Search - Tangerine Dream :: Underwater Sunlight

Promising new direction

Bruce Ewing | 01/03/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"During the first months of 1986, Tangerine Dream was reduced to the nucleus of the band, Christopher Franke and Edgar Froese. After the departure of Johannes Schmoelling, they again decided that a change in the musical direction was welcome. Working alone, the duo composed the musical material for the new studio album, which later was dubbed "Underwater Sunlight". In the meantime, Edgar Froese, as a manager of the band, was intensively looking for a replacement, someone who would fill in the place of Johannes - and that was to be someone whose contribution was to be in tune with the new direction the band took. As it happened, the fresh blood injected into the old machine's veins was Paul Haslinger, a young Austrian classically trained musician, who in addition to synthesizers specialized in acoustic and electric piano, and more to the point, was able to play rhythm guitar, to complement Edgar's Les Paul leading guitar. Haslinger actually took part in the final recording of the album, although the material was already composed. This said, one must admit that his contribution was welcome, given the circumstances. This was still the time when Tangerine Dream members were fond of delicate piano tunes, so-far performed and composed by Schmoelling. The Song of the Whale, the opening suite of the album features a moving piano song, which was masterfully performed by young Paul. There are many reasons to be happy with this album, beyond that. For a brief moment, the band returned to the traditional musical form of a suite, which took the whole side of the vinyl release. As much as the previous studio album, Le Parc, was loved and appreciated, the suite on "Underwater Sunlight" brought us the memories of good old days, when compositions were as long as the vinyl medium allowed, and divided into tracks only because they didn't fit on any one side of the record. Song of the Whale is a delicious journey into the unknown musical land - what a treat! With two guitars interlaced in recognizable, and even hummable tunes, with the harmony of the actual composition, this record is more of a "concept album" than any other release by Tangerine Dream from the 1980s. Flipping the side of the vinyl, or simply switching to another, second track on CD) you gain speed, accelerate with 'Dolphin Dance', a Christopher Franke very dynamic composition which is perfectly composed and executed. Indeed, the track was to become a long-standing favorite of both the audiophiles, and the band members as well. Tangerine Dream successfully performed 'Dolphin Dance' live during their concert tours in 1986, and 1987, and even years later, during the 1990s, the shadow of Tangerine Dream, as it was, enjoyed exhumation of this song during their concert tours. That's not all, my friends! Christopher Franke must have liked this track enough to have included it in his program for the come-back concert in 1991. Rid of the Froese influences, Franke delivers an astoundingly good and fresh version of 'Dolphin Dance' on "The London Concert" disk, released to our enjoyment and hilarity in 1991. It's indeed a pearl.After that, the album enters more shallow waters, I am sad to say. The following two tracks, 'Ride on the Ray' and 'Scuba Scuba' wander aimlessly for quite long time, indicating that they were more of a fill-in material than actual scores. After all, in early 1986 the band was on the crossroads, the compositional think-tank was limited to two members, one of whom was more than a little tired already. Thus they should be forgiven - these tracks are not all that bad, just aimless. At the very end of the album, we get a special goodbye treat, a short and beautiful composition 'Underwater Twilight'. It summarizes the whole album in bare two minutes of delight."