Tangerine Dream – Electronic Meditation

#TangerineDreamTuesday Week 1: ELECTRONIC MEDITATION.

The year is 1969, and Tangerine Dream begins in earnest...

But first, some history: Tangerine Dream was formed in 1967 by Edgar Froese, creative leader of the band for 48 years amidst nearly that many lineups. Even before their first album, TD had had several formations before settling on a trio of Froese, Klaus Schulze and Conny Schnitzler, all of whom would become influential in later years. A demo tape for Ohr Records became Electronic Meditation - an unusual title given the complete lack of electronic instruments here! Unlike their synth-heavy sound in the future, the trio play guitar, organs, drums and a bevy of homemade sounds: broken glass, burning parchment, slide calculators and the like.

The longer tracks on this album are my favourite - "...Burning Brain" progresses wonderfully, beginning slowly with organ and quietly shifting to an almost post-rock groove under overdubbed guitar wailing, only to be obliterated by a cavalcade of instruments and ending once again with organ. "Cold Smoke" meanwhile keeps the organ a more constant presence, as washes of sound against Froese's abrasive guitar. The album begins and ends with drones, "Genesis" (fittingly named) and "Resurrection", while "Ashes to Ashes" replicates the progression of longer tracks amidst a shorter runtime.

The end result is completely uncompromising, a fascinating free-rock effort from a band that doesn't quite know yet what it wants to be - but it's learning fast! Next week, a journey into space with 1971's Alpha Centauri...

This is the #1 tangerine dream album release of all of them. I have maybe 20 of theirs, “Zeit” would be second. My opinion only.

not my personal favorite album, but this album does have its charms.
the whole album has a lot of... i guess . very grainy sound quality, but it adds a very industrial, almost mechanical feel.
It invokes a feeling of being on the lowest levels of a vast run-down city on a polluted world.
the music is like in a tug-of-war between a sort of quasi-orderly rhythm and chaotic sound.
overall 7 out of 10.

This is the best Tangerine Dream album (I have about 12) in my opinion only...i'm not going to start arguing with people it's my opinion only....

An Addiator (listed as an instrument played by Conrad Schnitzler) is a German mechanical adding/subtraction (calculating) device. How Mr. Schnitzler "played" it is most likely similar to the way a coffee machine is played on Alpha Centuri, the follow-up to this wonderful LP. The wiki link to Addiator: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Addiator

perfect day for listen this

Picked this up for a dollar at a thrift store. Awesome album.

This is without a doubt the biggest anomaly in the Tangerine Dream catalog. This is an actual rock album, with rock instruments. Actually, it's Krautrock, and undeniably Krautrock. Also it's probably the most deceptive album title ever. For one thing, it's not that electronic (maybe a few primitive bleeps and other sound effects, that's it), and most certainly not meditative. What you have hear is a rocking album that doesn't sound too far from what Ash Ra Tempel would explore on "Amboss" off their debut (in fact Klaus Schulze was involved in both Electronic Meditation and the first Ash Ra Tempel album), so no doubt you get treated with lots of his drumming. Edgar Froese gives some amazing, mindblowing guitar, and perhaps organ (apparently Jimmy Jackson may have provided organ, it's been said two other people were on the album, though uncredited). I really love how the music starts off with slow droning, before the music picks up to a mindblowing conclusion, and most of the cuts follow this pattern. It's often an underappreciated album. It bears little of their mid '70s electronic excursions, although there are hints of the spaciness of their next three albums for Ohr.

By the way, the true original LP (catalog number OMM 56004, not OMM 556004) is said to come with a balloon. I imagine most of the balloons from the original pressing have disintegrated (it was 1970, after all, and more than 40 years has ed). My copy is the second Ohr pressing (OMM 556004), so naturally it never came with a balloon.

Anyways, those who love that underground Krautrock sound, I really think you can't go wrong here!