I am a fan since the melrose years. Those are the albums I like most ( 1988-2000 ). But worst TD tracks are the much older work of TD.

- Alpha Centauri is an album I don't like that much. But mostly I enjoy a lot of TD's music.

_________________
Fred-E Skywalker fka Misterdance.

Visit my website: http://www.fredvdwerf.nl

When Tyranny of Beauty first arrived, I felt it was a sizeable improvement over the previous three albums. "Bride in Cold Tears" is the best track, and "Stratosfear '95" is enjoyable though I prefer the '86 version to that (and the original is the best, anyway).



Sad but true. A very lackluster album.



Goblins' Club was another head scratcher upon its release, but I've since had a change of heart towards it. It's a decent listen, but the best tracks are what add up to the second half, which not coincidentally happen to be the ones Jerome had the least input on. "United Goblins Parade" is nearly an Edgar solo track with one of his signature lead guitar lead improvs. Easily the best thing on the album. "Elf June & The Midnight Patrol" is primarily composed by Linda (J isn't even on it), and Edgar plays acoustic guitar on that and the last track "Sad Merlin's Sunday." Tracks 5-8 make it a keeper for me.

There are no worst td tracks, just those not a stunning as those that are not as stunning

_________________
...The wise.....are silent.....

It's fascinating to read the varying opinions on these 90s albums. As others have noted, it's interesting how although we're all fans, some tracks/albums divide us.

I can honestly say that Turn of the Tides and Tyranny of Beauty disappointed me when they came out. I really wanted to like these albums. Great titles, cover designs, well produced, and I had no problem with the prominence of guitar - just a phase in TD's varied history. But I just felt the compositions generally weren't strong enough (on the whole). I think pieces like Little Blonde... and Bride in Cold Tears were greatly improved with the Dream Mixes treatment - that's just my opinion. I agree Firetongues is a great track. Goblin's Club was something of an improvement on these albums but still had some weak tracks. By the way, I much prefer the live version of Lamb With Radar Eyes that appears on one of Jerome Froese's EPs.

Basically the mid 1990s was not one of my favourite periods of TD's history, but then again reading some of the comments on here inspires me to perhaps listen to some of these albums again with a fresh ear all these years later.

I just gave "Desert Train" another listen and my earlier thoughts still stand. There's no question that it's totally listenable, but it's also very pedestrian, and I kind of hoped for something more interesting for a 10-minute track. It also doesn't help that I generally like the rest of the tracks on Melrose, so this one sticks out in an unfavorable way.

Speaking of the Private Era, I'm glad that little extract from "Parabola" didn't make it onto Rockface. It's arguably the weakest part of the track, and I'm surprised whenever I see people grumbling about its exclusion from the CD.

I don't listen to first 4 albums, some tries were enough. I rarely listen to 1974-1979. My favorite period of TD is 1980-1999, except for Turn of the Tides and Tyranny of Beauty, which are of less interest. Albums that I listen often and like in whole are those three of Private Years and Rockoon. To me they are perfect in the way they are formed with their rather long tracklists (comparing to classic albums of 2-3-4 tracks). I like the concept so much. Also Kyoto and Blue Dawn that are recorded in this period instantly became my favorites.

There were messages about Ambient Monkeys album and looks like nobody told anything about it. This one is a compilation of previous tracks with loud jungle sounds. Whole album is one continuous mix. Pretty strange one, because those jungle noises are too loud and interfere with music.

I've read the whole topic and didn't saw Quinoa mentioned that is originally from 1992. This one is something between Rockoon and Melrose. I like it a lot.

For me the worst tracks of current years are those based on sampled vocals singing some nonsense like in Two Drunken Angels at Trafalgar Square and Transition tracks. There are many tracks with these samples. Many tracks from 2000s sound like versions of each other, such a template instrumentation, lack of experiment. Some tracks are stunningly great, but around 70% are average tracks with no individuality.

I'd tell that this is as bad as some of TD soundtracks that use same parts that were somewhere else on albums or concerts, like in Wavelength. This is recycled material, absolutely commercial. There are great unique soundtracks like Zoning and Oasis, which contain long full-length tracks. Soundtracks with short pieces are not TDs guilt though, because it is known that they are released without TD approval by studios themselves from video cut material and not original master recordings.

_________________

Pretty much everything from 1989 up to and including whatever came out just before MALA KUNIA (with the exception of PURPLE DILUVIAL). Things started turning around with both MALA KUNIA and QUANTUM KEY however.

I know it's only your opinion, but that's the stupidest statement on here for a long, long time.

By their very definition, as far as opinions go one is as good another- even if they're exactly opposite. Because- you know- it's an opinion. More to the point though, why are you hating on the two releases from The Quantum Years so much? MALA KUNIA and QUANTUM KEY? Stupid?? Seriously???

?? Where do I hate on the Quantum Years releases ? When I said 'stupid', I was referring to the first part of the statement.

Mala Kunia and ESPECIALLY Quantum Key are excellent releases....like some of the other stuff you seem to have overlooked (Finnegan's Wake, Franz Kafka, Sorcerer 2015, GTA V to name just a few)

Opinions DO differ, however at least we agree on MK and QK

I wouldn't say I hate any TD music, but there's plenty of tracks that don't do a thing for me, so I simply don't listen to them often. I'll try them again once in a while to see if my opinion has changed, but it rarely does! But TD have released so many albums down the years that it's inevitable that the quality has been variable sometimes. There's been a fair share of dull album fodder over the last 10 years, but plenty of great tracks too. I'd say the weakest regular albums they've piut out are Turn Of The Tides and Tyranny Of Beauty, but things like Great Wall Of China and Seven Letters From Tibet are fairly unmemorable too. But like I say, the ups and down in quality, and the changes in style and sound in TD's output, are all part of the great ride they've given us over 40 years.