Phaedra

Tangerine Dream - Phaedra

Phaedra
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Music CD Cover

Artist: Tangerine Dream
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1992-06-29
Music Label: Virgin Records Us
Soundtracks:
  1. Phaedra
  2. Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares
  3. Movements of a Visionary
  4. Sequent C'

Free Music Notes for Phaedra

Free Music Review: new sequences of sound of phaedra
Hit: 5 Stars

Phaedra is like a mother protective over her nest. How many intruders came by to listen and turned away after a while, confused? The ones allowing this listening experience to run its full course in peace probably found themselves intrigued by it enough to go back, and might be still hanging around the nest, occasionally today, after 36 years. There is some magic captured in this...taming of sequences of sound by man, for the first time in this particular way.

For the ones patient, withdrawn or strong enough to let the music or noise of prior four albums of Tangerine Dream, proceeding Phaedra, to grow their roots into their own psychic net, the first use of the sequencer by the band added new dimensions to the listening experience. The sequencer allowed the cosmic noise to start breathing in and out of moods in greater harmony than before. The beauty of Phaedra lives in its repetitive elements and in the mysteriousness of climate it puts us in. The subtle melodies floating in and out of this atmospheric background have this unassuming quality to them. Rather than making us focus on themselves they contribute to the overall growth of our experience. Our appreciation of the repetitive minimalist sound often has as much to do with how relaxed it makes us feel after a while as it has with how it affects our flows of thoughts and concentration levels. Phaedra includes the layer of minimalistic repetitive sound but it distorts it and it adds to it, quite a lot at times. There is a lot change within the repeating sequences and they are only a part of the story here. However, my feeling is that without that repetitive layer, Phaedra's influence would not be as pronounced.

The title track was being just rehearsed by the band but somehow that rehearsal ended up being released. These guys were just playing around with their new malfunctioning equipment at first, but after listening to that process they had decided to hand it over to us. As with many of their works from that period, the final minutes of each improvisation were the most powerful, since by then they were all under the impression of their own creation. I find it interesting that the latest songs of bands like Radiohead and Massive Attack also contain a lot of distorted substance within the ends of their songs. The minutes proceeding the ambient middle section and the entire evolution of the reintroduced theme awakening from that ambient phase in the 11th minute, and the remaining minutes of Phaedra are spectacular. The inclusion of the voice of children playing warms the composition up, spiritually. Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares is a beautiful mellotron suite composed by Edgar Froese with the slight help on a phaser from his wife Monique, while both Peter and Christopher were asleep after a long recording session gone sour, possibly having nightmares brought by their constant problems with the malfunctioning equipment. This was the first track of Phaedra to be recorded and from then on the rest just happened (or they decided to just let things happen). Movements Of A Visionary is a very mysterious composition, to me at least. There is this fauna atmospheric layer the piece starts and ends with but the composition is held together by the rhythm of pulsating Moog hovering around the distorted melody lines and delivered by Christopher Franke. And it is this hypnotic interplay of distortion floating in and out of motives which I find, still today, so special here. One of the lines is quite jazzy in its approach. This is one of these tracks I sometimes like to play on repeat 1 for a while just so I can fully get in there, right into that nest. I can think of a few bands which starting about a decade later decided to devote their entire musical careers to focus their own visions on such subtle movements of sound. Sequent C finishes this album in a reflective, peaceful, or perhaps even a solemn way, by a short distorted flute movement delivered by Peter Baumann.

If you won't immerse yourself in Phaedra you will not get near it enough to appreciate it fully. There is also a great possibility that you can become a real fan of Tangerine Dream without ever liking any of their earlier works. Such diverse is their repertoire. If you are new to Tangerine Dream and you don't spend time listening to ambient and experimental music, you might want to choose one of their later albums first. They contain much more melodic beauty within. Stratosfear, Force Majeure, Underwater Sunlight, and others, including even some of their late 1980s work, like Miracle Mile or Lily On The Beach. And to all of you lovers of Phaedra, there is an American band you might have missed. It is called Labradford and although the road it takes you on is a little different, you really end up in a similar destination. You might also want to explore the realm of Zoviet France and Rapoon.

Phaedra Poster

Import LP pressing of their album originally released in 1974.
This 1974 masterpiece from Christopher Franke, Edgar Froese, and Peter Baumann ebbs and flows with richly dark soundscapes of electronic sounds and synth. Phaedra was a progenitor for much ambient--and some dance--music, influencing such artists as Steve Roach. After listening to Phaedra it's easy to understand why. The signature pulsing of thick, beautiful Tangerine Dream synth falls across the ambient treasures here, pulling along the orchestral dreamscape before oozing aside for thick washes of expansive sound. The now-classic title cut is both soothing and ghostly, throbbing with subtle sequences and twisted metallic calls before diving into a swamp of nightmarish whistles and hoots. "Mysterious Semblance" soars and swoops like a lovely electronic eagle, bringing tripped-out light and cosmic dignity to the collection. This and the follow-up Rubycon are juicy pieces to the Tangerine Dream pie. --Karen Karleski

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