“Scored is simply wonderful! It's a great concert which makes us wish that Tangerine Dream could imitate this fraction of its roots”
CD 1 1 Palace of Dreams 5:14 2 Modulation Agents 7:15 3 La Marche 8:11 4 Catwalk 8:18 5 Going West 5:39 6 Matjora is Still Alive 5:10 7 A Room in the House Closed to the Public 6:23 8 A Long Way Home 5:40 9 Abacus 5:35 10 Crystal Red 5:21 CD 2 1 Circles 3:54
2 Towards the Evening Star 6:10 3 Rise of the Smooth Automaton 4:22 4 My Reality at 52 Degrees of Latitude 6:12 5 Cartoony Universe 7:59 6 White Eagle 5:31 7 Beach Theme 9:12 8 Mellow Morning 4:23 9 Time and Tide 7:36 10 Choronzon 6:36
VIKTORIAPARK: VP-18 113
(2CD 123:56) (V.F.)
(E-rock, Berlin School, Electronica)
There are moments like that! Moments that illuminate our emotions, revive the souvenirs and make us dream. Fortunate are the ones who were able to attend the concert given by Johannes Schmoelling, Jerome Froese and Robert Waters at the E-Live festival on October 2011. Fortunate because for them this magic moment will remain engraved in their memories, while the others (like us) have to content of imagined these moments by the waves of this superb hearing witness which is SCORED. As mentioned so well by Schmoelling; Loom is the contagious insistence of 2 young wolves of EM who have imagined the impact to join their enthusiast to the very melodic and cartesian approach of the Austrian musician. And the result, to say the least for this concert, exceeds the most naive expectations. Diving into the repertoires of Tangerine Dream, Johannes Schmoelling and Jerome Froese , SCORED offers a very strong performance with an electric concert where the titles performed have left for the moment the cozy comfort of the so usual chloroformed performances for this kind of music.
Alone on his piano, Johannes Schmoelling jostles our feelings with a vibrating version of Palace of Dreams. Sometimes delicate, sometimes aggressive; TD's ex-member toys with his notes, as with our souvenirs, showing his virtuosity to hypnotize an audience with an approach as melancholic as romantic, in particular on Circles which is in the full heart of an electronic fury. First novelty on SCORED, Modulation Agents reminds me of the atmospheres and rhythms of Near Dark. The sequences are flit around with their wings of steel in a heavy and static rhythm which bubbles literally on the multiple striking and chords from the sequencer and e-percussions, while the synths and Jerome's guitar scratch the rhythmic calcification of ghostly streaks and of echoing riffs. A superb fluty synth covers the heavy and ascending rhythm of La Marche¸ which is wrapping itself of an air from the Quichotte/Tangram era. After Catwalk crushed by riffs of a heavy guitar with solos of fire (strange, me who always found this track annoying), Going West brings us towards another period of Tangerine Dream with a remarkable interpretation. An interpretation all in warmth and nuance, where synths are musically divine, and the sequencing is magnificently reproduced with more emphasis. It's a great version to make Edgar go pale. And that doesn't stop there! Matjora Is Still Alive is rendered with an incredible correctness. All the sweetness and the complexity of this track as much intriguing as melodious are played with a surprising sensibility. The notes of piano pinch the hearing with a piercing musicality, displaying all the precision of Schmoelling to deeply move the order of emotions. Even if the rhythm of A Room in the House Closed to the Public is floating, it sounds like an electronic had-rock when placed between two melodious approaches of Johannes. The riffs are howling, the solos are incisive, and the sequences are splendidly well programmed. That gives a heavy and very electronic ambience to this album of which the setlist is well selected. A Long Way Home sees its melancholic and melodic scent being increased by a more lively approach which is less gloomy too when placed between two heavyweight titles such as A Room in the House Closed to the Public as well as the lively and nervous Abacus. Crystal Red is another new track signed Jerome Froese. It's a title in the same vein as we find on the excellent Shiver me Timbers and its intro gives indeed the shiver. The rhythm and the harmonious structure are very near the works of Tangerine Dream with a synth filled of strident solos and a tune which hooks instantly the hearing.
The first keys of Towards the Evening Star pierce the enchanted silence established by Circles and the quiet harmonies of Schmoelling. And the proposed version is sunk into Jerome's heavy riffs which spits fire. These riffs, carried at arm's length by strong percussions, mixed to the sweetness of synths is drawing a suave paradox between the sweetness and violence on a title of which the interpretation brings out all of the fury. Especially placed before the very quiet and melodic Rise of the Smooth Automaton whose romantic sweetness gives us the taste to discover The Zoo of Tranquility which misses to my culture as well as in my discotheque. Then comes My Reality at 52 Degrees of Latitude and its lugubrious intro worthy of a good horror or suspense movie and Cartoony Universe. Two explosive and powerful tracks which depict Jerome Froese's incredible rhythmic universe. Melodic the guitar is also wild, while the rhythms are as much fluid as stationary. The concert ends with a rather beautiful interpretation of White Eagle and a superb one of Beach Theme where Jerome's guitar is as much romantic and moving as that of his father. Mellow Morning is the first Encore and its languishing rhythm adopts quite well the tangent begun by White Eagle. Time And Tide takes another dimension on SCORED. Placed in this universe where the vestiges of the Dream are teeming, we would believe to hear a track forgotten in the vaults of the mythical German trio whose Choronzon ends this concert with a revitalized version where the melodic charm of the fluty synths survive to the charges of Jerome Froese's guitar riffs.
SCORED is simply wonderful! It's a big show engraved on CD, of which we can see fragments on You Tube (Time And Tide), with an impressive setlist where each of the proposed tracks finds its new dimension. Whether it's from Tangerine Dream, Johannes Schmoelling or Jerome Froese, the titles melt themselves in their ambiences with a very beautiful balance between ballads, pensive melodies, bubbling riffs from a guitar with incisive solos, synths solos and harmonies of as well as sequences and the percussions which are the heart of this concert which is the proof that EM, as much cold as you think it could be, can be as well dynamic as warm, like in any rock concert.
Sylvain Lupari (June 20th, 2012) *****