Search - Tangerine Dream :: Bootleg 2

4.5 Stars; Not as Essential as Vol.1 (But Still Impressive)

Paul Allaer | Cincinnati | 04/24/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"On the heels of last year's excellent Bootleg Box Vol. 1 now comes Vol. 2, continuing to showcase Tangerine Dream's legendary live sets. Vol. 2 (7 CDs, 6hrs 24 min.) documents concerts from 1976 through 1983.By far the best show is Nottingham (11-8-76, 79 min.), picking up a mere 6 months from the last show of Vol. 1, it brings the classic line-up of Froese/Franke/Baumann in perhaps one of their best outings ever. Melodies take their time to build up, and when the deep synths, moogs and mellotrons fire up all cylinders, it's as good as TD has ever/will ever sound. The Washington show (4-11-77, 2 CDs, 109 min.) is also very good musically, but as it's culled from an FM broadcast, it's annoyingly interrupted on several occasions by the radio announcer. The Hamburg show (2-24-78, 52 min.) is the first post-Baumann show, and moreover features the Cyclone-era drummer and flutist/vocalist. I can handle the drums, but I cannot handle the occasional vocals, sorry. The Newcastle show (10-25-81, 2 CDs, 110 min.) is quite good, although by now the experimental live improvisation has left, but instead (with now Schmoelling in the line-up) is now more structured; fragments from "Logos Live" and "Exit" are featured in this set. Finally, the Frankfurt show (6-11-83, 35 min.) starts off as a somber tribute to the deceased German filmmaker Rainer Fassbinder, and then evolves into a preview of what we now know as the "Poland" set, quite nice.In all, this is a most welcome addition and logical sequel to Vol. 1, which will satisfy many Tangerine Dream early-era fans (like myself). This is definitely not for the casual fan. And if I may say so, let the "Bootleg Box" series stop right here, right now: 2 volumes, 10 concerts on 14 CDs, it's been great. Why not quit while you're on top?"

Another great one!

Barry P. Saranchuk | Moosic, PA United States | 05/11/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is following in the footsteps of the first boxed set of live "bootleg" recordings,which was a great thing in itself.Of course this is a set of concerts from slightly later in the T.D. history...but from nowhere near their "lost years".The sound seems a bit better than the first box. I am not sure if it's because the vintage of the recordings is closer to our time,or if more time was spent mastering these shows? It could be a bit of both.One of the shows features a missing era from T.D.! One in which there was a singer included in the band(1978). This show ,for me,is an exciting addition to the set,because the band was playing ferociously and resembled earlier "Kraut-Rock" bands at this time! This show is a wild ride with echoing vocals and flute featured prominantly in the set's two highly charged pieces! A fine show that cites what a radical move this version of Tangerine Dream was. Probably why they only lasted one tour. Maybe the new member was exerting too much "force of direction" for Edgar Froese's liking? I find it a jewel in this set,a new "thrill" for it's difference,if you would.One nice thing in the Box is the lack of audience talk on these recordings. One of the shows in Bootleg Box 1 was a bit marred by talkative fans in the audience. I haven't noticed any of this in this set. Although one funny item is the included intros from various persons at radio stations ,and at some gigs too. The intros are usually spoken by an over-excited fan,and are just fun to hear. (NOTE; One concert which wasn't put in this set,but is one of the limited sets is from Canada in 1976, has whispered station I.D.'s that were very spooky,in a way. See the seperate "BootMoon" series for this great concert.But beware ,because one half of the set is in the wrong sleeve...you have to buy two different sets to get both complete! I am sure more is written elsewhere.)This Cd box has no problems in packaging these sets correctly,though. In the end ,I have to say that if you loved the first Bootleg Box,this is another one you need for your collection! It even betters the first in quality of sound and quality of recordings too.Because of the lack of audience interference.Again,Thanks to Tangerine Dream for caving-in to us rabid fans! I couldn't goad them on any more,they shut down their BBS!But even if they were mad at us ,it was well worth these sets!!!"

Love souffle

Mr. A. Pomeroy | Wiltshire, England | 03/03/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is the second of two Tangerine Dream live box sets sourced from unofficial audience recordings. It presents a series of concerts in chronological order from 1976 to 1983, during which time the group's sound and line-up changed considerably. Out went the science fiction-inspired ambient soundscape band, and in came Hawkwind! But only very briefly, because the group then adopted a modern, early-80s digital synthesiser style that was perfect for television and film soundtracks, but which has now dated very badly. As far as I am concerned the band had one final moment of greatness in 1984, with their live Poland concert, but after that they lost whatever they had and have not regained it, or anything approaching it, since then. The band seems to realise this, and they have put out a lot of archive releases.



Overall, the sound quality is solid, although this is a bit deceptive - the music on the first bootleg box was dense and swirling, and so the occasionally poor recording was unnoticeable, whereas the clean and precise sound of Tangerine Dream's music from this period highlights any tape imperfections. It blights the 1977 concert in particular, which is a shame because the music is very good.



I was moved to write this review after listening to the 1976 Nottingham concert on disc one, which is the highlight of the box. At 11:50 into the third track, the guitarist starts to play "A Hard Day's Night" by The Beatles. As a whole the 1976 concert is entertaining and diverse. It has fast bits and slow bits, and it sounds tighter and slicker than the material on the first bootleg collection. The sound quality is good, although not perfect, but it has a real live sound on account of the venue's echoey acoustics.



Concert two is a radio broadcast from George Washington University in 1977. What a great university it must have been, in 1977, to book Tangerine Dream. The music is generally very good, a bit moodier and lower-key than before, but unfortunately the tape recording is simultaneously muffled and piercing, it sounds as if the music is coming down a telephone line. "Monolith" has some storming rock guitar, and "Drywater Rush" starts off with some quality string synth - it also has the typical Tangerine Dream bouncy sequence, sounding almost TB 303-like at times. But the overall sound quality hurts my ears. The concert is further marred by the announcers, who interrupt a few times. They also interview Chris Franke, who seems a chipper bloke, if a bit quiet.



The Hamburg 1978 concert is an odd one. The band's line-up had shifted to include a conventional rock drummer and a vocalist / multi-instrumentalist, and this concert has real live drums, and some shouting. Overall it sounds like fairly conventional - and very loud - progressive synth-rock, e.g. Hawkwind. Conceptually there's nothing wrong with that, and the band is very very loud, but the first segment is twenty-three minutes long and goes nowhere. This is true of most Tangerine Dream live performances of the period, but the concert's conventional rock framework makes the lack of change much more obvious. The track speeds up thereafter but it still seems like a lengthier, louder version of Hawkwind without the same kind of energy or invention. I imagine it would have sounded fantastic if you had been there, and on drugs. Track two is a psychedelic rock freakout; it's very enjoyable in that respect, and it's a little glimpse of what Tangerine Dream might possibly have become in the 1980s, e.g. a dated throwback to the late 1960s. Instead, Tangerine Dream decided to embrace modernism, and synth-pop, and one-finger synth melodies. The problem is that this increasingly put them up against Cabaret Voltaire and DAF and New Order and Skinny Puppy and Ministry and Orbital and Meat Beat Manifesto and Godspeed You Black Emperor etc etc, who could match them sonically and had more and fresher ideas. By the late 1980s Tangerine Dream was a total outdated relic with a rich past and no future.



The 1981 and 1983 concerts have a more modern, glassy, digital sound that sounds very dated nowadays. The 1983 concert overlaps with their 1982 live album Logos, which I own, but have not listened to for ages; I enjoyed Logos, but it is uncomfortably close to incidental television music of the 1980s on account of the weedy drums and simplistic one-finger melodies and dull vamping. The 1983 concert often sounds like demo music from an early-90s digital workstation synthesiser, and large bits of it consists of the band jamming over two chords, which is silly, because Tangerine Dream didn't have the chops to do jazz. The one part I recognise from Logos was also on the soundtrack of the horror film The Keep, but the version on Logos has better sound quality, and the music sounds identical. I greatly prefer the band's 1984 live Poland concert, which is much slicker and more atmospheric in comparison.



On the other hand, I like the 1981 concert. It manages to use the 80s-sounding digital synthesisers in a more tasteful way. It's hypnotic and futuristic. I particularly liked the opening bit of the "Digital Times Suite", which is dramatic and clever. The song cycles through the same four chords over and over again, but it doesn't become boring. It could easily be the bedrock of a modern hip-hop track. The sound quality is very good too. The second half of the concert is basically electro-pop, slightly embarrassing but not awful, although it's not a patch on Kraftwerk's "Computer World". I was particularly displeased with "Bondy Parade", which has a terrible name, and sounds like the kind of library music that might play over a staff training video. The second disc keeps making me think of the music from Knight Rider, but without any trace of the funk.



Overall I liked the 1976 concert and the 1981 concerts best. The 1976 concert is improvisational but slick at the same time, whereas the 1981 concert is a good example of how Tangerine Dream managed to successfully kamikaze themselves into the 1980s. The 1977 concert is ruined by poor recording quality and also the irritating announcers (to be fair, you can programme them out) and the 1978 concert sounds like an odd fusion of Tangerine Dream and a late-60s psychedelic rock freakout band. It'll be interesting to see if the band comes out with a third box set. As I have said a couple of times already, the band still had something left to give in 1984, and perhaps they kept an edge playing live for a few years after that, I know not."