Tangerine Dream - Electronic Meditation [Esoteric Reactive/Cherry Red - 2012]Originally released in 1970 “Electronic Meditation” was the first sonic statement from Tangerine Dream- the album offered up a heady ‘n’ sometimes haphazard mix of instrumental kraut-rock, basic/ primal free jazz improv & creative early 70’s found sound manipulation. This new reissue finds the album been totally remastered, and adds in a 16 page booklet that features original arwork, reviews, pictures & an article on the bands origins, their early line-up, and of course the recording of this début album. For those who have never heard “Electronic Meditation”- it’s an heady often mysterious bound mixture of: atmospheric, experimental & sometimes soaring guitar textures. Brooding & often discordant organ, flute & cello elements. Sawing yet interstellar ebbed violin playing. Experimental rhythmic textures & battering drums. With a selection of creatively manipulated found elements, tapes & effects. All wrapped in a very lo-fi, and cheap studio production which in some ways adds to album vibe, but also sometimes make things sound a little muddled & over grounded- this remaster has improved some of the production downsides, but this is never going to sound perfect. The original album featured five tracks which made up the albums suite of songs, and these five pieces sort of snaked in an often quite lose & haphazard jam manner from the opener “Genesis” with it's oppressive/sinister cello & organ broods that are ridded with slow motion chattering guitar, violin, flute & effects. Onto the slow rising yet wavering organ drone & blues tinged spacey guitar trails of the beginning of “Journey through A Burn Brain”, which later tries to soar with it’s lo-fi battering drums, gyrating almost eastern guitar textures & haphazard organ/ piano/flute elements. Through to the drifting & slightly wonky organ /guitar texturing simmers ‘n’ drones of the opening of “Cold Smoke”, which later on has some rather jarring through effective sudden edited percussive jump cuts, and even more latter has a consistent (through little off-kilter) constant drum beat present with over the top rock guitar soloing. Onto the fairly safe organ & rock guitar shambling drum march of “Ashes to Ashes”. To finally the track “Resurrection” with it’s simple yet odd mixture of rising organ playing & backwards talking- in the end the track slides back to beginning of the album with oppressive/ sinster cello & organ broods, and creative percussive/ sound effect elements. This reissue sadly features no extra or bonus material, so all we have here are the five original tracks, and 36.37 of the original album The only extras here other than the remix is the 16 page inlay booklet which features a few German press reviews of the album, early band flyers for the album, original line-up pictures, reproduced original album artwork. And an eight page article about the bands origins, the bands original line-up, the albums recording & how the album is seen in the context of their early albums- the articles written by Andy King. I reviewed the CD version of this reissue, but for those interested in vinyl version of release- this reissue also comes in a ltd double gatefold edition too, through I think it had a fairly ltd pressing. “Electronic Meditation” never stood as one of my favourite early TD albums, though it certainly has it’s moments of greatness & you can hear here the first step towards what they would become later. All told this is another nicely put together reissue by Reactive/ Esoteric records of one Tangerine Dream’s early back catalogue, and well worth checking out if you want hear the bands lo-fi & fairly primitive beginnings. Roger Batty
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