I definitely "found" TD again after Jeanne D'Arc. To me that put the "dream" back into TD.
As far as the old music being somehow more intense because of me being young, I don't necessarily agree. After all the genre and musicians too were young and intense. Throwing away all your classic rock band instruments and buying a large modular synthesizer to create a "new" sound is in my book "intense". If it weren't for the timing of the releases and the conceptual inspiration behind the music, there would be no TD Fan Club to this day and we would be writing all this about the Beatles or the Beach Boys. The musci that happened from the early 70's to the late 80's in TD was extremely important and will become even more so as time moves on.
I will always give top kudos to Edgar Froese for establishing the importance of electronic rock music. When everyone else was either laying down "experimental" music or pop music like "Popcorn" by cold Butter, Edgar was still the rocker with a penchant for inter-dimensional surrealism. Something I've always respected from his psyche.
And to stick to the thread topic - CF is to me a great artist and a missed composer of some elegant solo work. I hope he does decide to change his angle and release some more solo stuff.
-David Ryle
Two glasses Australian Shiraz, roaring fireplace, my Linda in arms and Rubycon on the player = BLISS
Its certainly not any feelings for the past or any variation on nostalgia. Its the lack of 'danger' in TD's current work which is hardly ever to be heard anymore.
I can give an example where a blinding flash almost caught me out. The intro to Purgatorio for example (before it quickly gets beaten down by dreadful vocals and unimaginative sequencer work) stopped me in my tracks. It had signs of TD experimenting again. If they could start kicking the barriers like they used to then I would be a very happy scorpion.
The word 'they' is quite important. I believe TD is at its best as a threesome of strong composers. Mac Cuber is right - it is now the Edgar Froese band, and although Thorsten Q is now in the compositional pot the band could well benefit from a third composer (hopefully with a more experimental yearning - to bring back the unusual flavours that only TD could serve.)
Chris Franke is indeed a very good composer. Its not the stuff I usually reach for but his compositions display excellent craftmanship IMO (even many of his soundtrack compositions). I think the direction he took after 1993 (soundtracks and just soundtracks) was a great shock to everybody, but I can understand a man making hay while the sun shines. I also understand when TD accept business propositions - if it helps the security of the band then go for it.
I believe Franke will produce genuine solo material in the future. After all, that is something he can do at any time. The soundtrack offers might not be around forever. I will reserve judgement on him until then. When he does get back into swing I hope he blows me away because TD sure aren't doing it at the moment.
Franke?? You're kidding, man! His solo material can't convince me at all and the last Babylon series are rather awful and flat.
What I like most in TD's work is the mainly 'uplifting' atmosphere - which is indeed something special and magic. If I'm in the mood to hear something more 'destructive' - there are thousands of bands on the music market fullfilling these wishes. TD are an individual musical cosmos beyond choice of the masses.
But I don't like to think too much about music - sounds are touching me or not. And TD do.
BM has pondered the CF issue while travelling through Germany this week, it seems to me that in reality as I have said before, 'classic CF, PB, EF period tang music' is the sum of the parts not the individual, nor the equipment.
When the 1987 detachment occured, TD continued to create and produce in some cases music just as alchemical and majestic....I used to find it depressing that Chris went on to produce IMHO nothing [apart from PCH] much of note......
When BM Listens back to archived live TD of 74-77 and perhaps 80-87 and 2000-2007, the whole group issued seamless and fully realised magic that is totally unmatched in Electronic Music.
I tried and tried to find something between 1990 - 2005 but it just didn´t happen emotionally. So there is a big void from Optical Race to Jeanne D´arc.
For me when TD were young they were so revolutionary, radical and driven by the energy of youth. One of the best quotes i heard at the time was that they moved effortlessly between ecstacy and agony. and for me that is the key - the whole dynamic was wide open, now TD, like CF seem to have narrowed the envelope towards the ambient and melodic, rejecting the darker harsher and more abrasive aspects of the sound spectrum.
For me it is much like a painter choosing a palette of warm colours and omitting neutrals and black, the dynamic is reduced - it may be warm but it lacks bite. I firmly believe that no matter how good Jean D'arc is if it had been recorded back in the 70's it would have been truly amazing! the subject matter alone demands more harshness, more contrast, more sheer power!
For me CF is the same now -melodic, and in the case of Celestine prophesy -beautiful even, but to me it's not crucial, nor essential listening when you compare it to what he was doing when in TD not so long ago it seems a pale imitation
However we all change over time, in our individual perspectives and in what engages us and holds our attention, there is bound to be some divergence to some degree between the artist and the audience over time particularly with a band as long lived and prolific as this one.
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