Rating:  -
TD should stick to movie music. After hearing several soundtracks, and more recently "Thief" with James Caan, I decided to sample some CD's.
This one is terrible; it doesn't go anywhere! It's even hard to believe there is a score. Maybe you have to be high on something to like this kind of stuff, I dunno.
Back to Mozart.
Rating:  -
It's not as brilliant as the follow up, Rubycon(in my opinion), but this is another excellent album, their most well known along with the aforementioned Rubycon. Perhaps Phaedra has more of a variety, however, but not as good. But not by too much.
The album still follows the same blueprint, it's sublime, emotional, conjuring, cleansing washes and pulses, totally consuming you and taking you on a ride to space, nature, or whatever your mind takes you. That's awesome. One of the best parts about this is when you turn it on, you get the feeling your lying on air, but you can't go to sleep. Your too busy floating in serene nothingness. Even more awesome, indeed.
The music is very hard to describe yourself. However, if you are able to expand your mind a bit, there's no doubt you will walk away from this record unscathed and feeling better after flying through your personal space. Just essential stuff, period. Even during today, this music still sound great. Considering that the electronic instruments are outdated, it's even more impressive. They didn't make this album to show off their new equipment alone. They used it to make music that will sound great today, and I can't imagine it sounding outdated 30 years from now. Just look at the music today. No music does things like this to make this music feel dinosauric.
Now I'm off to check out Stratosphere (maybe)! These guys have more emotions and human touch than any lame modern country artist, no matter how much them or their fans say. Indeed, this has more emotion than all of those losers would have. Plus, this isn't predictable, mind numbing, annoying _____, either.
9.5/10
Rating: -
This 1974 release is a remarkable album that finds Tangerine Dream on a new label (Virgin Records) and beginning to forge the soundscapes-from-outer-space that would make them famous. Along with Rubycon (1975), this album also finds Tangerine Dream at a creative peak and features the exhilarating combination of gothic, brooding atmospheres and some of the creepy experimentation that was a carry-over from their earlier albums, particularly Atem (1973).
The lineup on Phaedra is classic Tangerine Dream and includes Edgar Froese (mellotron, guitar; bass guitar; VCS3 synthesizer; and Hammond organ); Christopher Franke (Moog synthesizer; keyboards, VCS3 synthesizer); and Peter Baumann (Hammond organ; E-Piano; VCS3 synthesizer; and flute).
The four pieces on the album range in length from 2:20 to the lengthy progressive electronica epic title track (17:35). As can be imagined, this album is loaded with pulsating, throbbing, and whooshing sounds on the VCS3, particularly on the lengthy title track. The mellotron (with string setting) also has a strong presence here, and is featured on the "mellotron saturated", cosmic, and minor key workout entitled Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares (9:43) (this is one of my favorite pieces on the album). Movements of a Visionary (7:57) is a comparatively more experimental piece and features otherworldly sounds generated on the VCS3 and driving passages generated on sequencers atop which long and drawn-out chords (with tiny modulations) are played on a "churchy" sounding Hammond organ. The closing track is an extremely sad and haunting piece, which features very spacey and heavily echoed flute and synthesizer parts. This is another favorite track and a great way to end the album.
Although this version has not been remastered, the sound quality is pretty good.
All in all, this is a superb album from Tangerine Dream and is very highly recommended along with Rubycon (1975); Ricochet (1975); and Stratosfear (1976). Other albums from the progressive electronica genre (Berlin School specifically) that are recommended include a few recordings by Klaus Schulze:(Timewind, 1975; and Mirage, 1977).
Rating:  -
Vangelis was much better at creating atmosphere than this. And, he had better composition skills. I can't recommend this but there are some interesting sounds and they probably started the ambient craze. I just think this music lacks focus.
Rating:  -
After reading so many comments about this album, I decided to pick it up myself. I bought "Phaedra" at the same time as "Zeit", and had listened to Zeit first. After having enjoyed Zeit quite a bit, I was optimistic about Phaedra. I've listened to it now, and I have to say, it wasn't quite as good as I had hoped.
I actually enjoyed Track #2 in this album the most. It wasn't quite as boring as the rest of the tracks, and I liked the flanging and other such effects used. This track is the reason I gave this album higher than two stars. Track #1 wasn't all that bad either, but the first half was a bit too repetitious. My primary gripe about this album is the last two tracks; something about them made me groan. They contained too many cheesy 70s style sounds mixed with flutes and Organs that I felt were more suitable for a medieval themed movie. Perhaps they are just too "cheery" for my taste. I really didn't enjoy them.
Another complaint I have about this album is the length. The first two tracks are average length for an Ambient CD, while the others are only eight minutes and two minutes long. It's almost as if the Authors didn't know what sound they were going for, so they just ended the tracks abruptly.
Like I said previously, I really enjoyed other albums by Tangerine Dream, such as Zeit. I just didn't enjoy this album as much. Most of my opinion might be attributed to the fact that I enjoy darker, more supernatural Ambient CDs. Some favorites of mine include "On Land", by Brian Eno, and "Selected Ambient Works Volume II", by Aphex Twin. If you enjoy the darker side of Ambient, then you might want to avoid Phaedra, and grab these albums instead (or Zeit).
Update on Dec 13, 2007: I have recently listened to Phaedra again, and I have to say - it's grown on me. Maybe I was just in a better mood for Phaedra this time around, but I felt it was more soothing to me than the last time I heard it. Although I still feel there are quite a few cheesy 70s sound effects, I enjoyed the last two tracks in this album more than before. If I were to rate this again, I might give it a 4. Some of my previous "complaints" still hold up however, like the fact that the album is kind of short. I feel they could have easily made track #4 longer, to make this more worth the money I paid.
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