Tangerine Dream Album: “Madcap's Flaming Duty”

Tangerine Dream (TD) has been with us for 40 years. Wow, that is a lot of time (man, I'm getting old). Like other fans, I have most of the CD's, DVD's, etc., etc. I recently got my 2 DVDs celebrating the 35th Phaedra Concert Anniversary and the 40th Tangerine Dream Concert Anniversary. Both DVDs are a great resume of TD history (70's, 80's, 90's and New Millennium). Then I got Madcap's Flaming Duty (MFD) CD. What can I say?. It was totally unexpected for me. The music is great but the voice, I don't know. But at the end this events are the ones that makes TD unique. Edgar Froese, as a great artist he is, is always reinventing himself and he is showing it with this new release. So, after listening to MFD few times it started to grow in me. Even my kids are already singing it. As for this moment, I think that the best track is the fifth one; "A Dream Of Death". So, just after the "Their faith the dead and living plight..." Linda Spa plays her flute and the magic starts to grow, then the guitars come along, and, wow, what a great track!!!....

Yes, definitely it is starting to grow in me...

Greetings from Mexico City.

Every decade it seems Tangerine Dream releases an album that alienates fans because singing never fit well with their style.In the 70's it was Cyclone which even founder Edgar Froese brushed off in an interview as "just an experiment".In the 80's there was poetry set to music in Tyger an oddly schizophrenic album with half sung poetry and half instrumental tracks.Tyger though is an interesting predercesser to this album which boldly forges ahead with all vocal songs like it or not.The good news is that most of the songs are a mesmerizing blend of vocals and music that bring to mind Pink Floyd.The bad news is that poetry doesn't always gel with the music and the vocalist is good but not quite David Gilmour.Edgar's son Jerome is absent but TD's new member Thorsten Quaeshning has revitalized the group since Jeanne D'Arc,the long instrumental middle of track 5 is brillant.There's even a surprisingly good Irish song(!) and a hypnotic Depeche Mode like final song.Like their Dante trilogy this isn't for all tastes but they deserve credit for continuing to evolve and try new approaches to music.How much you like it is a matter of taste but it's still a bold musthave for all TD fans.

As other reviewers have pointed out, Tangerine Dream is an old and very prolific group that has put out over a hundred albums that span a wide range of musical styles. With masterpieces like Phaedra and Rubycon under their belt, sometimes it's just too easy to dismiss the rest of their work as uninspired product, ignoring quality work that doesn't fit the same mold.

Occasionally TD does a "voice" album, and, truth be told, I tend to skip the lyrical songs when they crop up in my player. They aren't necessarily bad, but they're not what draws most people to TD. Imagine a well-known comedy actor doing a "serious" role and you more or less get the picture--even if it's done well, you can't help but think it's just wrong.

However, with Madcap's Flaming Duty, I was shocked to find myself putting the album on repeat play. First off, the instrumental work here is impressive, but it's really the lyrics and the vocals that make this album work. The lead singer's voice complements the instrumentals rather than overpowering or distracting from it. Furthermore, the lyrics are some of the best I've heard (and yes, I know they're adapted from old poetry and literature).

The album reminds me at times of some diverse groups, such as VNV Nation, Peter Schilling, later Depeche Mode, and Peter Murphy. It's soulful stuff that's quite inspirational, with only the occasional "muzak" flourish to make you wince (TD seems to struggle sometimes to avoid sounding like elevator music, especially when a saxophone is involved).

"Shape My Sin," "A Dream of Death" and "Lake of Pontchartrain" really stand out to me as the best songs on the album. These are catchy songs that I've been unable to get out my head since I first heard them. I was really surprised to hear such fine voice work from a TD album; it makes me wonder if they haven't found a new direction--though I also find their new "Blue Dawn" album a new high point in their career. It's exciting to be a Tangerine Dream fan again!

I ordered Madcap's Flaming Promo, a promotional "first look" CD before Flaming Duty was released and I must say that I was not impressed. In fact, I was pretty disappointed. I was never very fond of TD music with lyrics, although '87s Tyger was decent and the fourth track of "Metaphor" titled "Earthling's Reality" (which is actually a slightly different version of "Burning Babe's Reality Song", the final track on Flaming Duty) is also quite good. Nevertheless, I avoided this latest release.

Time went on and I read the reviews for Flaming Duty, listened to sample tracks on TD's official website, and watched some video clips of some of Flaming Duty's songs on YouTube. My interest began to pique.

I finally broke down and got myself a copy and listened to it through and through. Despite my difficulties with lyrics in TD songs, I found this album to be one of the better releases from TD in the past few years.

The music is pure Tangerine Dream, no doubt about it, and Chris Hausl's vocals are quite soothing and fit in well with TD's style. I relished every note from Edgar's guitar work and the melodies are just plain spectacular. I am especially fond of track 2, "Shape My Sin"; an extremely passionate ode to desire and obsession (at least, that what I took away from it).

On Tyger, it sounded to me like the band was trying to FORCE the lyrics to fit the music, but I did not find that to be true here on Flaming Duty.

All in all, I am glad that I added this CD to my collection. I will definitely listen to Flaming Duty on a regular basis and try my best not to judge the band's music before I give it a complete and objective listening to.

Tangerine Dream are mixing it up and morphing their style. This is not the TD we know from the '70s and '80s, but they are still creating uniquely great music that will stand the test of time.

Dream on, true believers.....dream on.

Excellent CD and so different for Tangerine Dream. The vocals of Chris Hausl are wonderful but I do wish the lyrics were printed with the liner notes. Overall: superb.