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Tangerine Dream: Optical Race

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Private Music
Released: 1988.08.15
Time:
 52:39
Category: Electronic, Avant-Garde
Producer(s): Paul Haslinger, Edgar Froese
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.tangerinedream-music.com
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2012
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Marakesh (P.Haslinger/R.Wadephul/E.Froese) - 8:17
[2] Atlas Eyes (P.Haslinger/R.Wadephul/E.Froese) - 4:04
[3] Mothers of Rain (P.Haslinger/R.Wadephul/E.Froese) - 5:13
[4] Twin Soul Tribe (P.Haslinger/R.Wadephul/E.Froese) - 4:28
[5] Optical Race (P.Haslinger/R.Wadephul/E.Froese) - 3:13
[6] Cat Scan (P.Haslinger/R.Wadephul/E.Froese) - 5:35
[7] Sun Gate (P.Haslinger/R.Wadephul/E.Froese) - 4:44
[8] Turning off the Wheel (P.Haslinger/R.Wadephul/E.Froese) - 6:11
[9] The Midnight Trail (P.Haslinger/R.Wadephul/E.Froese) - 5:54
[10] Ghazal [Love Song] (P.Haslinger/R.Wadephul/E.Froese) - 5:00

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Edgar Froese - Bass, Guitar, Keyboards, Synthesizer, Engineer, Mixing, Producer
Paul Haslinger - Guitar, Keyboards, Synthesizer, Engineer, Mixing, Producer
Christopher Franke - Keyboards, Synthesizer

Christian Gstettner - Studio Technician
Monica Froese - Cover Concept
Norman Moore - Art Direction And Design

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


Recorded in April-May, 1988, in Berlin and Vienna.



Optical Race is one of Tangerine Dream's most accessible releases. The melodies and hooks are as strong as on any Dream production, and are complemented by the electronic washes of sound. Pared down to the duo of founder and visionary Edward Froese and fellow synth wizard Paul Haslinger, the music is complete yet questioning, the hallmark of all the best Tangerine Dream recordings. Stylistically it straddles the ground between the preceding Underwater Sunlight and the earlier Tangram. Optical Race also marked a reunion of sorts with former Dreamer Peter Baumann, then head of the Private Music label, which for a time became known for its edgy, electronic music by the likes of Yanni, Azuma, Eddie Jobson, and Tangerine Dream. (Following its purchase by fellow new age label Windham Hill, Private was reborn as a blues label.) The title cut, with its insistent electronic percussion pushing the beat, is a highlight.

Ross Boissoneau - All Music Guide



"The visible creates a work in form - the invisible defines its worth"
- Lao Tse - Tao Te King

After Chris Franke had left the group and the contract with Jive Electro had come to an end, the remaining duo of Edgar Froese and Paul Haslinger signed with the Los Angeles-based Private Music label that had been founded back in 1985 by former TD member Peter Baumann. 'The Melrose Years' had begun. Edgar Froese: "It's a very interesting development, in that we have already worked together as musical partners for seven years. For the last ten years we have been following our individual paths in different countries. Now we're again partners, but on a business level - and that is very adventurous for both sides."

The first album released by Private Music was Optical Race in 1988. The sleeves of some of the releases featured a figure die-cut out on the front and a small square die-cut out on the rear side. Together with the multi-coloured paper insert this led to a very special effect.

One track of the album was co-composed by Ralf Wadephul who would become the third band member for a short period of time. Ralf was invited to Edgar's studio in Berlin for an initial meeting, and then to TD's larger working studio in Austria, where the three had extensive conversations about their ideas and concepts of their music. Ralf brought some demonstration cassettes with him of music he had composed and recorded in his home studio, including the piece now entitled as Sun Gate. Ralf Wadephul: "We worked together on my song Sun Gate the second time we all met. Replacing the formerly sung melody with one more suitable for keyboards, adding a guitar - it was real teamwork. This is in fact a model of how we have continued to operate: each of us creates initial compositions in his own time, then we come together and as group improvise upon, expand, recreate those original themes. It's my ideal way of working, actually - I can't imagine anything better than first being able to quietly work in my own home - have an idea, switch the computer on... Then, when we all get together, it's so much more functional and productive. And I have the excitement and stimulation of being part of a three-way input, developing, producing and playing new music. I admire Edgar's ability to grasp and elaborate the mood, the feeling of a piece; Paul's ingenious technical capacities and playing virtuosity. I hope we'll be together for a long time."

To promote the album Tangerine Dream performed an extensive US tour in August/September 1988; an (almost) complete concert of that tour was finally released 15 years later as Rockface (2003).

The complete album Optical Race was re-recorded in 2002 and released as part of the 3CD set The Melrose Years, together with re-recordings of the albums Lily On The Beach (1989) and Melrose (1990).

Finally the 2002 re-recordings were released in March 2009 as a single disc as part of an extensive digipack series (consisting of a total of more than 60 CD and DVD releases) by the Germany based Membran record label. Though not featured in the track listing, this CD also contained the bonus track of the 2002 release.

In September 2009 the album was re-released in Japan as part of a series of HiQualityCDs with mini LP paper sleeves, using the original artwork of the 1988 album and the track listing of the 2002 release.

Copyright © 2001-2014 by Michael Berling



Optical Race is an album by electronic artists Tangerine Dream, which was released in 1988. Optical Race is the inaugural album of the Melrose Years era, as it is the first appearance of the band on the Private Music label, founded by former Tangerine Dream member Peter Baumann.[2] It was their first album without Christopher Franke since 1970's Electronic Meditation and the band's first to be programmed largely with a computer, an Atari ST using Steinberg/Jones software. The sleeve of the 12" release and the first release on CD and Compact Cassette features a die-cut outer sleeve with a multicolored inner sleeve.

"Atlas Eyes" is in 5/4 time. "Mothers of Rain" first appeared two years before the album's release, during the band's 1986 European tour. "Turning Off The Wheel" was re-released on the Transsiberia album in 1998 under the title "The Golden Horn". "Optical Race" was played by the group on German TV-Show "Wetten daß?" (moderated by Thomas Gottschalk) in 1988.

Wikipedia.org
 

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