Originally Posted by
Tangram
There's lots of very good music from TD over the decades. There are stylistic changes over the years which leads some to jump on and of ( and sometimes back on) the bandwagon. The Pink years were from their first album Electronic Meditation thru Zeit. . Experimental headphone music. YMMV there as I list Zeit as my fav from that era, but others said it was like listening to the fan in the refrigerator for an hour. After that came the Virgin Years. The years TD was on Virgin is considered their heyday by most with the Franke ,Froese, Baumann lineup earning most respect. My fav album of theirs is Phaedra. But if you stop before Schmoelling comes on board you're missing a lot.
Haslinger replaces Schmoelling after 5 years and approx a dozen albums and like whenever TDs lineup changes, they produce an excellent album. Underwater Sunlight is a standout album , especially the 2 part Song of the Whale tracks. Not loved here but Lily on the Beach and Melrose are both very good. You have to remember that TD is no longer a sound innovator but now a producer of shorter more immediate music. By this time Jerome Froese had joined the band but when Haslinger left and Rockoon was released, I jumped off the TD bandwagon for a bit. Leaning too far towards rock and no real experimentation, I took TD off autobuy.
After a couple of years, I came back to Turn of the Tides, which I played a ton of times. Lightweight but well done. Other Edgar and Son albums are hit and miss but I rate the Dream Mixes 2 thru 4 highly, and not just for the "Spot the Source" fun you can have.
I have gotten off the tour bus again after the Dante inspired trio of albums. Tangerine Dream has increased its output I recent years to a ridiculous number of releases a year, of which I don't have the time or money to invest in. I still will occasionally pick one up but that's about it. 60 or so albums of TD of all different styles have quenched that thirst.
Cliff Notes version: 15 albums to get you started while including Some from all eras plus soundtracks, I would go with:
Atem , Zeit, Phaedra, Rubycon, Encore, Force Majeure, Tangram, Logos, Poland, Thief, Heartbreakers, Underwater Sunlight,
Lily on the Beach, Jeanne d'Arc, DM 4.
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