24db wrote:tangmaster wrote:One of TD's best tour's ever, who of you have joined one of those concerts?
Cyclone tour? not my cup of tea....so here's some reviews from the time...
TANGERINE DREAM
DIJON: With the drastic change in the line-up of Tangerine Dream, the final departure of Peter Baumann, and his replacement by drummer Klaus Krieger and English keyboard and woodwind player Steve Jolliffe, a certain tack of co-ordination between the old and new members of what is now a quartet might have been forgivable.
However, judging by their performance at this provincial French concert, their problems, If any, lie in a rather opposite direction. Because French elections have commandeered most of the available halls, the concert had to be held in something rather like an aircraft hanger, completely lacking in the sort of atmospherics associated with Tangerine Dream music.
The low roof also Interfered seriously with the operation of the famous American Laserium show, but since lasers are becoming a bit of a bore in general, and I prefer to listen to Dream music with my eyes closed, this latter problem didn't bother me. I don't know if it was the unsympathetic vibe of the place, but the band seemed much less outgoing than In the past. They seemed to turn Inwards, possibly for some kind of reassurance.
Of course, the semi-darkness in which they perform always makes it difficult to distinguish who is playing what, and in fact there was some selectively subtle spotlighting of the drummer much of the time. When Jolliffe came out front to play some solos on the Lyricon, a horn synthesizer which has also been played by Wayne Shorter, he Also was picked out with a gentle spot.
Jolliffe's contribution seemed to be the most effective. In fact. The lost time the band added drums, on their remixed "live" "Ricochet" album, I thought the result was something of a disaster. and though Krieger is an accomplished performer, music of this subtlety really doesn't seem to me to need the underpinning of rather obvious rock rhythms, even if it does make it slightly more palatable to the masses who may still be put off by T. Dream's somewhat forbidding Image.
For much of the show, the band seemed to concentrate on building up atmosphere, and were successful in doing so. But it was the first time when what they played sounded to me like "space music", with all the hackneyed cliché potential that this Implies. Perhaps one should write this off as the wrong gig in the wrong place, and hope for better things on their British tour.
KARL DALLAS.
Tangerine Dream
Hammersmith
Odeon
Sounds, April 1, 1978
IT ALL depends what you mean by ‘adventure’ I suppose. Tangerine Dream, criticised in Dave Fudger's review of their new album a couple of weeks back for failing to give him enough adventure, performed a quite different set at Hammersmith Odeon last week from the show they gave at the Royal Albert Hall a year or so ago.
But then what's adventurous to a rock journalist - exposed to as much music as be can possibly bear - can be incomprehensible to the average rock fan who buys albums or goes to concerts to be entertained or stimulated without having to write about it afterwards.
Tangerine Dream at Hammersmith Odeon were very recognisably Tangerine Dream, much to the delight of the audience who lapped up their heavy computerised rhythms and electronic wizardry, not to, mention the spectacular laser antics from Laserium. To that extent at least the band would be foolish to lose what is clearly a growing audience for their musical 'formula'. But the changed and expanded line-up has caused them to rethink their musical approach, allowing a more human element to show through. New member Steve Jolliffe also added a jazzier feel to some parts of their set with his variety of synthesised flutes, although I was less keen on his disembodied vocals.
And drummer Klaus Krieger showed remarkable skill to be able to match the machine-made rhythms with such consistency, even if his drums could have been enhanced with a little synthesised assistance.
The band are also now ‘into presentation’ in a way that seems quite amusing in comparison with their former deliberate ‘low profile’. You can now actually see the band playing and Edgar Froese even stood up to play guitar solo which was given a rapturous reception, next time he'll probably be wearing platform boots!
And for the first encore (yes, they even did two encores) both Froese and Jolliffe were actually standing together on the front of the stage. All this activity must have made the hardened T Dream freak feel quite dizzy. But the group are now beginning to appeal to the head-banging fraternity, judging by the reactions of sizable part of the crowd. That appeal, though, is based on the previous band. The new line-up showed a much more sophisticated approach particularly right at the end when they played a slow, carefully orchestrated piece that was virtually devoid of rhythm. And that, for Tangerine Dream, shows a sense of adventure.
HUGH FIELDER
