TANGERINE DREAM
Pilots Of Purple Twilight – The Virgin Recordings 1980-1983 VIRGIN/UMC
Electronic pioneers’ early 80s era gets the box set it deserves.
Tangerine Dream might always be best known for the run of mind-blowing albums they recorded in the 1970s, but as amply demonstrated on this sumptuous box set – which includes remasters of Tangram, Thief, Exit, White Eagle, Logos – Live and Hyperborea, plus discs of rare and unreleased material and a hardback book – they remained one of the world’s most innovative bands well into the 1980s. While in many ways tonally distinct from their earlier material, the music the Tangs made during this period still pushes the boundaries of technology, particularly in the areas of sequencing and sampling, but also introduces an enhanced melodicism thanks to the addition of classically trained pianist Johannes Schmoelling.