“By chosen the name TD on it, would this means that the name Edgar Froese of being less seller”
1 Boat to China 7:30
2 Landing on 51 7:57
3 Exit to Heaven 4:47
4 Silver Pendulum 4:58
5 Shy Shila 5:24
6 Sunset in the Fifth System 6:41
7 Borealis 4:48
8 Run to Vegas 10:12
9 The Seventh Folde 7:41
10 Pink Ashes 4:12
11 The burning Hole 3:39
12 Huckebee's Dream 10:45
Eastgate 026
(CD/DDL 78:34) (V.F.)
(E-Rock, New Age, Berlin School)
I'm not sure why, but I feel like I've just listened to a new part of Beyond the Storm, that double CD Edgar Froese made in 1995. Could it be that I put the wrong CD in my player? No! I opened the case, and it is indeed an Eastgate product, and it says Tangerine Dream on the cover. Hmmm... Did Edgar sniff out some new money? I think so, because ANTHOLOGY DECADES SPACE YEARS VOL. 1 is the first of a series of 4 CD's for fans who have grown up through the different eras of his musical vessel. But be warned, this is not a compilation or a collection of unreleased material from the band, but rather a collection of unfinished tracks, musical ideas and solo sessions that Edgar created in the absence of his bandmates. Except that there are tracks that belong to TD. Tracks composed with Chris Franke, like Landing On 51 which is a new Astral Voyager from the Green Desert album, Sunset in the Fifth System which is a remix of Alpha Centauri. There is also a version of Sobornost, Exit to Heaven, a track composed with the two other members of TD in the early 80's and performed in an Australian show. What if we go deeper?
Composed in the last 3 months, Boat to China opens with a smoothness. Good sequenced percussion hops from ear to ear, structuring the walk of a horse with a hobbling leg in a pool of good percussive effects. While the rhythm jumps, the orchestrations add a counterbalance that makes it slower. In the end, I find a cute, well-structured track with a magnetizing rhythm that fills in with this soulless choir. It's plausible that it's Edgar like TD, unlike Landing On 51 whose arrangement exudes a good Pinnacles, but it's so obvious that it's a tangentized version of Astral Voyager. I have to admit Exit to Heaven offers an improved version of Sobornost with a metallic atmospheric nebulosity on good Franke-like sequences. The illusion of being projected in the Dream world of the 80-82 is more than tangible. Silver Pendulum, Shy Shilla and Borealis come out of the 2000's soil with pastiche sequences and synths without sparkle out of a New Age rock. Not really the style I prefer, but Edgar pays off with a good guitar solo on Shy Shila. Edgar doesn't forget any era by taking Sunset in the Fifth System which brings us back to the Alpha Centauri album. A very atmospheric and floating track with a good fluty mellotron that hovers in a sphere of wavering sound hoops. Dense and dark...it sounds like a dream. There's still some soup in the old fox's ideas. A great nostalgic wink, just like Run to Vegas and its nervous and intriguing Sorcerer-like rhythm. Beautiful ambiences with synth layers that whine on sequences and increasing oscillations that plunge us right into the experimental, and quite harmonious, years of Tangerine Dream on Ricochet. The Seventh Folde continues this nostalgic momentum with sequences with undulating gallops and a good guitar solo. Some Wavelength crossing Flashpoint and Thief . After a rather ordinary Pink Ashes, The Burning Hole breaks down the house with a very melodious combination of synth and acoustic guitar. This is a lively piece of music that comes out of the ruins of Turn of the Tides. Without age or reason, Huckebee's Dream closes on a sequencer rhythm that is nervous and growing where we find vestiges of Tangram on Silver Scale's boiling vibes.
I know, you read the review and you say to yourself that Sylvain liked it! Yes, but that doesn't mean it's great. If I feel like listening the old stuff from the EM's dinosaur, I take out the originals and listen to them. But here, there is some good material that really deserves to be discovered and enjoyed on this ANTHOLOGY DECADES SPACE YEARS VOL. 1. But honestly, why all these pretexts, true or false, to continue to rob the Dream fans? Would the name Edgar Froese be less selling? You'd have to ask Edgar. I don't see the need for it, except to finance the old man's old days that Edgar has become.
Sylvain Lupari (May 15th, 2008) ***½**
Available at Groove nl
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