Artist:Tangerine Dream
Tracklist:
- No Man's Land
- Hyperborea
- Cinnamon Road
- Sphinx Lightning
Total Time: 41:45
By the time "Hyperborea" came along in 1983, the TD line-up of Froese, Franke and Schmoelling was well established and was churning out high quality, original composition for film scores, live performances and the annual studio releases. "No Man's Land" has an Eastern flavour, synthetic sitar and toms working well together and slowly building to quite an intense ending (with the aforementioned orchestra stabs). This is the most radical track on the album, and the trick of taking an ethnic theme (in this case Indian) and synthesizing it was used later on the "Poland" album, with the Polish polka of "Tangents". The title track is treading on "Cloudburst Flight" (from "Force Majeure") territory, and while the atmospheric theme works beautifully, the track is somewhat spoilt by the uninspired drum track. (Well, I did say it was almost flawless)! "Cinnamon Road" is one of those 4 minuters that you get the feeling Johannes Schmoelling can knock out all day; catchy tune, strong voicings; one for the live encore! The track that dominates the album, however, is the awesome "Sphinx Lightning". The opening chords are immensely powerful, this is the track that clearly inspired much of the "Poland" performance, with sounds and sequences from this track popping up all over the place on that album. From the dramatic opening we have one of the great sequences... ever! Similar in style to "Mojave Plan" from "White Eagle", but with strange vocoded voices lilting across the surface. Ten minutes through and the composition breaks down to a single melancholy sitar and introspective pad before the rhythm begins to resurface. Fans of Froese's solo work will recognise the opening sequence of "Pinnacles" in those watery droplets...
