Tangerine Dream Live Aachen 1981 (Bootmon 1)

Hot on the heels of the Bootleg Boxes, and the official 'Rockface' CD, come five more live concerts each allocated a double CD of their own – collectively known as "The Bootmon Series". Reading between the lines this looks effectively like the "Bootleg Box Vol 3" but presented by a different company hence approached in a different way. Here we have individually numbered gate-fold card sleeves to house the CDs, full colour graphics, and they generally look quite nice almost like a mini vinyl LP sleeve. The first one of the set was recorded at Eurogress in Aachen, Germany on their 1981 tour with the classic (some say definitive) Franke / Froese / Schmoelling line-up. In common with the Bootleg Boxes the recordings are "cleaned up" fan tapes, and judging by the sleeve credits they look to be again sourced from the Tangerine Tree project. Hence the sound quality is not in the 'Rockface' class but generally it's listenable.

Before I proceed let's clear up the glaring mistake which affects both this and the 'Montreal' double CD. Basically somehow, somewhere, the 2nd CD's of 'Aachen' and 'Montreal' have been mixed up, hence if you want to hear the full 'Aachen' concert you'll need to buy the 'Montreal' set. It's unclear when and if this mistake will be rectified in the future, I'll review the CD here as it's presented though I'll probably swap the CDs in the slipcases afterwards!

So, '81 was a very good year and as expected 'Aachen' is a totally captivating concert. It's fair to say that by '81, TD's concerts were not as individual as they were in their 70's improvisational period. Hence large parts of this concert can be heard on the 'Bootleg Box Set Vol 2' – namely CD2 from the Newcastle City Hall set. It's also fair to say that the sound quality from the Newcastle recording is superior. Also, if memory serves, me right track 'Calmbya Caly' is available on the 'Antique Dreams' set in even better sound quality. But there's certainly enough variation on offer to keep you entertained, and for example the piano dominated improvisation titled 'Elisenbrunnen' will be of particular interest as it's absent from the Newcastle '81 disc. I've already enthused extensively over the 'Thermal Inversion' track and the soloing and general balance are different enough to still grab you. The 'Force Majeure' section is the stand-out piece (for me) from that album and is totally awesome, and the closing section from 'Logos Part 2' (titled 'The Price' here) is a wonderful close. Overall you'd be hard pressed to hear a better 50 minutes of melodic / sequenced EM anywhere. I remember being totally awe inspired hearing this live and wishing at the time that I could get hold of a recording. The melodies are so infectious, Schmoelling is in imperious form, and the sequencing is totally top drawer!

Onto disc 2 which, though labelled as 'Aachen', is actually CD2 of the 'Montreal Plas des Arts' concert. The opening track 'Fourth Movement' is wonderful, an alluring meld of 'Coldwater Canyon' and 'Cherokee Lane. The concert is taken from the infamous 'CHOM FM' broadcast and some will find the occasional whispering from the DJ annoying, but having lived with this in various guises in the past (for example the 'Patrolling Space Borders' bootleg) it's effectively part of the package now, and the sound quality is pretty decent – superior to 'Aachen' anyway. The start of 'Fived Movement' (sic) reveals more of the radio shenanigans than I've heard on other recordings, then we go headlong into a 12 minute sequence / plank spank frenzy. Track 3… sounds familiar, because it's actually another manufacturing fault – track 3 is a repeat of track 2! OK, I'll bite my tongue and proceed. The final section is great, opening with psychedelic guitar backed with some great effects before the sequences take over. Brilliant.