Force Majeure (Tangerine Dream Album)

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Force majeure
Studio album by Tangerine Dream

Publication
(s)

1979

admission

August - September 1978

Label (s) Virgin Records

Format (s)

LP

Genre (s)

Space rock , progressive rock , electronic

Title (number)

3

running time

40 min 14 s

production

Christopher Franke , Edgar Froese

chronology
Cyclone
(1978) 		Force majeure Tangram
(1980)

Force Majeure ( German Force majeure ) is the twelfth Music Album of the German music group Tangerine Dream . It was originally released as an LP on clear vinyl by Virgin Records in 1979 with the identification number V 2111 and was first released as a compact disc in 1984 .

General

Starting from Stratosfear occupied Force Majeure the further development of the belt to the melodic sound of the 1980s, in contrast to the 1970s, the Berlin school was based on an increased presence of guitars and percussion instruments. Certain musical episodes were already in the tradition of progressive rock .

Origin and style

After Steve Jolliffe left the group, Edgar Froese and Christopher Franke recorded the album Force Majeure in Berlin in the summer of 1978 without him. The album was created in 7 weeks. Klaus Krüger was back on the drums, but left the band after the recordings to work with Iggy Pop in New York. Another guest musician is Eduard Meyer on the cello.

The music is still based on rock with Froese's guitar and Krüger's drums in the foreground, but gradually evolves and ends with the soundscape of a breakneck ride on the London Underground.

The 18-minute introductory title song "Force Majeure" is constantly nomadic, but still infallibly melodic. It is a series of different musical themes that flow seamlessly into one another over bridges. In its enormous range, it covers such different styles as space rock , bombastic arena rock to icy Kraftwerk minimalism and synth pop - without wasting a second.

With "Cloudburst Flight" - opened by an intense guitar solo Edgar Froeses - the album contains one of the best tracks that Tangerine Dream has ever composed. It was used as a theme song for the weather forecast on the Italian TV station RAI.

The final track "Thru Metamorphic Rocks" begins with Krüger's impatient drum sequence, which literally incites Froese's guitar to hurricane-like violence - before after just under 5 minutes a spectacular change of direction sets in and the band then continuously increases the tension until the hypnotic finale. The opening theme sounds like the end of an album, but then drifts into a hypnotic piece that builds up on a permanent background of pulsating synthesizers, processed drum sequences, various sound effects and other keyboards, only to fade out after 14 minutes.

The distortion of the bass sequence was caused by a burnt-out transistor in the mixer . However, the band liked the result and kept the recording.

Revisions and editions

Newly mixed excerpts of the titles "Force Majeure" and "Cloudburst Flight" were used as "Lana" and "Guido The Killer Pimp" in the soundtrack of the film Risky Business . "Thru Metamorphic Rocks" appeared as "Igneous" in the movie Thief . A completely revised version of the album was recorded live in 2003 and later found its way into the album DM 4 as "Meta Morph Magic" .

In 1991 Christopher Franke performed the track "Cloudburst Flight" as part of his solo concert in London.

The CD covers of the UK 1984 and Europe 1995 editions are only slightly different from each other, whereas the 1995 United States edition uses a completely different design.

In 2012 the album was released as part of the CD collection The Virgin Years 1977–1983 with slightly different running times of the individual tracks (total playing time CD 39 minutes 54 seconds, CD collection 40 minutes 18 seconds).

placement

Force Majeure has sold fourth best Tangerine Dream album in the UK. It reached No. 26 and was on the hit list for 7 weeks.

Track list

  • Written by Christopher Franke and Edgar Froese. The German translation of the title in brackets:
  1. Force Majeure ( Act of God ) - 18:17 (18:18 CD, CD collection 18:20)
  2. Cloudburst Flight ( flight through the cloudburst ) - 7:27 (CD 7:21, CD collection 7:28)
  3. Thru Metamorphic Rocks ( By metamorphic rock ) - 14:30 (CD 14:15, CD collection 14:30)

occupation

production

  • produced by Christopher Franke and Edgar Froese
  • Mix by Hansa Studios in Berlin
  • Cover design by Monica Froese
  • Arrangement by Eduard Meyer.

literature

Web links