Tangerine Dream – Stratosfear VG+/VG+

Stratosfear is the eighth major release and seventh studio album by the German group Tangerine Dream.

The LP reached No.39 in the UK, in a 4-week chart run, and eventually reached silver status for selling in excess of 60,000 copies (£100,000+).

Stratosfear combines Tangerine Dream’s acoustic and electronic influences more tightly than before. For instance, at the end of the last track, “Invisible Limits”, the deep piano/flute tune reveals the album’s romantic flavour even after the earlier predominantly synthetic compositions (tracks #1 to last part of track #4). It was Peter Baumann’s last studio album with the group.

The album marks the beginning of the band’s development away from their uncompromising early 1970s synthesizer experiments toward a recognisably more melodic sound, a trend they would pick up again in 1979’s Force Majeure.

According to Allmusic’s John Bush, Stratosfear “shows the group’s desire to advance past their stellar recent material and stake out a new musical direction” and also marks “the beginning of a more evocative approach for Tangerine Dream”. Bush said the title track, which begins with a “statuesque synthesizer progression before unveiling an increasingly hypnotic line of trance”, is the album’s highlight.

Source: Wikipedia

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