Poland: The Warsaw Concert

by

Tangerine Dream

Edit

Tangerine Dream's "Poland" is an album I can listen to repeatedly; it truly is a classic slice of early Tangerine Dream. I've been listening to Tangerine Dream since the initial release of Phaedra in the UK - I'm a Brit you know! - and have followed them ever since, managing to see almost every gig they played in London over the years, from the early 70's, and all the way into the 90's. My favorite TD albums are, in no particular order; Phaedra, Ricochet, Rubycon, Poland, Encore, Pergamon, Force Majeure, Logos, Stratosfear, 220 Volt Live, and Underwater Sunlight. I also like Edgar Froese's Epsilon in Malaysian Pale, and Aqua, plus Chris Franke's London Concert.

Poland, for me, harks back to the Glory Years of Tangerine Dream... 3 guys hidden behind banks of analogue electronica, indicator lights blinking away in the darkness, cables all over the place; the 3 of them taking the listener on an aural journey through strange and beautiful alien soundscapes. While many of the much-maligned later albums function as `background' music at best, Poland is music to actively "listen" to, to immerse and lose oneself in completely.

The first 11-minutes or so of the album are simply breathtaking - the best they've ever committed to a recording? - and you wonder how they can possibly follow it... rather like Pink Floyd crashing a plane onto the stage at the end of the first track during "The Wall" gig! But don't worry, they do, and in spectacular fashion! Each of the four tracks is a gem, sonic 22 carat gold, and for me, their greatest live recording since Ricochet, especially considering the arctic conditions under which the concert, and the recording itself, took place.

This is without doubt, a beautiful recording of a live event that I only wish I could have attended, and would recommend it unreservedly to anyone wanting to experience the classic, "live," Tangerine Dream sound, along with Ricochet, Pergamon, and Encore!

One of the many criticisms I read in various reviews of TD music is the change of direction the music took, especially with the leaving of Baumann and Franke. Much of the criticism is vicious, and aimed squarely at the head of Edgar Froese. As I said earlier in this review, I consider much of the later material to be `background' music at best, banal and derivative, a far cry from the "classics" I personally love. But let's put all this into perspective; Edgar Froese has been creating music for over 30 YEARS(!), and yes, maybe some of what's been released should never have seen the light of day... Ambient Monkeys anyone?!

Putting aside completely pointless arguments about who was the creative genius in the band, without Froese there wouldn't have BEEN a Tangerine Dream, without Froese we wouldn't HAVE Phaedra, Ricochet, Rubycon, Encore, Pergamon, Poland, Force Majeure etc to enjoy and to cherish! Some of us love the "classics," some the later works, very few of us like everything, but guess what, in over three decades of music making, Froese has, almost literally, created something for everyone!!!

Another criticism - though highly relevant this time - is that in this age of digital technology, we have to put up with the clumsy editing of 20+ years ago, when continuous recordings had to be broken up into "sides" because of the limitations of the vinyl medium. This, I think, is most noticeable on Poland itself, although the break in Pergamon is also jarring, and spoils the flow of the music.

Well, if you have a PC, a CD Ripper, and some good quality digital sound editing software, you can now "bridge the gap," so to speak! I have the `complete' 2 CD edition of Poland, but was always dissatisfied with the breaks in the tracks, and of not being able to enjoy the "show" as one continuous piece. The solution was simple; I `ripped' the tracks into my PC, then edited them together, via a 20 second or so cross-fade from track to track. I then burnt the resulting `single' track onto an 80-minute CD. The results of this are that I can now enjoy Poland as a continuous, 79+ minute, coherent performance.

I wasn't at the Poland concert, so I don't know if the 4 tracks were played continuously by the band, they probably weren't, so I took a further liberty, and - shock, horror! - rearranged the running order! "My" version of Poland now plays as, Poland, Tangent part 1, Barbakane, Horizon, and Tangent part 2, which is so obviously an encore piece that it works perfectly in this arrangement.

I'm sure that any purist reading this is reaching for the smelling salts and looking for a comfy chair to fall into, but as a listening experience, this edit beats the hell out of 4 separate tracks with a change of disc half way through! Remembering those magical, heady concerts from the 70's and early 80's, I can close my eyes, and almost believe I'm there!!!

For those that may be interested, I divided the album into "tracks" or movements, based on how the music flows and on a twelve inch single Tangerine Dream released at the same time as this album. This is by no means definitive and is something I did for personal reasons and I'm certain people could hear different movements very easily. This is simply my opinion.

1. Introduction- :39

2. Poland (part 1)- 10:57

3. Poland (part 2)- 10:59

4. Tangent (part 1)- 3:50

5. Tangent (part 2)- 6:08

6. Polish Dance- 5:52 (with applause)

7. Rare Bird- 4:01 (with applause)

8. Barbakane- 9:10

9. Warsaw in the Sun (part 1)- 4:53

10. Warsaw in the Sun (part 2)- 3:51

11. Horizon (part 1)- 4:50

12. Horizon (part 2)- 4:57

13. Horizon (part 3)- 4:23

14. Horizon (part 4)- 6:59 (with applause)

This is one of those Tangerine Dream albums that I keep going back to mainly for that first 11 minutes. Each time I am amazed at just how incredibly entrancing that section of the album is, but then the remaining 11 minutes of Poland's title track just get very tedious. It's not until Polish Dance starts that the album gets interesting again. It also seems like these two parts, Polish Dance and Rare Bird are the encores of this concert rather than in the middle, but I wasn't there so I have no way of confirming this.

It was noted by another reviewer that a version of Choronzon can be heard on the second disc, and this is one of the highlights of the album as well. But it's not until the last 7 minutes that the album takes on a new life with the hard driving pulses in the fourth part of Horizon.

This is an album loved by most TD fans, and I'm in the same boat with them. If only judged by how often I return to this album compared to say "Melrose" or "Turn of the Tides" or even "220 Volt," I'd have to give it 4 stars, but the over all quality of the album is simply 3 stars. Tangerine Dream has fared better, and although it is a "live" album, I'm certain much overdubbing was done to make it sound as good as it does. The two disc version is a definite must for any serious Tangerine Dream fan.