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Writer's pictureSylvain Lupari

TANGERINE DREAM: Flame (2009)

Updated: Sep 4, 2021

Not a stroke of genius, but just enough to enchant and make us dream again and again

1 Synth Affection 4:28

2 Pier 54 5:41

3 Lord Nelson 5:08

4 Ça Va - Ça Marche - Ça Ira Encore (Orchestral) 5:02

5 Timeless 4:06

6 Ride on the Ray

(Atlantic Ocean Version) 6:18

7 Peddington at Five 7:15

8 Morning Star 5:02

Eastgate 035CD (CupDisc 3)

(CD/DDL 42:52) (V.F.)

(E-Rock Synth-Pop)

When I received FLAME, Vic Reck from Ricochet Dream assured me that it was one of the best Tangerine Dream album (or cupdisc) since ages. I listened to it and thought...well, it's so/so! Electro-pop like it has been made for years. So, I took my time because Vic's opinion is always appropriate. And I listened carefully to this 3rd and last cupdisc entirely composed and played by Edgar Froese. I have to admit that Vic's advice was quite relevant, and that FLAME is a damn good 43 minutes cupdisc. Not great EM, of course! But nice music that moves and is pleasant to listen to, with a new version of Ride on the Ray. An offering that shows that Papi Froese still has passion and ideas in his head.

This FLAME contains 8 tracks of which 6 are new. New tracks structured on old molds, like Synth Affection which is a very nice track beginning with a fluty synth supported by a sequence in the shape of a carousel. A gloomy ditty worthy of John Carpenter that sits on a robotic voice, something I like a little less, but it goes well here. The rhythm is soft, fed by superb unctuously vaporous layers like these orchestrations that the old silver fox is able to throw in our ears since a couple of years. A good rhythm, catchy and tasty with a feeling of déjà vu. Pier 54 displays a more nervous and constant rhythm on chords more rock than cosmic with a nice effect of inverted cyclone. A nice track which does very TD of the 2000's, like Lord Nelson which is on the other hand much better structured with a twisted synth on sequences crumbling in a feverish rhythm provided with nice, honeyed layers. Ça Va - Ça Marche - Ça Ira Encore (Orchestral) is the kind of track that horrified me when it was made in 1998. It sounds better here with orchestrations of fire on its continuous torrent of rhythm. It's edgy and flashy but here it fits very well in this rock orientation that Froese wants to integrate to FLAME.

Timeless is a gem of pinky synth-pop. It's a beautiful track that shakes on a nervous sequence and swirls subtly on a well-paced drum machine. The artificial voices are quite ethereal here. Nothing more, but it has an effect. For all the rhythmic changes Edgar can make, Ride on the Ray (Atlantic Ocean Version) will always be a good piece of music. Here it has a more oriented rock vision focused on Eddie van Froese's six-strings. Less subtle, but it goes well. Peddington At Five is the kind of track that is frustrating. It feels like it's going to unlock, but it just sits there. Like on the verge of orgasm. The crescendo is present, and the paroxysm seems to increase but the ecstasy never comes... Frustrating I said! Morning Star starts with a hesitation that quickly becomes an avalanche of frenetic pulsations flying on the wings of a synth's unctuous and dreamy orchestrations. A track that has dog in the nose, like this last cupdisc of Edgar Froese. Not a stroke of genius, but just enough to enchant and make us dream again and again...

Sylvain Lupari (August 4th, 2009) ***¾**

Available at Groove nl

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