Search - Tangerine Dream :: Rockoon Special Edition

The birth of a monster

01/18/2002

(2 out of 5 stars)

"In 1991 Edgar Froese trumpeted that the band is going to significantly change its musical direction. What we didn't know at the time was that Tangerine Dream shrunk to father and son (Jerome). "Rockoon", recorded and published in 1992, was the first album conceived by the family powers, and abstracting for a while from the impressions I had at the time, I must say that from the 10-year perspective, one cay strongly claim that Tangerine Dream died in 1991 as an ensemble we knew. As a founder of the band, Edgar Froese had rights to the brand name, and thus when in 1991 he effectively set up a new band, of a completely different musical orientation, he preserved the name. This fact appeared unforgivable to millions of the band's followers all over the world. The audience shrunk considerably, and if we buy Froese's new records, it's because of that enormous sentiment we have for the old days of glory. As is widely known, the release of Rockoon caused the band's fan club to dismember. Now, if the compositional condition of performers simply worsened, this wouldn't have happened. We lost the heart and the trust we had in Edgar Froese because setting up a new band, he glued the noble name to it. That's a grave sin, Edgar, although you might feel entitled to do with Tangerine Dream what you wanted. A definition of property implies that the owner is free to destroy his property. Indeed."Rockoon" is a hopeless trial to enter the world of modern music, guitar-driven, percussive rock that is only augmented with electronica. It might have been good, but it just isn't, what can I say. It includes a large number of completely forgettable, boring muzak: 'Touchwood', 'Lifted Veil', 'Penguin Reference', 'Body Corporate', 'Rockoon', 'Girls on Broadway' and 'Spanish Love'. Out of one hour of music, only four tracks escape the abysmal quality of the rest. Although boring, repetitive and unimaginative as well, 'Big City Dwarves', 'Red Roaster' and 'Graffiti Street' at least show a minimal effort to produce something new. The only good track on "Rockoon" is 'Funky Atlanta', a very dynamic cheerful tune, which might serve well as a number in a Seattle discotheque. Don't buy this album, or any album released afterwards, if you are a newcomer to Tangerine Dream world of music, and if you like the older albums. With so many records this band produced, you will be happy with about 40 albums recorded before. Don't waste your ears on this."

The best 90's TD CD... whatever others say....

Vinicio Valencia | MIAMI, FLORIDA United States | 11/18/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sometimes people just don't simply understand music bands evolves the same way life, technology and other things. Someone is saying, 'why waist your money on this CD if this band has produced about 40 previous records?'... Tell me something, why people like modern music instead of some hundred years of classical mussic? simply, because everything evolves and we can't force our brains to like something that appears to be 'aged out', even if this was 'art' or 'glory' some year before...
TD didn't make any mistake producing Rockoon. They evolved their style and actually you can find this album was one of their finest production. Listen to Optical Race and Lily on the Beach and Melrose. These four albums including Rockoon have a very similar style, but I really like this album and it is the best in it's class.
Of course, new times are coming, so they can give us new inspiration with their brilliant music."

I've heard worse, but...

CMOS | US | 11/27/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"...in Tangerine Dream's case, this is not a commendable effort in my opinion. They went for a new sound with this CD - more of a pop approach rather than sticking with the style that made them so successful. To be honest, this CD really lacks the character that TD's better works possess. The best way I can describe it is to say that it sounds like a bunch of theme songs from bad 80's drama shows. No, I'm not kidding."