"...it came out in February by a band from Germany called Tangerine Dream, the album is called Phaedra, and no doubt if you've been listening to Mr Peel’s radio programmes lately you'll have already heard some music from it. It's their 5th album, first to be released in this country and having already said that it is fascinating music it also seems to me to be very arbitrary in terms of the way it's put together. Given that the band do have the technical knowledge to set their controls to the heart of the sun, I just can't get rid of the feeling that the machines play themselves. Compared to the imagination and discipline of say to people like the Floyd, I just don't find it that impressive, this particular track though is perhaps the most interesting on the album, so see what you think, Tangerine Dream from the album Phaedra and Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares..."
(Whispering) Bob Harris. The Old Grey Whistle Test, 1974
bigmoog wrote:'imagination and discipline' is an excellent description of the musical output TD* generated in the 70's
*thats EF, CF, PB and their highly trained electronic equipment that could play by themselves(once plugged in switched on......tuned......)
Dear old bob.....he speaketh truth but also cobblers
I've been a bit cheeky and emailed him to ask if he still agrees with this
re the 'machines play themselves bit' I think that's just an attitude of the time....Queen were sensitive to it and had to put 'No Synths were used on this album', not out of an anti-technology stand point, but just to distance themselves from the 'if it's synths, its easy to do' ethos. I think that most of us know (especially if we actually compose music) that the synths do nothing without the man or woman on the other end of them. Obviously on Phaedra the only bit that can be open to the claim 'the machines are playing themselves' is the Moog sequencer, but that makes up so little of what you can hear that the argument is fatuous IMHO
one has to remember as well, the almost angry reaction to anything that stopped 'real' musicians performing 'real' music....although Bob certainly didnt moan when for example brian eno and roxy music played on moog synthesiser equipment etc etc etc
but of course the point is : its not the technology, its the music
but of course part two: any one could switch on a sequencer....any one, but it wouldnt sound like TD
one has to remember as well, the almost angry reaction to anything that stopped 'real' musicians performing 'real' music....although Bob certainly didnt moan when for example brian eno and roxy music played on moog synthesiser equipment etc etc etc
but of course the point is : its not the technology, its the music
but of course part two: any one could switch on a sequencer....any one, but it wouldnt sound like TD
I think the point was....without the manual you might not even know which unit the sequencer was
Ah the Musicians Union and their nice up-to-date mindset...great blokes!