Track Listing

1. Stratosfear
2. The Big Sleep In Search Of Hades
3. 3am At The Border Of The Marsh From Okefenokee
4. Invisible Limits

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3081 in Music
• Released on: 1995-02-27
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

CD Description
One of Tangerine Dream's earliest and most classic recordings, STRATOSFEAR's Mellotron-soaked melodies have not only found their way into samplers and DJ repertoires worldwide--the band have also even revisited the album's plangent themes in their successive soundtrack compositions, such as RISKY BUSINESS. In 1976, the band (Edgar Froese, Chris Franke, and Peter Baumann) was still creating music as imagistic, fantastic and phantasmagorical as its accompanying track titles ("The Big Sleep in Search of Hades", "3 AM At the Border of the Marsh from Okefenokee").
The vast washes of Moog, Mellotron, rhythm computers, and Fender Rhodes piano that grace "3 AM" still sound like they originated from the seventh circle of Hell. Their sheer alien-ness seems to bespeak music made not of this earth. The title track's hovering, extraterrestrial sequencer hypno-pulse continues to resonate in today's electronica.

Customer Reviews

Gets better the more effort is put in...

Time was that I eagerly awaited every TD release and bought it "blind". This one caused me some concern at the time. It's a very short album for one thing (or seems to be). The best tracks are the first and last ones for me - the others at the time were found OK, but didn't hold my interest. Bearing in mind thirty years have passed, I thought I'd give it another go... Yep, it took over thirty years for this one to "grow" on me, but I now appreciate its beauty...!

Listening again, this CD at first sounds like TD consolidating their earlier repertoir and effects into one album. Another thing to strike you is how much more conventionally melodic the music is than on their previous albums. Something else that only occured to me very recently is how sparse the mixes are and how there seems little in the way of "treatments" to the instruments compared to earlier albums. I only learned very recently of the difficulties the band had recording this and I'm sure that this had an effect on the finished product.

The recording as a whole seems very quiet and almost small scale for some reason, which is another reason it takes so long to get into in my opinion.

Put plenty of effort in though and you'll find a real gem of an album. The first track is immediately accessible, which is one reason I never cared for it overmuch... The other tracks grew slowly on me as the years passed. I've loved "Invisible Limits", when things really kick off. The sequencers even blend and fade as in Rubicon Pt 2. The ending though seems flat to me (perhaps this wasn't the originally intended mix for this track, as there's an alternative version I've heard that is much "busier")...

As for the production and remastering, I'm glad nothing severe has been done to the masters on this occasion. Removed tape hiss has to be replaced with something, otherwise it sounds horrible, as most CD versions of the first Shadows LP from 1961 testify. The fact that most of the tracks are fairly quiet and sparsely mixed probably makes things worse, but It's better to leave fairly well alone I think.

A real curates egg this CD. Many "newer" fans love it to pieces and I'm finding more to appreciate here as time goes on. Give it a go, you may love it from the outset...

Some great tunes; shame about the CD
In the 1970s, each new Tangerine Dream album seemed destined to redefine the band anew. Their fourth album for Virgin, "Stratosfear", was no exception. Released in 1976, this album saw the band departing from their previous explorative and improvisatory style, moving instead towards a style more readily associated with the world of pop music. In short, the album proved once and for all to those doubting souls that the band members were perfectly capable of writing a catchy tune if they wanted to! For there is absolutely no shortage of tunes on this disc, all of them highly memorable, from the brash and aggressive synthesiser lead of the title track, right through to the closing lilting mellotron line of 'Invisible Limits'.

The general sound world is rather different from earlier Tangerine Dream albums too: something that is obvious from the very opening, with its gentle guitar introduction. For although the earlier hallmark swept filter treatments are still very much in evidence throughout the disc, this album uses many more synthesiser voices that are imitative of traditional instruments (albeit usually with a new twist) than can be found on earlier TD albums. Whereas previously the extension of the sound world into new and previously unexplored realms was the main aim, here the band is clearly more concerned with the traditional musical elements of harmony and counterpoint-as well as with a somewhat punchier presentation.

Not that there is anything the slightest bit traditional about the music on this disc, mind. All four tracks here are routed firmly in the world of 1970's synthesiser music. They are all good strong compositions with a nice amount of variety of pace, mood and style. Some are pure pop or rock, while others have a more classical feel-like 'Big Sleep in Search of Hades', with its minuet-and-trio-type construction and a lilting mellotron tune played over a harpsichord ground.

'3am at the Border of the Marsh from Okefenokee'-with its gentle opening, rising to a searing peak before a soft tune and a gentle sequencer pulse are allowed to take over-is one of the most beautiful ballads the band has ever written. This track also has a prominent mellotron presence, as well as some lovely, synthesised harmonica and a goodly spread of gorgeous electronic textures.

'Invisible Limits' is the disc's longest track, clocking in at nearly 11 and a half minutes. This is another gentle, tuneful song, featuring massed synthesised strings, gently tapping and babbling sequencer pulses and some lilting guitar and synthesiser lines-as well as lots of changes of pace and mood. Whilst the overall feel is very New Age ambient, the final three minutes are pure contemporary experimental-revelling in lots of prominent echo and reverb effects. A very neo-Classical piano line emerges from this section, to be joined by a mellotron line for a very sweet duet, which sings the disc to a close.

For many, though, the most memorably track on this disc is its first: 'Stratosfear' itself. With a tune and a beat that both drill their way deep into your brain, from which there is no extricating them, this track will be with you long after the CD has finished playing! As, indeed, will much of the rest of the album.

In common with all of the other TD releases for Virgin, this disc was recently subjected to a new digital remastering. Unlike most of the other releases, this has not actually done very much, here, to improve on the original. The sound remains a little muddy and also very quiet in places. No real increase in dynamic range is noticed until halfway through the final track-where it then comes as something of a shock! Another criticism I would level at the disc is that the inter-track gaps, at just 2 seconds each, are way too short. It's not as if space on the disc is tight, even, with the whole thing being barely 34 minutes long in total. Which brings me to my final grumble: OK, so the original disc was only this long too, but surely, Virgin, the time has come to start doubling up some of these older releases onto one CD? As they stand, these early TD releases are not exactly the best value in the world!

In conclusion, then, while the music here is all consistently excellent, I feel it is necessary to dock one star from the overall rating, because the disc's short duration and the rather less-than-perfect production standard. Pity.

magnifique....what more can you say?
STEVE BENNER CERTAINLY KNOWS HIS TANGERINE DREAM? :-)

having been a synth programmer, arranger, and writer of electronic music myself, and seen the progress of synth technology in the last 15 years with my own eyes (im 29, so the rest is "borrowed" or read history, and the odd use of an old modular system), i have to say that a lot of imagination, creativite juices, and er money went into this beautifully exquisite creative peak..for their 70's phase at least

There's not much use commenting on each track...all are so drenched in "feeling" and "mood", that only an affecianado of electronic music, with a heart of stone WONT be moved by this

it sadly, i guess also showcases that PETER BAUMANN was also quite a vital force in their "creative glue", as his abscence meant the next two studio albums sounded a little like hard work...

nonetheless, im sure it was great then, because even though the SBM(super bit mapping) remastering technology hasnt done much (YOU CAN HEAR HISS IN SOME TRACKS ON THE SILENT PARTS- especially INVISIBLE LIMITS!), and is only 34 minutes...this is a good point to start your TD journey

infact i can say it's like a good meal....it leaves you wanting more!...once your into this...you wont forget it

NO HESTITATIONS HERE....BUY IT!