Tangerine Dream - Cyclone (1978)

Artista: Tangerine Dream

Álbum: Cyclone
Año: 1978
Género: Progesivo electrónico ambiental/ Krautrock
Duración: 37:50
Nacionalidad: Alemania

Lista de Temas:
1. Bent Cold Sidewalk
2. Rising Runner Missed By Endless Sender
3. Madrigal Meridian

Alineación:
- Edgar Froese / Oberheim eight voice polyphonics synth, Twin keyboard Mellotron Mark V, Arp digital soloist synth, Moog modular synth & projekt electronic time control system, Gibson Les Paul custom guitars, Korg PS 3100 polyphonic synth, Roland GS 500 guitar & GR 500 controller, Solina string ensemble, ovation acoustic guitar
- Christoph Franke / Moog modular synth, projekt electronic sequencer, computer studio digital sequencer, Loop, Mellotron, Mellotron M 400, Arp soloist synth, Elka string synth, electronic percussion, Oberheim sequencer, Oberheim eight voice polyphonic synth, OBY One
- Steve Jolliffe / vocals, bass flute, C-flute, piccolo, COR Angelas, bass clarinet, Hohner clarinet, Elka string synth, Grand piano, Fender Rhodes, Roland System-100 synth, Tenor & Soprano horns, lyricon by computone
- Klaus Krieger / Polyester custom built drums with multi trigger unit, electronic percussion, Paiste cymbals, Bubims, Burma Gong set

Lunes lluvioso y comienzo de actividad laboral, y como Alberto se debe a los pedidos, vamos con más Tangerine Dream. Esta vez con "Cyclone", el octavo álbum de estudio, editado en 1978. Es el primero en incluir voces en sus paisajes instrumentales además de flautas, siendo un disco menospreciado por los fans en su momento debido al cambio de rumbo en la música del grupo, pero con el paso de los años ha resultado ser uno de sus discos representativos.
Y éste es el comentario del disco en manos del propio Alberto:

Otro mas de Tangerine Dream, y creo que uno de los dos únicos discos donde incorporan el canto, cosa que lograron muy bien, con la onda del grupo, voces casi de relato y sin estridencias ,el disco de sólo tres canciones maneja climas de todo tipo, en especial "Madrigal Meridian" obra de 20.33 minutos donde sobresale el solo de guitarra al promediar la canción, que le da un vuelo único y por demás sobresaliente. Sin lugar a dudas "Cyclone" fue el comienzo de algo distinto en la extensa carrera de TD.
Esa secuencia frenética, casi de carrera en los teclados de "Madrigal", luego fue incorporada por cuanto grupo se dedicó a la música electrónica experimental, ni hablar de Jarre o Vangelis.
El transcurrir del tiempo en la música, hace que proyectos como el de este trío alemán, se potencien, por cuanto hoy en el siglo 21 escuchar "Cyclone" no hace más que sentir que ese tiempo que tardó la descarga de Mega y el play de tu reproductor, esta ajustadísimo con lo que suena, es totalmente atemporal.
Tangerine Dream siempre utiliza los teclados en función del "vuelo" musical y no en función de la técnica, por eso su estilo. Los buenos productores musicales lo saben de sobra y es por eso que siempre fue una banda de culto para musicalizadores de documentales, y bandas de sonido de todo tipo. Tienen clima para cubrir cualquier cosa, todo terreno en cualquier ámbito, o sea cuando quieras musicalizar algun video, no te olvides de Tangerine Dream.
Seguir con esta reseña sería redundante, estamos en presencia de "Cyclone", uno de los tantos buenos álbums de los teutones, si se bajaron los dos anteriores, es casi obligatorio tener éste también, porque las referencias musicales son muy pero muy distintas.

Alberto

Y presentamos otro interesantísimo comentario además del de Alberto:

Todas las discografías de los mejores grupos tienen por lo menos una oveja negra. En el caso de Tangerine Dream, formación alemana estandarte de la electrónica Escuela de Berlín, esa oveja se llama Cyclone. En general, y a falta de entrar en más detalles, Cyclone fue un patinazo coyuntural que, sin embargo, con los años ha ido recuperando su imagen pública para formar hoy en día parte del mejor ramillete de aquel grupo mítico. Hay, por supuesto, quien todavía se resiste.
Cyclone (1978) tiene como mayor defecto la incursión de letras cantadas por primera vez en un álbum de Tangerine Dream. Teniendo en cuenta la fecha de publicación, no sería raro considerar que la banda de Edgar Froese pudiese estar interesada en pasarse al rock progresivo vía "space-rock". Los monstruos de los setenta como Yes o Genesis estaban entrando ya en la decadencia tras su mejor época, viéndose obligados a la decisión de renovarse o morir ante la incursión del fenómeno punk y el "tú también puedes reunir a los colegas en un garaje y gritar contra el sistema" que los acababa de convertir en dinosaurios de la noche a la mañana; y vienen los de Tangerine Dream, que iban para arriba sin tropiezos, a apuntarse a una liga en horas bajas en la que tenían muchísima personalidad que perder y -quizá- algún dinerillo que ganar. Es una forma de verlo, aunque hay otras posibles.
Acababa de irse de la banda Peter Baumann, y fue sustituido por Steve Jolliffe, que se encargó de cantar esta especie de himnos electrónicos extraños de Cyclone. No tiene una gran voz, la verdad, y seguramente debió limitarse a su faceta como experto en instrumentos de viento. Bent Cold Sidewalk, el primer corte del álbum, comienza con una introducción ampulosa que en seguida entra de lleno en la canción, para después moverse entre las clásicas notas de secuenciador de TD y las flautas de Joliffe. Para cuando llega este segundo tramo del tema, más de un fan ya había lanzado el vinilo por la ventana como si fuese un frisbee. Rising Runner Missed by Endless Sender es igual de controvertido, perfectamente Tangerine en su estructura pero de nuevo con alma prog, además de unas voces muy agresivas, todavía menos acertadas. De no ser por ellas y por la preponderancia de lo melódico sobre las texturas electrónicas, habría sido un clásico instantáneo.
La redención llega con Madrigal Meridian, un largo tema instrumental que ocupa toda la segunda cara del LP. Es tan hipnótico como siempre (y mejor), tan electrónico como siempre (y mejor), tan Tangerine Dream como siempre (y mejor), llevando a la banda hacia otro movimiento en pos de lo melódico bien entendido, que viene a casar equilibradamente los ritmos repetitivos con las atmósferas cósmicas. Supone un prometedor avance tras el ya estupendo Stratosfear, su anterior álbum de estudio si exceptuamos la banda sonora de Sorcerer. Absolutamente estupendo, vibrante y cósmico, Madrigal Meridian es la prueba de que Cyclone fue en realidad un error de planteamiento, de concepto, que no un desastre en cuanto a creatividad se refiere. Froese, Franke y Jolliffe quisieron innovar con algo realmente original, y erraron el tiro de la mejor manera posible: realizando una obra fallida aunque imprescindible que alcanzó la fama de "álbum maldito", nunca de "álbum malo".
Esto nos lleva, para concluir, a la obligada reflexión sobre el integrismo inmovilista de los fans de la música popular. Hay muchísimos grupos y solistas en el mundo que llevan treinta o cuarenta años haciendo más o menos lo mismo porque saben que si intentan salirse del tiesto los seguidores de toda la vida se los comen. El miedo de los fans, por supuesto, consiste en pensar que el nuevo rumbo se va a mantener y la banda ya no va a volver a ser la misma. Quizá sea por aquello que dicen algunos músicos: "yo soy mi último disco y los anteriores no importan", que no deja de ser verdad, pero que parece querer invalidar carreras completas solamente por una puntual salida de tono. Desde luego, Tangerine Dream volverían al redil para nuestra tranquilidad.

El conde

Y ahora, algunos comentarios en inglés y al disco:

A welcome reissue and one that marks an interesting transition in Tangerine Dream's existence -- this was the first TD album to incorporate lyrics and vocals (from Steve Jolliffe, who also contributed wind instruments and keyboards). By this point, the nucleus of the band was down to Edgar Froese and Christopher Franke, with the sound centering more on shifting arpeggiation over percussive rhythm structures, with "Madrigal Meridian" being an impressive example of this. Jolliffe's vocal contributions on "Bent Cold Sidewalk" and "Rising Runner Missed by Endless Sender" provide an aggressive edge that effectively catapults the listener from the hypnotic pulse that Tangerine Dream are best known for still, it's by no means a failed experiment, though it does make Cyclone one of the least useful TD albums for working up a good meditative state.

Steven McDonald

This is their most progressive album: lead vocals, genuine drums, flute, keyboards.
Bent cold sidewalk has melodic keyboards, drums and a very German accent lead vocals. RISING RUNNER MISSED BY ENDLESS SENDER is faster than Bent cold sidewalk, but has the same progressive tendency. Madrigal meridian is a long track. There is a repetitive sequenced beat that enters after psychedelic keyboards sounds. The keyboards make a very melodic part. It is incredible to discover so much variety of keyboards sounds here! Sounds sometimes like Iq's tales from the lush attic, sometimes like Genesis' silent sorrow in empty boats. It sounds a bit like Force majeure, but it is more varied and progressive.

Greenback

Many say that Cyclone shows a new musical direction in Tangerine Dream career probably due to special guests as Steve Joliffe. In fact it's the first time the band decided to add vocals to their music. To experimental space music they turn to electronic rock but with merit. Only the last title can remind the previous recordings, mainly the Ricochet and Stratosphere era with its long instrumental landscapes played on analog synthesizers and punctuated by sequencers. The last minutes of Madrigal Meridian are distinguished by a sumptuous melody for harpsichord and flute. "Bent Cold Sidewalk" announces the color of the album. It introduces vocals in a plaintive tone accompanied by a very catchy instrumental section. The melody is very deep and beautiful. "Rising Runner"... is a more dynamic and rock affair but very original, spacey with strange stressed vocals
I can only recommend this album for those who want to see an other and great side of the band unless you are definitely in cold with vocals.

Philippe

Cyclone (1978) is heavily undervalued. In the discussion no one mentioned it as their favourite TD, nor was it even in a list to choose from. It is of course an 'unothodox' TD album - the way Drama is an unorthodox Yes album (and a good one, in its own means). One-time member Steven Joliffe plays flutes and other reeds, and sings... and makes odd voices. And is the very reason I'm spellbound by the album. What a charming insanity in "Bent Cold Sidewalk"! In fact the rest of the album isn't that great - so let's say 3,5 stars only. But BCS, especially the flute/clarinet dominated instrumental section, is absolutely amazing. One must listen to it with headphones and in the dark to sink perfectly into its nightmarish and yet very clear and beautiful sonic landscape. "Rising Runner..." is sciencefiction-type of a song, quite naiive really. Instrumental "Madrigal Meridian" is more typical TD of the time but a fine one - well, it could have been limited to less than 20 minutes (the same goes to most TD stuff). But still Cyclone earns a special place in the output, being so unique. The cover art is a perfect match.

Matti P.

'Cyclone' is a very different album within the Tangerine Dream discography. Lead vocals on a TD album ?? Very unusual. And a solid drummer playing the kit in 'rock' mode !! The fact is, vocals are supplied by an amazing gent by the name of Steve Jolliffe, who also contributes some excellent flutes, lyricons and cor anglais (as well as more keyboards) to the incredible keyboard/synth creations presented here. The extensive instrument list alone suggests that this could be a masterpiece, which, to me, it is.
Starting with 'Bent Cold Sidewalk', a 13 minute extravaganza taking the listener to another dimension - opening with an electronic voice rambling something hardly discernable, but sets the mood instantly, TD take off with an almost conventional verse/chorus/verse section, a great melody (particularly with the Mellotron on the 'brass' setting) and some cerebral lyrics about keys and gates and time etc. The music then hits towards more familiar territory with a synth sequence introducing a wonderous passage where Jolliffe's wind instruments absolutely shine - it gets me every time ! These few minutes are among my favourite of TD. The song then returns to the final verse/chorus section and ends triumphantly. 'Rising Runner....' is a softer, shorter track with lovely synth tones and shimmering clavinet. It has vocals and it's atmosphere is nebulous.
'Madrigal Meridian' keeps up TD's tradition of side-long compositions, but the sounds and ideas on this piece reach further into the future than ever before. Cold, metallic synth generated noises ascending until they reach their peak a few minutes in, merging into another synth sequence, with more melodies and that brass 'tron from earlier on, the drumming rather straight-forward, but driving the passage along at a steady pace, always complimenting the rhythmic basis of this section, whilst the various voicings of the numerous synths/keys play around, and Edgar even pulls out his guitar for a bit of the lime- light !! The final section is heralded by the sounds of a lyricon (an electronic wind instrument) and the mood becomes more ominous, mysterious, brooding (ooh, I'm getting carried away here) and the glistening clavinet riffs bring the show to a close, almost. Quite an experience. It's been a long time since I listened to this record, and it has totally blown me away more so than when I got it many years ago.

Tom Ozric

Cyclone is the most underrated of Tangerine Dream's albums from the 70s ! After the departure of Peter Baumann in 1977, the band included new musicians and wanted to create something different with new instruments. Drums are present, however, the biggest novelty is undoubtly the inclusion of real vocals. One may like or not the punk-ish voice of Steve Joliffe, but, in fact, the result here is one of their most progressive albums ! With Force Majeure, Cyclone offers unique astounding symphonic-electro-space-rock sound and music.
The changement is heard from the first single seconds of the record. The overture track, Bent Cold Sidewalk, has a melody with a soft flavour of Pink Floyd. Futuristic and trippy, the song is kind of melancholic. Then arrives the sequenced synthetizer, a trademark of the tangerian sound, but this time accompanied with flute and clarinet ! very spacey and mysterious, this passage will take you into an electronic maze ! The song finishes delicately with its debut theme. Rising Runner Missed By Endless Sender is maybe the strangest moment here from the german band. Catchy and fast, fun electro song rocks ! The only (little) regret is Joliffe's strange sounds covering the music at the end. Then comes the longest and most progressive piece, the highlight of the album, Madrigal Meridian. Entirely instrumental, it opens with a vaporous atmosphere and bizarre sparkles of sounds. Then the melody lifts off from Earth, supported by hypnotic waves of synthetizers and a pounding rythm. A true trip to space between the stars ! The main theme lasts hardly 10 mins with various spacey improvisations, to suddenly change into powerful amazing space rock with an middle-oriental touch, in the vein of Gong's You and Hawkwind's Magnu. The music then calms down and finishes softly. Long, epic and surprising and, including numerous intruments, Medrigal Meridian is an unique classic from Tangerine Dream!
Less electronic, more symphonic and rock oriented than their former releases, Cyclone was a daring album for the band, but nonetheless one of their most original and adventurous albums ! There are true great passages in here you won't find anywhere. Recommended for electronic and space rock lovers !

Nico Modrigue

Vocoder, as it should be, an artist's tool that complements or fusions technique with humanity, and so it is here: a warning start. Machines are doing the job, the humans are capable for more, but the humans are undecipherable. An then....the artism itself, great, majestic space, with a story about life existence. The doors are opening. Step thru. Listen carefully. Ask questions. Answers will be given. Time and space is yours. As a human existence, it's also nonsense. Perhaps. But a charming one. Maybe not so nonsensical when you experience the whole journey. With tapestries, strings after strings after strings, filtered leads are sweeping from your left ear, continuing to oscillate through your brain just to spit the gorgeous melody on your right ear and vice versa... Bent. Cold. Sidewalk. What an experience of all experiences. After a great space section, the sequencer is taking us for a ride, driving us through the landscapes, through the space, showing us the event horizon, and all of a sudden in that singularity we are able to see everything. Like from a different perspective, like a majestic multi-dimensional creature which existence is beyond our most distanced perceptions, it is showing us the eternity, the time, the space from the aleph point, from nowhere and everywhere: we are able to see all the dimensions at the same time, interiors and exteriors, past, present and the future. TANGERINE DREAM are making a huge leap behind human consciousness, behind the infinite mathematical formulas and beyond God: they are explaining The Everything. We are not only able to see and feel everything, we are able to understand the Everythingness. Be thankful, for the art is making you audience/listener, TANGERINE DREAM is making you an omni-presence. Pathetic pieces of every day life are to be looked with a cynic smile: this is the point (the line, the square, the cube, the tesseract) where universe distorted.
Listening to the repetitive, cold, hypnotic sequence, while clarinets and flutes are playing gorgeous, warm melodies. This is the point (.) where everything started, and music continued to develop, regress, mutilate and breathe in both directions: positive, towards our time and what we call future, and positive (because you can't prove the opposite) towards Bach and ritual dances in the cave at the dawn of the human kind. Not to be selfish and stop here; the dance of cells in a electrified liquid, the spinning of particles at the Beginning and Beyond.
This is the core of the circle. The thin layer is a Rising Runner. By some great coincidence of time, it started to exist in between two different decades, by a convention of humans. Both decades with their trends and preferences. This layer is indeed a perfect (the most perfect) line between these two decades, manifested through the prism of the musical instrument called synthesizer.
The last layer of the Cyclone circle is the biosphere, it's the Madrigal Meridian. As it should be, biosphere consists of nature and creatures living among the nature, with all their interactions. Again everything is here, it's offered to be experienced and touched. It's on a different scale, and we are offered to look from a Earth surface, but we can choose. We will never be the same.

Moris Mateljan

I remember the day I bought this album, a lovely shiny thing with great cover art. I hurried home and slapped the vinyl on the platter. As the needle crackled into the first groove and the sound of a vocoder emerged, I noticed on the album sleeve that PETER BAUMANN had left, to be replaced by a vocalist/flautist and a drummer. Oh dear.
Twenty minutes later I was in tears. How could my beloved TANGERINE DREAM have employed a punk vocalist? How could they have destroyed their ambient landscapes with such sounds? They might as well have let off a bomb in the Sistine Chapel, such musical vandals they were.
I have to say that my opinion has changed, more than for any other album in my collection. 'Cyclone' was a provocative album of great daring and - now I'm familiar with their pre-Virgin sound - not a massive departure from their avant-garde roots. Indeed, I'm now convinced it's a work of absolute genius.
'Cyclone' represents the very best of an intersection between three TANGERINE DREAMS: the avant-garde TD of the pre-Virgin 'Pink years', the pastoral and pulsing TD of 'Phaedra' through 'Ricochet', and the prog rock TD of 1979-1983. It is chock-full of pregressive sensibilities, packed to the gunwales with drama and energy, and is hands down the best album of 1978. In my view, of course.
'Bent Cold Sidewalk' leaves me stunned. STEVE JOLLIFFE - an acquaintance of FROESE's from the early 70s - rips out avant-garde vocals, singing in a rough voice backed by an overdubbed octave-lower drone, blowing breathily through his flute like IAN ANDERSON on heat, and screaming out nonsensical sounds like some demented dervish. An acquired taste, certainly, but it can be acquired. JOLLIFFE complements the pulsing sequencers and synth leads perfectly. How delicious this sounds to me now, a fount of drama, a true prog rock masterpiece of a track. It's a fairly standard rock song cut and spliced around a typical TD free-form jam, with busy drumwork and all the insane JOLLIFFE extras (the section from 7:30 is an absolute classic!). Of course the fans hated it: they wanted more of the relaxing synths and pulses to smoke to. How I wish the band hadn't listened! They could have led us far beyond that door, I'm convinced of it. The track finishes with the first appearance of the chorus - genius! - and a genuine climax with JOLLIFFE going mental. You'll never hear anything like this anywhere else.
'Rising Runner' is even more provocative, TD's nod to punk rock. JOLLIFFE shapes his accent to sound like a disaffected punk. The track has all the fascination of a crash between a lorry carrying marshmallows and a trainload of sulphuric acid. Look what the madman does to our gentle prog! You'll hate this, but I think that's the point.
To top it all off, 'Madrigal Meridian' is the best long-form piece the TANGS ever did. It is a sinister twist on their normal sound. The opening as eerie a piece as I've ever heard, all industrial and sharp-edged with some truly delicious effects. When the pulse arrives it's a pile-driver, slamming into the track with the energy of a sequence of explosions rising in frequency and intensity. Yet they make music out of this, and after three minutes in come the blips. The pace is furious, more so than anything else they've done, and reminding me more of 'Phaedra'. The track is lathered in special effects as well as a splendid tune, repeated and varied many times. The bubbling synth solo at about 8:20 onwards is breathtaking, and here we see the benefits of adding a proper drummer: the percussion creates a truly dramatic passage. And - oh joy! - halfway through FROESE unlimbers his guitar and rips out a fuzzed free-form solo, backed by a galloping, hundred-mile-an-hour rhythm. The sheer exuberance of this track always gets me, and I can't help thinking this was the way forward for the band. Gradually the track collapses on itself, the rhythms fading away to be replaced (mercifully) with a classic TD denouement, all soaring synths and enormous clavinet chords fading into a dissonant cello eerily reminiscent of their first album, and finally a sweet violin.
Look, I can't offer you a money-back guarantee here. Chances are you'll hate it at first listen. But to my mind this is one of the truly overlooked gems of progressive music. You don't need to eat tonight, right? Take a gamble, fork over that cash and give it a try. If they look at you strangely, tell them Russell made you do it.

Russell Kirkpatrick

Cyclone appears to be a very controversial album here. Much to my surprise I must say. I've always adored this album as much as the ones before it. With the addition of the dramatic vocals and live drums it sounds more prog rock and distinctively different from the albums before it. So I would even have expected this album to go down very well with the progressive rock crowd. But apparently it didn't / doesn't.
Of course, being too young to have witnessed any 70's release, I missed the commotion around it, so, back in '85 or something, I could listen to it without any preconceptions.
Cyclone entirely lives up to its title. Especially Madrigal Meridian is a swirling track that rocks out like nothing else in the Tangs' oeuvre. It's a spiced up version of pretty much everything Tangerine Dream had done before: a creepy opening section, great sequences with tons of moog and mellotron, sharp guitar solos and as conclusion, one of their best gentle segments ever. With it's 20.30 minutes length it comes close to being their best track ever.
Much of the debate is about the first two tracks however, the ones with the vocals. Well I think Steve Jolliffe does an excellent job here. Not only does he have a very warm and commanding voice, he can also provide a rougher edge, sometimes boarding on the insane when he spews out those incoherent vowels and sounds. With him in the band, Tangerine Dream completely reinstates the punk spirit of kraut rock in their music. It's an excellent addition and absolutely unique in their discography.

Karl Bonnek

Perhaps sensing that the golden era of progressive rock was slipping away, and having dabbled plenty in nearly chrystalline electronica, TANGERINE DREAM grafted Steve Jolliffe with his vocals and a cornucopia of non-synthesized instrumentation like drums, horns, flutes, and more guitars onto their caravan as it floated through the cosmos. At this point in their career, it didn't seem they could go wrong whatever they tried, as long as they tried something different, and "Cyclone" is no exception. Moreover, it is the surprises, in the form of Vinyl Side 1, that succeed better than the more conventional TD sound of "Madrigal Meridian", although both offer many pleasures.
"Bent Cold Sidewalk" is a potent space rocker a la HAWKWIND for its first 4:30 or so, apart from a tunefully dissonant vocoder opening. The next 6 minutes are more conventional TD except for Joliffe's vocal shrieks which, again, compliment the instrumentation as perfectly as such a rough-cut style possibly could. The song returns to its original vocal theme for the last couple of minutes to wrap it all up neatly. I may be in the minority, but I'm in love with "Rising Runner Missed by Endless Sender", a mellotron rich and relatively short vocal piece in which Jolliffe again manages to ooze angst with every voice box expenditure, and yet do so with profound and twisted melodicism. The longest track is closer to conventional "Dream", starting as an amorphous blob before settling into a familiar if slightly uptempo ode to "Ricochet". The last 5 minutes are the best, with a violin sounding synth recapping a bit of the album's opener before something sounding like a harpsichord methodically constructs a treasure beneath the mellotron, and is joined by sweet flute.
Tangerine Dream's "Cyclone" represents an anomaly of sorts in the group's discography, and the happy aftermath of a perfect storm both within the industry and in their own career.

Ken Levine

Featuring ex-Steamhammer multi-instrumentalist Steve Joliffe, CYCLONE saw Tangerine Dream produce their most Progressive-rock orientated album yet. Fusing the ambient-synth-electronica of RUBYCON and PHAEDRA with eerie vocals, rocky guitars-and-bass and a touch of the Pink Floyd, CYCLONE has often been derided by both critics and fans as one of the group's lesser pieces, a fact imbued by the album being released slap-bang in the middle of the late 1970's punk onslaught that was storming the UK at the time. However, despite it's flaws, CYCLONE is in fact a genuinely interesting attempt by Edgar Froese to enter the prog-rock arena, eschewing as it does the repeitive, keyboard-driven, trance-enducing rhythms of their mid-seventies peak in favour of a more straightforward, conventional rock-style. Tangerine Dream have always been pioneers of electronic Krautrock, but within CYCLONE the blueprint is torn up then re-drawn to sound not unlike Yes' proto-futuristic 'Relayer' album, which was made just two-years before CYCLONE and features the same kind of electro-rock fusion. In true Tangerine Dream fashion CYCLONE is made up of just three tracks - two of which break the ten-minute mark - except this time around the tracks sound much more like rock songs, featuring choruses, verses and, of course, lyrics. Whilst the album's epic closing track 'Madrigal Medridan' proves to be the weakest, the first two tracks - the excellent 'Bent Cold Sidewalk' and the oddly-titled 'Rising Runner Missed By Endless Sender' - show that Edgar Froese'sTangerine Dream-does-Progressive Rock experiment was well worth the effort. The songs crackle with energy and menace, flowing cleverly from anthemic keyboard workouts to bass-driven rock riffing without ever succumbing to ersatz hard-rock mindlessness or cliche. Post-1978 there is very little evidence of Tangerine Dream repeating the CYCONE trick; the album's initial reception was poor, punk was ripping the old-prog guard to shreds and the early 1980's would offer up a plethora of opportunities, ranging from collaborations with other artists to producing film soundtracks and other projects. The carefully-constructed and epic keyboard-driven sound pioneered by Edgar Froese would remain the bands bread-and-butter output, right upto the present day, with only 1983's eastern-tinged neo-psychedelic offering HYPERBOREA straying from the formula. However, despite it's mixed reputation, CYCLONE is a fascinating attempt to meld the worlds of krautrock and prog that stands up as an important piece of work from the Tangerine Dream canon. Mysterious, ethereal and strangely-anthemic, CYCONE is very definitely one of the group's most underrated pieces. It's one-off status gives it a mystique it fflly deserves and the most disappointing aspect is that Edgar Froese's kraut/prog mixture was never repeated.

Stefan Turner

The irascible synthmonster Berliners took this 'sideway look', introducing a one shot blend of vocals and real drums, never really before or after in any consistent manner. They probably chose the title "Cyclone" as a suggestive term for their brash boldness, going in a singular direction that ultimately was a fine decision. The stunning artwork is my TD favorite, right up there with Phaedra and Rubycon. With the semi-legendary Klaus Krüger on his patented polyester drums as well as the unusual Steve Jolliffe on vocals and reeds, this opus remains a shining example of creative expansion within the relatively basalt-rigid walls of sequenced rhythms, synthesized sweeps and glistening leads that TD is famous for. Three tracks, two whoppers and a mini-interlude that stand the test of time in more ways than one. "Bent Cold Sidewalk" is the stunning 13 minute opener, a thundering composition that highlights the Jolliffe vocals, giving the piece an almost Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come aura (circa "Journey" album) that is awesome and intriguing. The real drums are nevertheless played in a robotic fashion, the flutes and clarinets emitting distorted wails and the hint of edgy paranoia highly enticing. After the brief 5 minute punky interlude, the sparkling "Madrigal Meridian" shuttles forward like a stubborn spatial monolith, rumbling proudly ahead, infusing all the heralded TD ingredients into the bowl. With remarkable and unusual short-sightedness, TD purists ripped this release to shreds, not accepting the quirky changes even though only the side ?long "Madrigal Meridian" had no vocals , forcing Froese to relent and recording the splendid follow up "Force Majeure" with Krüger but sans Jolliffe. I love the challenge here and while not up there with TD's best (the above mentioned, as well as Stratosfear, Ricochet and the subtle Pergamon), Cyclone remains a solid listen.

Thomas Szirmay

What's wrong here? I have probably the advantage to have discovered this album many years after its release, so I didn't have the bad reactions that the fans seem to have given it. Vocals are unusual for TD and the very melodic first 5 minutes of "Bent Cold Sideway" are far from what one can expect from a Tangerine Dream's album of the 70s, but can anybody say that they are bad? And what about the following five minutes with the usual electronic base but with the addition of fantastic flute, bass flute and clarinet? The whispered voice adds a touch of psychedelia...This is a great song, no doubts.
I can imagine the fans thinkig to a band "going commercial", felling betrayed by a band that's no longer experimental (even if the rule of the 5 minutes is still applied), but I don't see anything wrong in this song.
"Rising Runner Missed By Endless Sender" sounds like an anticipation of the 80s. It could be Kraftwerk or a British new-wave band, two things still to come at the time of the release. Even if going commercial, this band was still in advance with the times. Five minutes (again five) of dark electronic in a pure 80's style.
The side B contains "Madrigal Meridian". A side-long track that starts back from the spacey ambients of the beginnings even if there are more changes respect to things like Birth of Liquid Pleiades. The electronic bass base takes only three minutes to start, instead of five. Sign that something is effectively changing. The guitar which enters at minute 5:30 is quite floydian even if just for a while. This track belongs to the period of Phaedra and Ricochet and even if the fans may have thought that this album was commercial I don't think this can be defined an easy- listening. There's a remarkable keyboard at minute 10 quickly replaced by the guitar for one of the hardest moment of this band in terms of rock. I think TD weren't so rock since from Electronic Meditation.
Well, I like this album and because I don't care about its being commercial more than 30 years ago, I rate it with the 4 stars that I think it deserves.

Luca

"Cyclone" is, in some respects, a continuation of the increasingly streamlined sound of "Stratosfear". Although Tangerine Dream were holding strong to their electronic roots, there was a conscious effort to incorporate heavier elements of rock and pop music. In many respects, "Cyclone" does not innovate this approach much, veering somewhat towards a more conventional 'prog rock' sound. However, "Cyclone" included one fresh element to the stew of Tangerine Dream that has since made it one of the most controversial and polarized albums o the band's career; that would be vocals. Although it's up for debate whether the use of a clean singing voice in what is essentially a popular music style is particularly revolutionary, it broke a long streak of instrumental compositions for the German outfit. Although Tangerine Dream may have been best left as an instrumental electronic group, the vocal contributions of Steve Jolliffe fit Tangerine Dream's spacey approach well. In all other senses, "Cyclone" remains on track with their gradual shift from ambient electronica to a more accessible form.
I'll first say that "Cyclone" does not deserve the flak or controversy it's received. Although Jolliffe's vocals are something of an acquired taste, Tangerine Dream's spacey sound was in need of some innovating, nine albums into their career. With that being said, Edgar Froese and the rest of Tangerine Dream certainly had aspirations to surprise their audience. With the vocals of Jolliffe, Tangerine Dream takes another step towards Pink Floyd territory, lessening the gap between them and a truly rock-oriented formula. In fact, although the second side of the album would rein the music back towards Tangerine's staple style, "Bent Cold Sidewalk" actually has more in common with a Floyd or Van der Graaf Generator tune than anything from Tangerine Dream's earlier years. Although the synthesizers still comprise most of the band's sound, they're used in a more focused manner than what might be typically expected of the band. Apart from the vocals, there are horns and even what sounds like a flute incorporated into the mix. Although it's a far cry from the band's regular formula on paper, the signature sound of the synthesizer makes for a staunch sort of 'station identification'. Changes aside, this is still very much a Tangerine Dream ordeal.
Steve Jolliffe's vocals are no doubt the hot topic and divisive factor of "Cyclone", in spite of the fact that vocals are only ever used on the album's first side. His performance is typically multi-layered, with one recording track showcasing his impressive higher register, 'tuneful' range, and the other presenting a darker, deeper theatrical snarl. Especially with these two together, Jolliffe sounds quite a bit like Floyd frontman Roger Waters, particularly when he is at his most maniacal. Especially on "Bent Cold Sidewalk", Steve's contributions are solid enough, although it's easy to see why some may have a problem with his voice. Especially with regards to his lower pitched delivery, I could have seen Jolliffe being better suited for some of the band's more experimental, leftfield material rather than this comparatively accessible sound.
With "Madrigal Meridian", Tangerine Dream finally give the more puritanical fans what they want; that is, a twenty minute, sprawling electronic composition. Although it doesn't compare to "Rubycon" or anything on "Zeit" or "Phaedra", "Madrigal Meridian" is a playful exploration of sounds the band had largely tread upon before. However, instead of the subtly disturbing atmosphere of spacey loneliness that Tangerine Dream had been prone to evoke before, there is something about the second side of "Cyclone" that speaks of a more upbeat, playful and optimistic nature. Perhaps it was a conscious attempt to mirror the 'vocal side' in terms of its accessibility. In any case, Tangerine Dream reaffirm here the notion of their mastery of sound and texture. The synthesizers are rich and atmospheric, and their perpetually minimalistic approach is evocative. Sadly, "Madrigal Meridian" is robbed of excellence for the fact that the composition never seems to build like Tangerine Dream's best works would. Although I'm sure to receive the chagrin of many a TD fan for saying this, the first half of "Cyclone" is where the greatness of the album lies. In the scheme of Tangerine Dream's greatest 1970's work, "Cyclone" is arguably fated to be overshadowed forever by the bigger, better works. However, the seemingly moderate experiment of incorporating vocals yielded some fairly successful results. In short, it's a strong twist on a tried-and-tested formula, although most days, I would prefer to listen to "Rubycon".

Conor Fynes

CYCLONE is known among prog/electronic circles as that ''controversial'' album TD released during their Virgin years, and the biggest reason for that is that there are vocals for the first time, here coming from ex-Steamhammer member Steve Jolliffe. I don't know what Froese and Franke wanted to accomplish with CYCLONE other than take a menial stab at a prog/electronic hybrid. Judging by the mixed reaction CYCLONE has received, one could say the experiment was a bust, and Jolliffe would be booted off the assignment before FORCE MAJEURE.
But does that make CYCLONE a bad album? I say absolutely not. Plenty of the Tangerine Dream we'd come to know and love is still here.
In fact, I'd say only about a third of the album is trying out Jolliffe as a lead vocalist (to be fair, Jolliffe's vocals are quite forgettable), yet it is so different from what Tangerine Dream had been that the vocals seemed to have been ballooned in overall importance. A good majority of the album is Tangerine Dream providing groovy electronic music to get lost in. ''Madrigal Meridian'' is one of the best things Tangerine Dream has ever done, period. It's good enough to rival ''Rubycon''. ''Bent Cold Sidewalk'' has that same thrill through its middle sequence, but the bookends attempt to achieve epic symphonic prog, and actually can convince. The word jumbled short track does sound like a title created from a few lines of the song. The vocals can be lacking, but not distracting from a song that sounds like FM (the band) could muster.
CYCLONE is a beauty, and it's probably the most underrated album by a major band on these archives. Don't let the vocals get in the way of pure electronic enjoyment.

David Carr

Y así empezamos el lunes lluvioso, y no olviden agradecer a Alberto!