Editorial Reviews Music Review:
Music Review
The Static Vs The Strings Vol. 1
This Used To Be My Playground [CD-single] [Import]
Undeniably [Enhanced] [Original recording remastered] [Import]
The Very Best of the Smiths [Import] [Original recording remastered]
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Amazon.com
A schizophrenic, electro-prog hybrid, Tangerine Dream's Dream Mixes IV makes for an enigmatic addition to the band's massive catalog. Edgar Froese's near-40 years' worth of recordings have produced Terry Riley-esque minimalism, twisted space pop, light trance, kraut rock...all with wildly varying degrees of success. DM4 is closely aligned with the feather-light 80s-era soundtrack music his band is perhaps best-known for, even opening with a voice sample from the not-so-classic 1985 thriller Gotcha. But Froese wanders freely, from the slight jungle undertones of "Messenger" to the progressive "Perplex Parts." This being a mix record, Froese borrows from the past for songs like "Floating Higher," which recycles a riff from 1983's Risky Business. So much gets thrown at the wall, some of it has to stick; unfortunately, songs like "World of the Day," which starts with a promising ambience only to degenerate into new age sludge, slide right off. The sound of a legend content to noodle and experiment, DM4 is an occasionally interesting, but often frustrating listen. --Matthew Cooke