ant wrote:Maybe you just have it in your mind that without Edgar whatever you hear is not going to be TD.
That's what it sounds like to me.
Well, to be honest, even when Edgar was still there for the last three years, he let many things slip through his fingers and gave Thorsten a lot of liberty. Something that maybe he hadn't done with any other bandmate he ever worked with. Why? Because he was obviously tired but he didn't want to rest at all. He just wanted to continue releasing a lot of stuff every time he could, so maybe this cupdisc would've almost been the same even if Edgar was still around... But only "almost"...
Now, I'm not saying Thorsten or any of the other musicians are untalented. I've loved them in all the other releases, especially Thorsten, who was behind many of my all-time favorite releases from the recent decades, but without Edgar there to refine things and without him giving the compositions the last touch, everything just sounds like an attempt to emulate something that isn't. Like a TD wanna-be. Because, let's face it, compared to Edgar, these guys are still in diapers. Even some things from the last 3 years or so that I didn't get into like The Castle, Josephine or Sorcerer '14 CD number 2 still had that classic TD vibe to it that made them grow on you. Hell, even Mala Kunia. Why? Because that was all Edgar froese (I believe the last good thing he released was Chandra II). But Quantum Key just falls flat, and I honestly expect the same for Quantum Gate. I listened to the preview for QK and it was good, and even then I knew what I was going to get into. Then I gave it a spin and then many other ones and it's not bad..., but for it to be carrying the name Tangerine Dream, it's certainly nothing special. Frankly, these guys do not deserve such a name. Maybe they can form another band with a different name and continue with their own projects and maybe they'll get better on their own eventually..., but this ain't no Tangerine Dream anymore. Some magic, the magic that gave it all the final essence, is lost, and I fear that quite possibly forever.
So yeah, maybe what you say is true, but even if that was the case, I have 40+ years of music with Edgar always being the mastermind behind it all to back me up, isn't that right?