Tangerine Dream

OBAL VIZ FOTO
DESKA VYBORNY STAV

A  Rubycon Part 1

    Guitar, Mellotron, Synthesizer [Vcs 3 Synthi] – Edgar FroeseOrgan, Synthesizer [Synthi A], Electric Piano, Piano [Prepared] – Peter BaumannSynthesizer [Double Moog, Synthi A], Organ, Organ [Modified Elka], Piano [Prepared] – Chris Franke*

17:18
B  Rubycon Part 2

    Electric Piano, Organ, Synthesizer [Synthi A, Arp 2600], Voice – Peter BaumannOrgan, Mellotron, Guitar, Gong, Synthesizer [Vcs 3 Synthi] – Edgar FroeseSynthesizer [Double Moog, Synthi A], Gong, Organ – Chris Franke*

17:35
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Recorded in January 1975 at The Manor, Shipton on Cherwell.
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It's 1975 and Tangerine Dream has moved to a new stage by completely avoiding all guitars and bass to only concentrate on the full use of the analog synthesizer. Truly remarkably dark and European in scope. The early days of electronic music were surely very exciting times. A time when men were completely ablivious by what the new technology they were handlig had to offer as a whole. It had only been two years since the release of the first monophonic commercial synthesizer to the masses and most everyone was unsure of what to make of these strange looking machines with knobs and wires. The pioneers of the genre simply went in blindly to create what they thought was music or futuristic music. Today the test of time has proven that they indeed were able to create music un-alike anything before or since. Sitting through this album is like moving through a museum or through a gallery if you will. Hearing the sounds and colors of the syhtesizers to evoke emotional reponce within ourselves. To bring out that feeling of the past or that of the future as it may. If you do not own an analog vintage synthesizer it is very hard for you to understand how hard it was to achieve what these early electronic music pioneers have placed on magnetic tape. But since I own my share of synthesizers and play them, I can tell you it is simply a miracle of man's mind to concieve how these sounds were to be created and arranged in a world where music was still prominetly Rock & Roll. When listening to albums like these you must always go in with an open mind that this is not the music of the radio but simply an amplification of mans conciousness through an electronic unit. Electronic sounds are natural sounds in their purest form. Let's go through these pieces and examine them closely.

Rubycon Begins with a slow tonal organ ant ehn proceed to use drone sounds and dream like chords with clingy noises. Then the organs slow passages msnake their way into a slow moving synthesizer passge faintly heard and then like if you were hearing angels from heaven a mellotron appears reverberated to its fullest potential. Then a brass sound begins to play slowly and tranquil, birdlike noises apear to be decending, this goes on for a while until around 4:40 when almost choral voices begin to appear in the background.  At 7:00 min into the piece a cutoff sound begins to lead us into a fade of of a sequencer with a steady pattern not like the complex sequencer sequence from Vangelis's Spiral but more basic and repeatitive in nature. Light leads follow the tune as a mellotron continues to play. As the tune reaches 10:00 the sequence begins to strenghten in loudness and intensity as mellotron passages crisscross and then the sequence begins to filter itself but continues steadily along to only then slightly change in composure as if it was getting ready to tame itself into a timid version of its former self til it fades into nothingness.

Rubycon (part II) The tune starts with the strange fade in of a what is called Ring Modulation while the simulted sounds of a sirens move up and down steadily along. This sounds very primordial brooding and at best darker than dark but in a very desolate place. Possibly the beginning of man on this earth. Choral tones begin to appear moving in an up and down direction reminiscent of 2001: A Space Odyssey  then it quiets down into chord patterns of an atonal nature. A synths chord fades in and once again a mellotron  then unexpectedly a sequence begins to make itself preset fast moving and basic possibly played under the influence of Sample and Hold with patterns changed by the change on a note in the direction of the artist will. Moving along at full speed strange moving sounds appear from every direction then they quiet down to right/left fade of the sequence as it goes down a scale. Mellotron continues to play on and off . The piece pretty much remains the same for a while while echoing noise appear and LFO passages emerge here and there. Then it begins to slow down as if a pulse of a heart begins to slow itself into nothingness. At nearly 11:00 the sequence dissapears and Pink Noise swashes like water across the landscape of watery sounds as if you were at the beach listening at the surf very convincing indeed. Then they disipate to quiet passges and then at 13:00 what appears to be a mellotron flute appears and dissapears on and off. At 15:00 the song seems to be relaxing itself into atonal passges and quiet rumblings of the sort, again we hear the mellotron flute as the song winds down into peaceful surroundings and then fades to an end of a mellotron flute.

A very nice album to listen to while the lights are down and you are laying down in bed on a spring like evening. Whether you stay awake or sleep when listening to this album you attain a picture of the past or the future that we all might not have experienced depending on your mood at hand.
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Continuing the spooky, electronic approach of Phaedra, Rubycon is structured as a single album-long piece - perhaps at the behest of publisher Virgin Records, who enthused by the runaway success of Mike Oldfield's albums were encouraging their artists to produce similar work. (The first album by Clearlight is an album-long piece for this very reason.) The approach works well here, partly because compared to the mighty composition which is Zeit a single album-length piece is a walk in the park, but also because the creativity shown in Phaedra is still in evidence here. Whilst it doesn't show much in the way of musical progression over its predecessor, it is still compelling enough to demand attention.
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The sparse and minimalist sounds of the previous Phaedra album have been built upon in the seminal Rubycon to create a fantastically eerie and stark ambient soundscape.  The underlying uncertainty and unpredictability of the album is key in its building of the atmosphere and mood, and this is key in ones appreciation of the music.

As diverse as ever, the album goes from sonic space age drones, into the hum drum of monotonous electronic machinery into what sounds like whales singing amongst the waves.  You could very well imagine the music being set to imagery of the dark depths of the ocean, but like all good ambient music Rubycon lets you explore your own imagination.  The two pieces of music contained within are both a long way ahead of there time, and to think this period was the dawn of electronics and synthesizers is quite staggering.
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A timeless masterpiece
It took me a while to fully appreciate this album. I was disappointed at first: after hearing it for the first time, I thought: “with such a beautiful cover, it could have been better”, but could I have been more wrong?

Over time, I came to understand the album better, notably because it finally occurred to me that melody wasn’t necessarily as important as I used to think. This has profoundly affected my view of music, enabling me to enjoy such an album as Zeit, for example.

The thing to realize about Rubycon is that it’s not just pointless sounds that can be enjoyed as background music: there’s a story to really listen to. Even though it isn’t always happy and some of it (actually, most of part two) is even scary, it’s still beautiful, and it does end on a hopeful note.

Eventually, Rubycon has become my favourite album ever.
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Alright, I finally got around to redoing this. The major thing that really makes this a quality is that, 'dated' synthiser sounds and all (personally, I find it really charming), Tangerine Dream captures something elemental with their compositions here - just like the album cover suggests, it does have a very nautical, oceanborn feeling to its melodic lines and overall atmosphere. It's really an immaculately written album that has a lot of content to it; both halves are full of evocative moments, and the band explores their ideas in a very patient, yet satisfying way - it's a well paced album.

Incredibly immersive album.
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Arguably TD's best, or at least consistent, of their early berlin school albums. Combining the eerie space like ambiance of Phaedra, Rubycon takes us into the strange and deathly unknown of icey moons and caves filled with nocturnal sounds. While its predecessor was a very good album in its own right Ruby expands the length to a near half hour long epic instead of just meandering for another side. The only real complaint I have is side one is quite dry starting out but thats all good considering we have the surreal buildup of the middle. Side two definitely makes this record what it is and just fills my living room with all the charm and desolation of a windswept tundra on a winters night. Easily one of the best albums in the genre and holds up quite well after nearly 40 years of evolving sound. Essential.
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The best album to come out of the entire Berlin School of Progressive Electronic music, this record is beyond brilliant.
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For me one of the best records of electronic music ever.

Accessible but sophisticated, lyrical and self-controlled.
Highly imaginative.

On Phaedra they just seemed to have been excercising for this one.

Highly recommended.
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As bleepy as it is, I say there's a melodic element to Rubycon, or at least there's more melody here than on Phaedra.  Tangerine Dream took the experimental synths from the previous work and gave us something resembling a modern symphony.  The choir-like thing in Part 1 and the main synth theme in the middle of Part 2 are the best, but piece as a whole is beautiful with no effect out of place.

A symphonic electronic masterpiece.