Tangerine Dream — Alpha Centauri

Originally released in 1971 “Alpha Centauri” is the second album from Tangerine Dream.  The album saw the band deepening & cementing the experimental  textures of their debut album, to create a cohesive space-bound sound that utilized more electronics. This 2011 reissue remasters the album, adds on three extra tracks, and an expanded inlay booklet.

“Alpha Centauri” is often seen as the bands first proper album and it’s easy to see why. Their actually debut “Electronic Meditation” felt more like a demo, or an early recorded jam, where the embryonic band are trying to find their sound & sonic identity. With “Alpha Centauri” the bands composition, control of instruments, and focus on space bound atmospherics is much more clear and defined. Sure the albums three tracks often do still feel quite lose & jam based, but there seems a keener sense of both mood & purpose here. Also early electronic keyboards and electronic based effects are used here for the first time by the band. Though the main instrumental sonic focus here tends to be a mixture of organ & flute, with a touches of guitar and drums along the way too.

The original album featured three track “"Sunrise in the Third System", "Fly and Collision of Comas Sola", and the epic title track which came in at just over the twenty minute mark. The albums full running time was just under the forty minute mark, and each of the three tracks saw TD building a drifting, building-then-receding sonic tapestr, which falls somewhere between melted & wavering Kraut rock, early electro ambience, and space bound noisy experimental texturing. The album moves through potent & heady flute swells, onto ominous organ shimmers & sustains, and up to pounding percussive work-outs that dart with intergalactic guitar textures. And through-out the album there are often noisy, yet always spacey & mysterious swells of early synth textures & electronics.

The sonic extras here take in: “Ozillator Planet Concert”- which is a live recording from around the albums release. And “Ultima Thule”- was a double sided single from 1971. “Ozillator Planet Concert” is released here for the first time on cd, and the eight minute track shows the band in great eerier & ominous space bound form with shimmering & frying mix of electronic textures, brooding organ drifts, and guitar texturing.  The  two “Ultima Thule” tracks find the band in a more structured  atmospheric 70’s psychedelic rock form, with layers of building organ, subtle electronics & guitar over a mostly constant though slightly jam based drum rock rhythm- it’s ok though it doesn’t real sound much like the “Alpha Centauri” album.

The package if topped off with 16 page inlay book, which features an interesting nine essay about the albums conception. Along with original album artwork, period pictures of the band, and concert poster artwork.

All told this is another worthy reissue in Esoteric Reactive Tangerine Dream reissue series. It's well worth checking out if you want hear this great projects first full & creative steps in their lengthy, varied and highly influential forty plus year career.