Tangerine Dream: An Electronic Meditation

Ahh, the familiar, yet expansive, confines of krautrock. A genre where it seems everyone had a hand in everyone’s recordings. It’s boss, for the most part with some latter ‘70s stuff getting into uncomfortable and cheesy territory – either too proggy or simply electronic. But the late ‘60s and early portion of the ‘70s was given over to music that was pretty closely tied to American and British psychedelia in addition to having some composerly concepts tossed in. And while the vast majority of Tangerine Dream’s catalog is just a bit short of abhorrent to me, it’s first album, entitled Electronic Meditation, seems like a balance of krautrock’s older, more traditional tendencies with the burgeoning electronica that would soon decimate the genre.

At this early stage, Tangerine Dream was comprised of Conrad Schnitzler, Klaus Schulze and the group’s only constant member Edgar Froese. With the first two figures primed to go on to Ash Ra Tempel and Cluster and Froese’s background in American styled psych rock, the ensemble encompassed all of these disparate influences with only occasional problematic passages on this first disc. Initially recorded for posterity during a practice session, the four tracks that comprise Electronic Meditation were soon released as a proper album by Rolf Ulrich Kaiser, Ohr Records’ honcho who was known for some questionable business tactics.

Considering that fact, the two long tracks as well as the two shorter efforts come across as reasonably coherent. The album’s opener, “Journey Through a Burning Brain,” while not the most exciting track, has a bit of everything that’s splayed across the disc. It’s more ambient sections, helmed by Froese, are eventually given over to Schulze’s thudding percussion and some noisome blowing by Schnitzler. As the track reaches its stage of freak out, the group’s rock inclinations become clear for the first time. And while the electric guitar screeching is ample proof of the ensembles dedication to psychedelic music, having to wade through the preceding ten minutes or so doesn’t seem worth it.

With that few minutes hint at Tangerine Dreams’ ability, “Kalter Rauch (Cold Smoke)” follows the opener with a better distillation of the group’s rock prowess. Coming in at just over ten minutes, the track dispenses with a prelude the length of its predecessor. And while there’s still an alarmingly long, ambient introduction, that guitar solo picks up more quickly than elsewhere on the album. To differentiate between the two rock passages, here and on the opener, might be difficult to do. They approximate each other. And really, the formless lumpeness of the release doesn’t work to distinguish songs. Neither track is void of merit, yet both would benefit from some bold editing.

Two other efforts round out the disc, both echoing themes from elsewhere on the disc. Each, “Asche Zu Asche” and “Resurection,” does sport a bit of interesting electronics coupled with some RnR authority, but again, the entire disc is void of focus. For a practice tape from a band not certain of its aural direction, though, Tangerine Dreams’ Electronic Meditation beats out a good many of the kraut related discs from the period – and accidently so.