit of a shock to your system.This CD re-issuing by Esoteric / Reactive is packaged sumptuously, with the original cover art, extra photos and an intelligent little essay on this murky period of the band’s history.Sonically – well, it has a little more top end than my old mid-80s CD from Jive Electro, but no radical sonic changes (certainly no loudness wars compression, nor even any attempt at removing hiss). It’s still basically a very grotty scuzzy recording! Mind you, considering the mastertape is from 1969, we should consider ourselves lucky it would even play back at all – it certainly doesn’t seem to have deteriorated since the mid 80s, so it must’ve been well stored.
Reviewer: Bruno Maurizi
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Ottimo!! Tra l’altro un CD che non ero riuscito a trovare nei negozi di musica.
Reviewer: Marjan Stojanovic
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Thanks!
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