matzaballman's Full Review: Phaedra by Tangerine Dream
Tangerine Dream are the ultimate band to fall asleep to. Hell, even their album covers make me sleepy! Phaedra, which came out in 1974, is one of the best ambient electronic( or electronic ambient) albums of the seventies that Brian Eno didn't have a hand in creating. Its a great album to put on at bedtime to help you sleep...it's so good that I can't tell you how the last song on the album goes, since I'm usually no longer awake by the time it comes on.
One thing that's very tempting to do when reviewing a Tangerine Dream album is to give a minute by minute description of what happens in their songs( I found myself doing that when writing a review for their album Cyclone). I won't do that with this album, mainly because I can't, since I have it on vinyl. So, I'll just give you a general description of the album.
Phaedra consists of just four songs... the seventeen and a half minute title track, Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares, Movements Of A Visionary and Sequent C. The titles are really irrelevant, however...they could have called them "Track One"," Track Two", "Track Three", etc...or something funny like "A Man With An Upside Down Hairdo Brushing His Teeth At Two A.M. In The Morning". The titles are just something to hang the songs on. If they wanted to really be neat, they could have invited their listeners to name the songs! I had to bring my vinyl copy of Phaedra with me when writing this review, for I forgot some of the song titles( I do love the title for the second song on the album!). I rarely ever look at the album when I'm listening to it, since I'm usually lying on my bed with my eyes closed when its on. This is probably the best way to listen to the album. Edgar Froese, Peter Baumann and Chris Franke didn't really write and play songs back then...they just created aural landscapes and painted pictures with their vast array of keyboards, mellotrons and synthesizers( and flutes and guitars and bass guitars, etc...).
I think my favorite track here is Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares, which is also my favorite song title on the album. Unlike the other tracks, this one has a real melody in it, which might stay in your head after you listen to it. The melody here is played on the mellotron, which reminds me of the mellotron in the song Wind Of Change by Hawkwind. The rest of this album, including this track, is very relaxing and soothing and completely harmless. You can't memorize most of it, you can't dance to it since there is barely any percussion, you can't play air guitar to it since there are barely any guitars...and you can't sing along to it, since there are no vocals! To repeat what I've said earlier in the review at least two or three times, it is great to fall asleep to, however. Perfect background music and/or background noise...its no wonder this band went on to do so many soundtracks!
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