CD 2: The Klangwaldt Performance - Cologne November 1972
Klangwald - Part One 37:23
Klangwald - Part Two 40:41
New remastered version. With the complete Cologe Klangwald concert from 1972 released for the first time. Zeit (that's German for "time"), the third album by Tangerine Dream, is an example of early electronic ambient music. As such I think it's difficult to have a strong feeling about it either way, although there are apparently some people who consider it a masterwork and some who really hate it. In any event, it's an album that challenges one's conception of what music is and what function music is supposed to fulfill.
Like most of the early Tangerine Dream albums, Zeit plays like the soundtrack to cosmic occurrences. The goings-on here, however, are happening really slow. If parts of Alpha Centauri reminded me of a journey through the stars, Zeit plays like the formation of one of those stars.
Each of the four tracks are similar, though the first one, "Birth of Liquid Plejades", not only has the coolest name but also has interesting enough music that it merits my full attention whenever I put it on. In addition to the electric keyboards, Zeit was recorded with a cello quartet and the cellos are put to excellent use right away: "Liquid Plejades" begins as a sustained drone of cellos with minimal background electronic effects. After about seven minutes, the cellos are enveloped completely by a synthesizer and organ which then slowly wind along for another 13 minutes. The control of the tension throughout is superb.
I think that the rest of the album doesn't reward focused listening (while sober, anyway) as much as "Liquid Plejades", but I don't think that was the purpose of the recording. The remaining three pieces are like sonic paintings, except that you have to "look" at them a certain amount of time before they're over. Sometimes the musical events happen so slowly that a normal ear (an ear trained to absorb musical events that occur over shorter durations) will have to make an in-flight adjustment. Sometimes there are just tuneless sounds and pulses.
Chris Franke - VCS 3 synthesizer, cymbals, keyboard
Edgar Froese - gliss guitar, generator
Peter Baumann - VCS 3 synthesizer, organ, vibraphone
Guests:
Steve Schroyder - organ
Florian Fricke (Popol Vuh) - Moog synthesizer on track 1
Christian Vallbracht - cello
Jochen von Grumbcow - cello
Hans Joachim Brüne - cello
Johannes Lücke - cello
