Review Summary: Electronic music intensely beautiful. The return to their traditional sound.
“Force Majeure” is the tenth studio album of Tangerine Dream that was released in 1979. The line up on the album is Edgar Froese and Christopher Franke. The album also had the participation of Klaus Kruger and Eduard Meyer.
Tangerine Dream is a German progressive electronic band formed in Berlin in 1967 by guitarist Edgar Froese. Originally with an electric/acoustic sound, Tangerine Dream emerged in the experimental German Krautrock scene. In the same year, Froese invited drummer Klaus Schulze and cellist Conrad Schnitzler and released their debut studio album, “Electronic Meditation”. This album was considered one of the most advanced and experimental works in the history of modern music. It was influenced by the works of John Cage and Stockhausen. In 1970, Schulze and Schnitzler embarked on solo careers and were replaced by drummer Chris Franke. With him, they recorded “Alpha Centauri” in 1971 with the collaboration of keyboardist Steve Schroyder. After that album, Schroyder also left the band and was substituted by keyboardist Peter Baumann. As a trio of Baumann, Franke and Froese, Tangerine Dream would release a series of very successful albums, of which stand out, “Phaedra”, “Rubycon”, “Ricochet”, “Stratosfear” and “Encore”.
But, again Tangerine Dream saw another change in their line up. Baumann also left the band to pursue a solo career. This time, Froese and Franke chose to join them, multi-instrumentalist Steve Jolliffe and drummer Klaus Kruger. They released another album “Cyclone” in 1978. After “Cyclone”, Jolliffe also left Tangerine Dream and the duo Froese and Franke with the collaboration of Kruger and Eduard Meyer on cello released their next album “Force Majeure” in 1979.
Tangerine Dream ended the 70’s with one of their best albums. Froese and Franke continue their previous search here. In a few words, they consisted of a combination of the electronic style of the band, known from the albums “Phaedra” and “Rubycon”, with elements of classic progressive rock, derived primarily from the then work of Pink Floyd. In practice, this meant an increase in the role of traditional instruments and a stronger outline of melodic lines. Tangerine Dream returned to the purely instrumental territory again with “Force Majeure”, but the album itself was musically still a continuation of the more conventional prog rock style they had explored on “Cyclone”. And Tangerine Dream, at their best, had absolutely nothing to do with being conventional. This time, you can hear all the time who is the creator of this material. The sequencer based arrangements of past albums find their fruition on “Force Majeure”. Froese and Franke change their longstanding collaboration into a complementary dialogue that is at once lean and evocative. The recordings were made in Berlin in 1978. The author of the cover of “Force Majeure” is Froese’s wife, Monika Froese.
The album consists of three songs, two lengthy and one shorter, although with its seven minutes of length it’s surely not a piece to play on the radio. The eighteen minute title track is mainly based on the electronic sounds, at first with an ambient character, then more vivid and more trance, in which parts of the electric and acoustic guitar, piano and drums are perfectly woven. There are plenty of expressive motifs and cool solos. There are also a lot of dynamics. “Cloudburst Flight” is already a more condensed recording, in which traditional instrumentation usually comes to the fore, and the electronics rather only complement the sound. The song shows the more prog-rock face of the band, but by no means imitating the style of someone else. The thirteen minute “Thru Metamorphic Rocks” is the oddest track on the album and looks a bit less exciting but it doesn’t spoil the high quality of the album. It’s a two part song that contains the more heroic guitar from Froese, but it’s generally a return to the amorphous and eerie compositions of past albums, with some percussive space echoes that occasionally suggest the work of Klaus Schulze. The first five minutes are an example of a successful fusion of electronic and traditional instruments. The further part has purely electronic sounds. It’s the track with most in common with the old sound of the band but with a more modern and less human approach.
Conclusion: “Force Majeure” is one of the best albums of this great band. This is a calculated and compelling work from two experienced artists who move through electronic music with great grace and precision. Overall, the album doesn’t look as electronic as their earlier works, as the drums in particular, when used, provide a driving beat that is more familiar with rock music and when Frose reaches into the guitar, you may think that you are in the wrong film. But we cannot complain too much. After all, it’s a good thing when a band tries to develop further. Due to its more rock oriented music, it may be suitable for people who are otherwise not into electronics. So, it’s an absolute necessity for those who might be curious about the band, or even successful experiments within the rock genre. Sections of the album would later appear in slightly altered versions on the soundtracks for the films “Thief” and “Risky Business”.
Music was my first love.
John Miles (Rebel)
