TANGERINE DREAM
VENUE THE ROUNDHOUSE, LONDON DATE 18/03/2022
It seems bizarre that Tangerine Dream should have beaten Kraftwerk to their philosophical punch for here is a band performing synthesiser-driven music with absolutely none of the original members gracing the current line-up. Not that their late founder, Edgar Froese, would have approved of the comparison to Düsseldorf’s most famous exponents of electronic music. “We are people making music, not machines,” he once said. “We are writing songs and compositions and then translate them with synthesisers.” But the question does linger: can the current line-up of Tangerine Dream – that’ll be Thorsten Quaeschning (synths/ bandleader), Hoshiko Yamane (violin/synths) and Paul Frick (synths) – live up to the spirit of the original incarnation?
On the evidence of Tangerine Dream’s current release, Raum, the answer is “yes”, thanks to the ideas that Froese left behind on his hard drive before his passing. And live? Again, the answer is in the affirmative, although it’s not always for the right reasons.
One of the biggest problems that electronic music still faces is that of presentation. After all, just how interesting are musicians hunched over their keyboards, not least as they may well
“CAN THE CURRENT LINE-UP OF TANGERINE DREAM LIVE UP TO THE SPIRIT OF THE ORIGINAL INCARNATION? THE ANSWER IS ‘YES’.”
be sending emails on the laptops positioned next to them? With this in mind, Tangerine Dream’s transformation of the stage into something akin to a hypnotically shimmering spacecraft making first contact is most impressive and in keeping with the Roundhouse’s 60s resurgence as a psychedelic music venue. With lasers strafing the incredible metalwork of the venue’s ceiling and lights beaming into the audience, their performance shortcomings are soon kicked into touch.
What’s also apparent is that the material that fares best is that which was created when Tangerine Dream’s ideas were still ahead of the then-available technology rather than the music that followed in the advances of what was available to them. Choronzon feels horribly dated as it serves to remind of a time of all surface and no feeling. Likewise the ponderous Tangram (Set I) that overstays its welcome.
But those blips are easy to overlook. With Raum wisely peering beyond the soundtracks that came to dominate their 80s output to the template of pioneering albums of the 70s, the outings of the title track and You’re Always On Time prove to be worthy additions to their canon. Love On A Real Train (from Risky Business) is as dependable as ever while It Is Time To Leave When Everyone Is Dancing proves to be utterly seductive. Elsewhere, Marillion’s Steve Rothery makes his presence felt as he guests on Kiew Mission and beyond with a remarkable display of snaking guitar. Edgar Froese would be proud.