Tangerine Dream
Space Flght Orange
CDSingle / 2 tracks / 17:49

Whilst I was putting together this review, I was thinking about Dave Law's monologue in issue 109, and whilst I really cannot comment on "soft synths", I was particularly interested in his thoughts on the decline of good demo's and the oft heard criticism that Dave hardly ever prints negative reviews. His comments (which I agree with) led me on to considering how to review this one and my own personal thoughts on this group, who I have been listening to since I saw them on the telly back in 1976.

In the opinion of this reviewer Tangerine Dream's musical reputation is founded on a series of releases from Zeit in 1972 to Poland in 1984. Much of the music released in this 12 year period was thrilling, innovative, and ground breaking. By complete contrast, much of the music released since has been clichéd, uninteresting, and even occasionally pretty awful. If I had been asked to review any of the post '84 material, I would have said that for the most part it sucked. In doing so however, I would have at least urged readers to try it for themselves, and to make up their own mind. No doubt there are even folks out there who think that Goblin's Club is a good album…

In recent times however, it seems to me that the spark of creativity, lost during much of the 80's and 90's is beginning to reappear. I particularly liked Seven Letters From Tibet and Mota Atma was also occasionally impressive, DM4 was a considerable improvement on its predecessors, and whilst Inferno and Purgatorio are not necessarily to my tastes, they at least displayed a willingness to take a few risks.

This two track EP of high octane, sequencer driven EM, combined with a wealth of ideas suggests that the future is brighter (orange) than even I had dared hope. The first track The Greek Mirror is a bit too much dance and drum driven for my tastes. However the second - Jupiter Space Doors - is less manic, more interesting, and is that the sound of a flute I hear? Even the finale sounds a little like Logos. Certainly this is the best of these limited edition releases. Lets hope that the next studio release, now fixed for late September is just as good – if it is, it will be a cracker. If you miss out, then you will have to pay eBay influenced prices, so I suggest you buy it from SMD whilst you can. (SJS)

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