“The 2011 year in the EM planet belongs to Tangerine Dream and Booster V is the perfect musical witness of this great year”
CD1 70:47
1 Calymba Caly (Figaro's Fine Cut 2012 remix)3:50
2 Beauty of Magic Antagonism 5:56
3 Rubycon 2010 6:32
4 The Silver Boots of Bartlett Green 7:20
5 Shining Ray 5:23
6 Twilight Dance 6:25
7 Morpheus' Light 10:44
8 Escape 6:38
9 The Invisible Seal of the Holy Tribe 9:36
10 Hermaphrodite 8:20
CD2 73:13
1 Resurrection by the Spirit 5:37
2 Hoël Dhat the Alchemist 7:07
3 Mother of all Sources 8:53
4 Sailing Through the Night 5:57
5 Calumet 5:28
6 Booster Battery 6:51
7 The Mysterious Gift of Mankind 10:24
8 View from a Distant Star (Milky Way Mix 2012 remix)4:04
9 Wild Ocean of Blue Fate 7:46
10 Fay Bewitching the Moon 11:02
EastGate CD057
(2CD 144:00) (V.F.)
(E-Rock)
You have missed albums like The Island of the Fay, The Angel of the West Window and Finnegans Wake? Well, here is a great opportunity to redeem this faux pas. Because not owning one of these albums takes away all rights to complain about Tangerine Dream's recent artistic motivations. But beyond this very partisan entry into the matter, BOOSTER V is not a Best of in the Sonic Poem series, but it's a damn good way to taste the latest works of Dream which are more and more interesting. Besides the 9 titles of the Sonic Poem Series, this collection offers the most beautiful title of Zeitgeist (Rubycon 2010), the two most beautiful titles of Mona da Vinci (Morpheus' Light and Calumet), two of the good titles of The Endless Season ( Escape and Wild Ocean of Blue Fate), as well as two remixes and 4 new tracks including 2 which are particularly very interesting.
Calymba Caly (Figaro's Fine Cut) kicks off this new Booster with a remix of one of the most popular titles of the 80-81 tour. If the rhythmic structure is intact, the harmonic envelope lacks a little vitamin. Without being a musician, I would have done something more incisive in the studio. It's good, nothing more! Beauty of Magic Antagonism is the first of two tracks from The Island of the Fay, the other being Fay Bewitching the Moon. If I agree with this last title, which is a pure jewel in the crown of the Dream, I agree a little less for Beauty of Magic Antagonism which is a good ballad. Nothing more! I would rather have opted for Marmontel Riding on a Clef or Darkness Veiling the Night. Rubycon 2010 and The Silver Boots of Bartlett Green are in their places on this compilation. They precede the first two new features on BOOSTER V; Shining Ray and Twilight Dance. I like Shining Ray which quite well marries the rhythms and ambiences of the Sonic Poem Series, while the psychotic rhythm and the celestial harmonies of Twilight Dance left me of ice and this in spite of a heavy pulsating rhythm and lines of sequences which intersect in a dancing spiral. Then it is the round of very good titles with Morpheus' Light, Escape, the very good The Invisible Seal of the Holy Tribe which, with the powerful The Silver Boots of Bartlett Green, Hoël Dhat the Alchemist and The Mysterious Gift of Mankind wonderfully comfort our need to hear The Angel of the West Window again.
Hermaphrodite, Resurrection by the Spirit and Mother of all Sources are also very good titles which represent The Island of the Fay very well. All that's missing is The Sensational Fall of the Master Builder! One of the key elements of BOOSTER V is the arrangement of the chosen titles. Edgar diversifies the rhythms and softer atmospheres, adding to the fluidity of the harmonies that line the works of Dream since the end of the Virgin years. At this level I am thinking of Hoël Dhat the Alchemist and Mother of all Sources, two titles which without having the same rhythmic structure offer harmonies which are juxtaposed with an immense melancholic approach. Sailing Through the Night is a novelty which does not add anything new to the Dream repertoire. The plastic voices remind me of the very cold universe of Winter in Hiroshima, but the guitar solo is good and very soul piercing. Booster Battery is the latest addition from the Froese/Quaeschning duo and it's pretty good. The pace is slow and progresses with sequences à la Flashpoint which intersect on the fly under the slow chants of a lyrical synth to land in percussions with heavy strikes. View from a Distant Star (Milky Way Mix) was an unreleased track that appeared on the live album Knights of Asheville. It is a good electronic ballad which finds its beauty in its orchestral arrangements of which the slow layers are in contrast with the rhythm of the percussions. After a light title taken out of Endless Season, Wild Ocean of Blue Fate, I would have preferred Devotion or The Seven Barriers, Fay Bewitching the Moon embodies the superb musical year that Tangerine Dream gave to its fans in 2011.
I'm a fan and I'm also an honest one! When it's not good I say it and when it's good I say it loud and clear. Sometimes I get carried away because Edgar always knows how to turn me on, like turn me off, my passion for his works. And it is this passion that prompts me to tell you that BOOSTER V is essential in the universe of excessive multiplicity that is the production of Tangerine Dream compilations. Not that the new products offered are incredible, that no. But rather because of the origin of the albums targeted by this compilation. The year 2011 of planet EM belongs to Tangerine Dream! Albums such as The Island of the Fay, The Angel of the West Window and Finnegans Wake are essentials ones where rhythms, melodies and ambiences marry perfectly the premise of their inspirations. If BOOSTER V is not a compilation of this series, it looks like it. It also gives you the chance to get the best of CupDiscs, with the exception of The Gate of Saturn and its boiling Vernal Rapture, made during this same period as well as unreleased ones that add to the need to get BOOSTER V.
Sylvain Lupari (August 9th, 2012) *****
Available at Groove nl