“Logos is the classic among all classics of modern EM”
1 Logos 44:39 2 Dominion 5:26 Virgin CDV 2257
(CD 50:05) (V.F.)
(New Berlin School)
LOGOS is quite an opus! A complete and flawless album which was recorded at the Dominion Theatre in London on November 6th, 1982. In the stride of the superb and astonishing 81/82 tour that has give us so many bootlegs. A purely electronic tour where Tangerine Dream, then in the wake of its digital learning, stigmatized our ears with a mesh of experimental and progressive structures that was full of these passages always melodious and so unique to the signature of the Dream. And that's the strength of LOGOS; rhythms and ambiospherical phases that constantly change directions, borrowing unsuspected tangents that are always in perfect symbiosis with their melodious dependencies.
Divided into 4 major themes subdivided by heavily atmospheric passages, LOGOS begins with gurgles and electronic effects that plunge us into the heart of the discoveries of TD's digital era. The intro is bathed in a cosmic and electronic atmosphere with a rhythm that is torn by its psychedelic and cosmic aromas. This rhythm is slow and filled with gurgles and fed with slamming percussions that resonate among layers of nebulous fog with tonalities as metallic as spectral so distinct to the signature of the German trio. Our ears decipher a kind of electronic blues where the synth solos coo in a world full of melodies that will furnish the Risky Business and other soundtracks to come. Already 11 minutes on the clock, and this melodious approach plunges into a black hole. The synths free pads of caramelized mists. And quietly we are absorbed by this strange approach of interstellar vacuum when percussions arise from nowhere, drumming a fuzzy rhythm which rolls under the hazes of a synth where choruses of Breakdance (shiqueshiqueshique-ankle) fill the ambiances of these synthesized slogans. The rhythm hiccups and hops on an alert sequencer. It increases the pace over synths and their heavy threatening reverberations. The sequencer is simply sublime. It covers the rhythm with new percussion modulations, like unreal tams-tams whose frenzied strikes draw an astonishing harmonic approach in a maze of strikes loaded of doubles and intensive shadows. Logos continues its spasmodic processions under an avalanche of strange vocal codes from synthesizer's effects and riffs that accentuate their slow, sinuous and disarticulated curves.
This first storm is docking to a port of tranquility and to some silk harmonies that accompany Logos to its 2nd ambiospherical phase. This short phase offers a pulsation that stretches its undulation under breaths to digital odors. The atmospheres have a sneaky presence with resonant waves and a mechanical flute song that glide on a dark veil. Noisy crackles raise a swarm of bats, whose short flight remains a mystery. Drops of sounds resound and project sound rays that play with the dark breezes. The synth then offers a very candid melodious line. A flutier one is dancing with this approach, while the percussions play tap-dances. The awakening is done in the drip, before the sequencer and the electronic percussions structure a rhythm that hops, runs and tumbles. In short, a rhythm as difficult to describe as to dance! This mesh of sequences and electronic percussions engenders an infernal rhythmic approach which will be harpooned by a solo of sequences and percussions, closing a long musical odyssey which will be capped with a superb harmonious finale. Dominion is an encore demanded by a delirious public. It's a lively track, structured on a catchy electronic rock and coated by a more orchestral synth that delivers a very catchy chorus.
LOGOS is the fruit of an incredible symbiosis and complicity between Chris Franke, Edgar Froese and Johannes Schmoelling. Each movement, LOGOS will be divided in 9 parts some years later, each transition between them is ingeniously calculated so as to build floating melodies weaver of earworm. Melodies which make raise our arm's hairs. But not as much as rhythms! These rythms forged by a superb blend of sequences and electronic percussions which make us jump of surprise, here and there. I think that it's the most efficient EM album that has everything to charm any lover of music. I know to have experienced it and led new fans to TD's fan-base. An intense and highly stylized album with an incredible sharpness in the sound, this is the classic among all the classics of modern EM.
Sylvain Lupari (September 16th, 2006) *****