“Yes, maybe TD isn't where one would wish to be, but Tangerine Dream will always remain as noble as its name. That, one has to admit it”
1 Devotion 7:26
2 Betrayal (Sorcerer Theme) 3:50
3 Three Bikes in the Sky 6:01
4 A Wise Fisherman's Nocturnal Song 4:07
5 The End of Bondage 5:31
6 Too Hot for my Chinchilla 3:51
7 Dream Phantom of the Common Man 8:31
8 Sungate 4:52
9 Hoël Dhat the Alchemist 7:10
10 Cat Scan 5:47
11 Paradise Cove 3:51
12 Dreaming in a Kyoto Train 7:30
13 Moon River 4:54
(CD 73:28) (V.F.)
(Electronic rock)
For a starter let me be clear; I don't want to start a crusade against Tangerine Dream and even less their fans, of whom I am you remember? Except that sometimes, enough is like... enough. You know many artists who put in boxes the rehearsals of a concert which has never taken place? Worse; a rehearsal of half of the concert because a member of the band got injured. Roughly speaking, it's the rundown of CRUISE TO DESTINY. In spring 2013, Tangerine Dream was schedule to perform live on a liner along with Yes, Steve Hackett, Nektar, Saga and several other big names of progressive music within the framework of a series of concert on the Caribbean sea entitled Cruise To The Edge. Except that Edgar Froese (multiple fractures during a naughty fall) and Linda Spa (disease) were forced to abandon Thorsten Quaeschning, Iris Camaa, Bernhard Beibl and Hoshiko Yamane who have to postpone the project of participating to this musical cruise in the future. Disappointed the fans? Wait! Stopping at nothing to satisfy the slightest desires of these fans, the treasurers of Eastgate had the good idea to make of this rehearsal an official album.
I did a small research! Do you know how many albums compilations and/or in concert that Tangerine Dream has produced since the foundation of Eastgate? I counted more or less 35 compilations and 25 Live albums since 2005, that is more than 6 albums a year, plus the DVD. It's not bad, no? And each time the press info tells us that there are or will be surprises, novelties and/or a Froesiation or another Tangerination of the sound quality. An enhanced sound quality like they say. And nevertheless! I may turn over all the offered track versions that I get lost there. Every track seems or is alike. And I may force to find something different that I get lost there even more. I listen to a track and I compare it with the same on another album and there I look for the difference up until I go craze. And we let ourselves being caught. One says to us; bah...it ain't that bad! It's exactly what happens with CRUISE TO DESTINY.
The presented set list proposes a more rock Dream with a clear incursion in the Melrose years. And it's very interesting because tracks such as Betrayal, Three Bikes in the Sky, Too Hot for my Chinchilla, Paradise Cove, among which it's the first interpretation in concert, and Cat Scan enjoy an interesting music-lifting. Like a friend of mine told me, these are good recycled older tracks. Sungate remains Sungate that we know for its decade. One of the surprises here is this list of tracks that the Dream never played in concert yet. Set apart Paradise Cove, we find Devotion, The End of Bondage and Dreaming in a Kyoto Train. Three Bikes in the Sky figures on several bootlegs, and I do prefer by far this version. I thus appreciated to rediscover the boiling The End of Bondage and Dreaming in a Kyoto Train that I had lost of listening memory with the Sonic Poem Series. But are they different or not? Only the diehard fans could tell, which I'm not anymore. Speaking about this series one shall underlines a first interpretation also of the powerful and intriguing Dream Phantom of the Common Man. And if we like this series, A Wise Fisherman's Nocturnal Song is another surprise and nice novelty as much dark and melancholic as Hoël Dhat the Alchemist. And, as TD likes to do since their North-American tour of 92, the band makes an interpretation of an old pop success with Andy William's Moon River. The whole thing delivered without words. It's nice, good and tender. We dance on it, body to body tight, with our love one. My woman just loves it, but that still sounds like elevator music.
Hey yes! I put my ears in it and I got caught. CRUISE TO DESTINY fulfills the promises of its press kit. There are very nice surprises with interpretations of tracks that we have forgotten in time, except for Betrayal of course. Tracks played just with enough differences not to deny the originals, while adding to it this little something which clicks in the ears. Edgar's last novelty, A Wise Fisherman's Nocturnal Song is more than interesting. We feel in it the clear hold and influence of Thorsten Quaeschning on Tangerine Dream, and it's promising. In brief, in spite of its appearances of nth compilation, CRUISE TO DESTINY has all the necessary fibers to captivate those who like TD, as well as those who know the band only from the tips of their ears. And damn that TD does some good music. It's just that the band is not where we would want whether it is. It's not that bad because there are many others more audacious out there who go in its footprints. But Tangerine Dream will always remain as noble as its name. That, one has to give it to Edgar!
Sylvain Lupari (May 30th, 2013) ***½**
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