Tangerine Dream - Zeit (4 tracks) +Album Reviews

In the interest of full disclosure

06/14/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The review credited to Kim Fletcher for this album was copied word for word from the liner notes for the Sanctuary reissue of "Zeit," written by Paul Russell. Otherwise known as plagarism.
Good album, though."

Zeit: A Masterwork of Experimental Music.

Louie Bourland | Garden Grove CA | 04/05/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"German synthesizer pioneers Tangerine Dream reached the height of their early experimentation with their third studio album, 1972's "Zeit" (the German word for "Time"). This album marked the debut of the band line-up consisting of TD-founder Edgar Froese, Christopher Franke and Peter Baumann - the line-up which would go on to make some of the most influential music under the TD-band name over the next several years.
Unlike the psychedelic acid rock of their first two albums, "Zeit" takes on a different direction entirely. The album was conceived as a 'Largo in Four Movements' with each track taking up an entire side on the original double-LP. The music is completely void of rhythm and displays a dark layered textured sound. Synth pioneer Brian Eno would later coin this type of music as 'Ambient music'.
In addition to the band line-up of Froese, Franke and Baumann, the band employs several guest musicians on "Zeit" including former TD-member Steve Schroyder on organ, the late Florian Fricke of the experimental band Popol Vuh on the Moog synthesizer and a cello quartet consisting of Hans-Joachim Brune, Johannes Lucke, Christian Vallbracht and Jochen Vom Grumbcow. The band itself begins to add more keyboard dominance to its sound as demonstrated by the use of primitive VCS3 synthesizers (used here with outstanding results by Franke and Baumann), audio generators (handled by Froese) as well as the usual electronic organ.
The entire "Zeit" journey begins with the strangely-titled "Birth Of Liquid Plejades". This 20-minute piece is divided into three distinct sections. The opening section is domintated by the four cellists droning around a stationary A-minor chord. The eeriness of the cellos is further enchanced as the synthesizers begin to drift around the same chord. After the chilling cello section begins to fade out, a quiet organ passage peers in along with a Moog synth-lead from guest Florian Fricke. There is a certain calmness and peacefulness to this section which is a sharp contrast to the chaotic opening part. This is followed by a more dominant cathedral-sounding organ which takes the piece to its final fade-out.
The second piece "Nebulous Dawn" is an 18-minute track which is highly experimental and atonal. It begins with a series of dark grunting notes and shimmering vibraphones. The piece then shifts to rumbling wall-shaking tones along with random glass-like notes. The final half of the piece is dominated by siren-like noises and wigged-out spacey electronics which carry the piece the rest of the way. An extremely weird track indeed.
"Origin of Supernatural Probabilities" is another experimental piece that has slighter hint of melody to it as opposed to the previous track. Edgar Froese's guitar opens this piece with some quiet almost inaudible chords. This is followed by a choir of howling voices that sound like they were either created by synths or a slide guitar. This leads into a low-throbbing synth pulse accompanied by a droning cello and various outer-space noises and sounds. Several minutes later, the pulse synth exits the mix and the ghost-tones return along with whining shreiking background noises. Edgar's guitar intro returns briefly to bring this drone-fest full circle and to its logical conclusion.
The album closes with the 17-minute title track which is probably the most etherial track on the entire album. The entire piece consists of haunting wailing notes with dark forboding synth sounds. There is a brief passage of vibraphones from "Nebulous Dawn" heard towards the end of the piece as well as what sounds like a mistake played from Edgar's guitar (heard clearly at around 14-minutes into the track). The piece ends with the same passage of ghostly choir sounds that dominated the previous track. This brings the entire album to a close.
Since it's initial release in Germany in 1972, "Zeit" has gone onto become a classic of Tangerine Dream's early work. Although, it was not so well received when it was first released, it is now embraced with open arms by many musicians and critics alike. Many later electronic musicians such as Steve Roach, Robert Rich, the French band Lightwave as well as the aforementioned Brian Eno would go on to make music with the same asthetic as "Zeit". Edgar Froese and friends should be well applauded for their pioneering work on this album. What raised many eyebrows in 1972 is now well accepted over 30 years later.
"Zeit" is a timeless piece of art that can be listened to and studied over and over again and still have undiscovered elements emerge from the speakers. A Highly Recommended Masterpiece."

Totally spellbinding

Steve Benner | Lancaster, UK | 01/27/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Zeit" was only Tangerine Dream's third album release and a more courageous popular music release would be difficult to imagine. I mean, what group nowadays would be likely to use an instrumental line-up of four cellos, organ, vibraphone and gliss guitar for its opening number? Or dare attempt a work of almost 80 minutes duration with not a single drumbeat, tune or melody, or even variation in pace from the deathly slow? Yes, here you have it: the ultimate forerunner to Dark Ambient! "Zeit" dates from 1972, but for many, this music remains completely outside of time and stands forever timeless (German speakers will note the pun!) [Ohr's faith in Tangerine Dream must have been enormous, given that this was a double album when released on black vinyl! I remember my (imported) copy, bought in my student days, cost almost a whole term's rent!] Subtitled "largo in four movements", "Zeit" is, in fact, a single, large-scale work, intended to be experienced at one sitting and I would encourage you to play it this way. The pace is, as the title suggests, unremittingly slow. And the volume level is never high (indeed, there are times when it descends to levels barely audible). You can expect no excitement here. And yet, this music is never boring. From the moment the cellos begin their long drawn out groans, until the music's final dying gasp, the slow unfolding of magical musical ideas is always completely captivating and absolutely spell-binding with the power to hold one's attention throughout the whole 76 minutes of this double album. And although the disc's analogue origins are noticeable at times, they are never intrusive. As I have already suggested, the sound world of "Zeit" is completely unlike any popular music release either before or since (not strictly true: there were a couple of German groups attempted to emulate the style shortly afterwards, but not with any degree of success) and it remains hard to categorise even now, but then one thing that this music opens to the mind to just how pointless it is to try! The movements' titles (and the cover's paintings) indicate a spacey theme to the music, suggested, I suppose, by the tranquil and meditative nature of the playing and also by the futuristic glissando tones that feature throughout, and gurglings and bubblings of early synth oscillator circuits (beautifully used). Ironically, anyone looking for similar material would do well to try the visionary organ works of Olivier Messiaen, or the works of the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, both of whom will be filed away under the Classical music heading here on Amazon.com.Whatever your normal musical tastes, I urge you to try this disc, as it is a thing of rare beauty. But beware: it may alter your whole life..."

Ultimate Cosmic Music

N. Jacobs | Fish Creek, Wi USA | 07/02/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"One reviewer said that this album is like a black hole that sucks you in, and I can say that I completely agree with that...
I'm most fond of TD's albums Phaedra, Rubycon, and Ricochet, so this album took a little more getting used to. First of all, it's a LOT darker than anything else that I've heard from them. The second track features throbbing organs, and in the middle of it, some weird gurgling sound that freaked me out the first time that I was listening to it. (Well, I do have to admit, it was in my bedroom, late at night with only a red light shining, so the creepiness factor was at a definate high.) Secondly, Zeit is much slower than anything else that they've done. I'd compare it to giant planets moving about in the cosmos, slowly rotating and floating. Finally, this is without a doubt the most uncommercial thing that these guys have ever done. If you're not in the appropriate frame of mind for listening to this album (you've got to be sitting down, relaxed and patient), you're going to miss out big time and not enjoy it at all. If, however, you let the album take you over and pull you into its dark cosmic glory, it will take you on a journey of outer space. I'm serious! This album has a really specific flow, and even each song blends into the one before it. Really cool stuff, but be forewarned that you might not be able to look at music the same way after getting into this album..."

The Birth of Liquid Music . . .

C. Hamilton | Charleston, SC | 01/03/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Zeit is one of those albums that always seems to provoke a fierce reaction from its listeners. On this, their third album, Tangerine Dream managed to produce something that was totally unique, never really heard before or since. To some, this album is a masterpiece of minimalism, a deeply moving album that requires nothing less than the total attention and patience of whoever dares to put it in the stereo. To others, it is simply a horrendously long album in which "nothing ever happens." To be fair, both of these assessments are truthful, to one degree or another. Zeit is considered by many to be one of the quintessential pieces of ambient music, taking what was as the time a burgeoning form of musical expression and showing just to what extremes it could be stretched. At the same time, true to the ideals of ambient, nothing much ever really happens. Ever. This is one of those albums designed to blend into its surroundings, not filling up space, so much as just being. What is important to remember, though, is that the action of this music is not what makes it a timeless work. Rather, it's the lack of action, and the reaction of the audience that make Zeit stand apart from the rest.

"Timeless" is very much an apt word to describe Zeit, for "Zeit" is the German word meaning "time." It's been said before "Time" is also accurate because this album takes up so much of it. The four songs span a full 80 minutes, and while that is not the most lengthy album ever recorded, 80 minutes of Zeit can well feel like 160 minutes of anything else. The subtitle to this album is Largo in Four Movements. Those with a musical knowledge will know that "Largo" is a music term meaning "slow." A more accurate description has never been spoken. In these four movements, "slow" is without a doubt the most accurate description possible. For eighty minutes, there is virtually no rhythm, melody, clang, whack, hit, thud, beat, or structure of any kind. Zeit moves like a river of molasses, a liquid blob of sounds that ever so slowly ooze together to form more or less an amorphous whole.

Take the first song, "Birth of Liquid Pleiades." This twenty-minute piece is basically comprised of three main sections, all of which are equally slow and plodding. It starts out with a string quartet fading in on a long, low drone note. This fade-in itself takes a good bit of time, and all the while the instruments rarely change pitch. The music gets louder and more intense, the vibrations of the differing strings sending deep waves through your whole body. The strings eventually are replaced with keyboards, and the tone of this one note progressively becomes weirder and more synthesized. The note finally begins to fade until we can hear almost nothing. A soft, muffled organ can be heard in the background, playing low-pitched chords. The organ slowly - always slowly - begins to fill the silence. This beautiful section is equally slow, but much less intense. Instead, it is mainly comprised of the organ, muted and subdued, playing a handful of closely positioned chords, the transition between these chords itself being very minimal and without action. We are soon treated to another droning note, this time a high-pitched one, and for the next long space of time we have just this one note being played over the soft organ. Occasionally, the one note jumps for a second - not a note change, but a musical hiccup that soon settles back to the original note. Imagine a heart monitor reading an incredibly slow and erratic pulse. The last bit is made up of yet another organ playing even more chords. These chords are slightly more involved, and the organ this time has a much brighter, tinny sound to it. As the organ cycles through its chords, it begins to pulse, fading in and out in probably one of the few examples of anything even remotely approaching a rhythm. This eventually fades to quiet.

While this may sound incredibly uninvolved, it is by no means boring or simple. The mood created here - and of course this piece is all about mood - is one of deep submersion, like listening to music far below the surface of the ocean. Imagine low-pitched whale songs vibrating through your body. Imagine echoes under the water, your ears hearing the sounds but never being able to focus directly on them. The noise surrounds you like water itself, immersing you in that river of molasses and forcing you to change your own shape to match the music.

Zeit remains as one of the pinnacles of ambient music. The subtle movements (and outright intensity of some of the sections) provide a different kind of power that most music today never seems to reach. It's a power not of noise and speed but of ideas and voiceless emotions. Keep in mind this slowness was intentional, and it's not on purpose that Zeit comes across as eighty minutes of nothing. When you can finally work yourself up to listening to all of this in one sitting - the way Zeit was meant to be experienced - you can be assured of being taken on a journey to a landscape you could never have imagined before."

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	Tangerine Dream Zeit Genres: Dance & Electronic, New Age, Pop, Rock Track Listings (4) - Disc #1 BIRTH OF LIQUID PLEJADES NEBULOUS DAWN ORIGIN OF SUPERNATURAL PROBABILITIES ZEIT
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