Tangerine Dream i-Box

I was expecting something like 'Tangents' and 'Dream Roots', but covering the Private Music recording years . These two releases contained new material, and most of the "old" pieces of music had been "tangentized". Some did not like this "perversion", and others rather enjoyed the fresh treatment to familiar tracks. I was expecting the 'i-Box' to receive its predecessors' treatment. Mostly, it has not. CDs 1, 2, and 3 contain music that the TD collector already possesses. Nothing new there; no remixes of the tracks from 1988-1990. Most of the live tracks featured on CDs 4 & 5 come straight from the 1988 tour. I remember that much of the music played during this tour was almost identical to the studio versions. But there were some that had been new and interesting. Sadly, they are not on the 'i-Box'. Those who have been to a TD concert know that the performance goes on without interruption, tracks blend in one another with new intros and transitional bits and pieces, so one might expect to be hearing this here. Sorry... The "live" tracks of the 'i-Box' have the same intros as on the studio releases, and often the same endings. Strange. Except for 'Marakesh' and 'Electric Lion', the amateur won't notice any difference. There are a few "live" tracks that are truly interesting: 'Exit Live' - which is in fact 'Pilots of Purple Twilight Live' - is the original with some new treatment. Like the so-called 'Exit', 'Unicorn Saga' comes from the 1986 tour. Taken from 'Legend' it is also a gem, It's "tangentized" with added sequences. A little cheesy perhaps, but a good track despite being too short.

CD 6 is the one that made me buy the 'i-Box'. One track, 45 minutes, 2 parts. Part one is 'Dream Yards', part 2 is 'Mojave Plan (Desert version)'. The first 8 minutes are very atmospheric, but subdued, a more ambient 'Logos' intro that sounds closer in style to what Edgar Froese offered in 1982 than to how TD sounded like back then. At the 10 minutes mark, the first recognizable melody emerges. And those notes are indeed from Froese's 1982 solo release 'Pinnacles': 'Gravity of smile' is playing. And when it ends, 'Convention of the 24' begins. Now, those 2 tracks ARE 'Dream Yards'. 'Convention' is exactly like the version recently featured on 'Sohoman'. 'Convention' ends and 'Mojave Plan (Desert version)' kicks in with some added sound, but at the 25:11-25:12 mark, something strange happens: there is an editing glitch, but it reveals something disturbing that only the time index of the CD can confirm, the 'Mojave Plan' that you have here is the same - the exact same - version you can hear on 'White Eagle'. The designation 'Desert version' can only serve one purpose: make you think that it's different from the original, but it's 99.5% identical to it. So I wonder: should I write to TDI to complain?

I'm still considering it, but something's holding me up. There are some new terrific tracks in there. 'Longing for Cashba' is a 7 minute track that must have been composed in 1989 and it is influenced by the best tracks of 'Lily on the Beach' and 'Miracle Mile'. 'Ivory Town' could have been a 'Miracle Mile' track, solemn, sad, very minor. Short but interesting. 'Storm Seekers' is pure Edgar Froese and could have been part of a 3 CD version of 'Beyond the Storm', but it has an appealing early 80s style with added 90s sounds. The same applies to 'Cool Shibuya'. 'Akash Deep' is not a live track according to the booklet, but it is highly recognizable as one of the tracks performed on the 1986 tour. And then, there is 'Iguana live', a fast paced short track with truly electrifying guitars, 1986-87 style.

So yes, there is some good stuff in there. But less than 10 tracks are new, or modified enough to be interesting. I consider the 'Perth Tapes' to be a fraud since you don't really have anything new here, except for the intro which is not that inspiring. Renaming existing tracks in order to sell them is not something I can swallow easily. Makes you wonder why TDI has not released a 2CD 'Antique Dreams' recently, or a 2CD 'Sohoman' then. A warning: my very good high-end Yamaha CD player made me realize that the sound quality of the live recordings is not as good as the sound of the studio versions. So you get live tracks 95%-100% identical to studio tracks, but with lower sound quality. Would you regret buying this? Perhaps not if you really need those 10 tracks, but you won't help feeling bitter about spending so much for so little. And for those who don't know TD, would it be a good introduction to the band? Maybe, but for the price I'd recommend buying 'Dream Sequence' and 'Tang-go' which would cover almost as much "historical" ground, focus on TD's better years and cost much less. (Bruno Desjardins)