Electronic Meditation | ||||
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![]() 1970 LP album cover | ||||
Studio album by | ||||
Released | June 1970 | |||
Recorded | October 1969 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 36:37 | |||
Label | Ohr | |||
Producer | Tangerine Dream | |||
Tangerine Dream chronology | ||||
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Electronic Meditation is the debut album by German electronic music group Tangerine Dream. It was released in June 1970 by record label Ohr.
The album was recorded in a rented factory in Berlin in October 1969, using just a two-track Revox tape recorder. [3]
Electronic Meditation is the only Tangerine Dream album to feature the line-up of Edgar Froese, Klaus Schulze and Conrad Schnitzler. Two other musicians, organist Jimmy Jackson and flautist Thomas Keyserling, also performed on the album although they were uncredited in the original release. [4]
Its style is a unique form of free jazz, electronic art music, and instrumental rock; or as Sound on Sound magazine described it, "free electronic rock". [3] Its instrumentation ranges from conventional instruments such as the guitar, organ, drums, and cello to various custom-made electronic devices implemented by Edgar Froese and found sounds such as broken glass, burning parchment, and dried peas being shaken in a sieve. The backwards vocals at the end of side B are of Edgar Froese reading from the back of a ferry ticket from Dover to Calais. [3]
The first five albums released by Ohr Records, including Electronic Meditation, featured sleeves by Reinhard Hippen, all with dismembered baby doll parts as a central aspect of the imagery. The original LP had a balloon inserted in the cover; the 2004 Japan CD release is a copy of the original LP cover and includes the balloon. [4]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Classic Rock | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Pitchfork | 7.6/10 [1] |
In its retrospective review, AllMusic wrote: "The album is not without its flaws, but it's strong in many ways and shows abundant promise". [2] Stephen Dalton in his review for Classic Rock described the album as "more an historically interesting cult curio than essential Krautrock milestone", reminding however that "from sketchy but seminal basement tapes like these, an entire cosmos of sound was mapped." [5]
All tracks are written by Edgar Froese, Klaus Schulze and Conrad Schnitzler.
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Genesis" | 5:57 |
2. | "Journey Through a Burning Brain" | 12:26 |
No. | Title | Length |
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3. | "Cold Smoke" | 10:38 |
4. | "Ashes to Ashes" | 4:06 |
5. | "Resurrection" | 3:27 |
Tangerine Dream are a German electronic music band founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The group has seen many personnel changes over the years, with Froese the only constant member until his death in January 2015. The best-known lineup of the group was its mid-1970s trio of Froese, Christopher Franke, and Peter Baumann. In 1979, Johannes Schmoelling replaced Baumann. Since Froese's death in 2015, the group has been under the leadership of Thorsten Quaeschning. He was joined by violinist Hoshiko Yamane in 2011, Ulrich Schnauss in 2014 and Paul Frick in 2020.
Klaus Schulze was a German electronic music pioneer, composer and musician. He also used the alias Richard Wahnfried and was a member of the Krautrock bands Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel, and The Cosmic Jokers before launching a solo career consisting of more than 60 albums released across six decades.
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