Tangerine Dream – Paradiso

4 reviews for Tangerine Dream – Paradiso

1. 

   Geoffrey Keogh – 2022-11-22

   Well I have been listening non stop to Paradiso since I got back from Berlin. It’s a really good piece of work and well worth the wait. Its even better on cd. Most would have their own views on it but my impressions are grown to it each listen. Stand out tracks to me are Track 2 on disc 1 and track 3 disc 2.
   I have grown to understand the whole concept of the more deeper parts opera type pieces and like the sound much more than in the first hearing in September last year.
   I think it would have been hard to master this musical piece but if it took a year then it would be understandable. It is a different style of TD & some would not accept this style but I love the diversity of TD‘s music and how much it has grown since 1967 and years there after. To play something like Pheadra,Rubycon to some one then something like Livemiles and ending on Paradiso gives a view of TD to new listeners as a very adventurous musical project.
   So buy it and see You won’t be disappointed.

   2006. Geoffrey Keogh

2. 

   Robert / Hungary – 2022-11-22

   The BEST part of the TRILOGY !

   2007. Robert / Hungary

3. 

   Jacob Pertou – 2022-11-22

   Paradiso! Perhaps it’s Tangerine Dream‘s longest awaited album. First part, Inferno, had its first performance five years before. The release date was exactly one year after the very fine concerts of Paradiso in Brandenburg, to the elegant performance at Berlin’s Tempodrom, September 2006, that is.To release a record a year after the its premiere, seems to be a strategically, unwise move. If so, the end product has to be unexceptionable. The problem is, that it’s not, being the mixing I refer to.
   The album is a credited to be a collaboration between Tangerine Dream and The Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra, but the mixing does that the sound occasionally appears to be crammed and compact.Furthermore, there seem to be a sought an equalization between the electronic and the sheer symphonic music, hence the sometimes rather tame outcome of the dramatic, symphonic moments.
   Obviously, I’m comparing with the experience I had at the Paradiso concerts, where the orchestra had more elbowroom. And I, sincerely speaking, think the orchestra better comes to its right in the crystal clear audience recording from the 24th September. Everything seems to more lively there.

   One of the more embarrassing moments is a horn section, which in Beyond Sodom And Gomorrah, suddenly fades up and down!With one year of waiting, the production comes as a disappointment, which can be seen in the overall impression: The work is not perfect.Also it comes with an error in the tracklisting, which has confused many fans. I don’t care for song titles, so no more worries about that, but not to hear the little boy, Fridolin, singing quite falsely, is a bit disappointing.
   In Leaving, the final track, he’s replaced by one of the female singers. The contrast at the shows seemed to be an ace surprise – a shame the cd listeners have been cheated for that experience.
   When all this is said, I have to point out that Paradiso is a nice renewal. The work with an orchestra, a 12 man strong choir (lost in the mix), and six singers, testifies to an ambitiousity, not seen alike in many years, if ever.Compositorically Paradiso is Edgar Froese‘s magnum opus, and on previous releases you can hear how he has saved his creative strengths for this album. While Jerome has worked on his own projects, he didn’t want to support his father’s initiative this time.Anyway, you can easily enjoy the album, as it, for obvious reasons, continues the style of the two previous albums, Inferno and Purgatorio.Of course, literary enthusiasts have noticed, that this must be the third part of Dante Alighieri‘s ancient Divine Comedy, about his journey of formation through hell, purgatory, to finally end up in heaven.And when we’re talking about an opera, one could fear the worst. I have once been to the opera myself to see the Die Zauberflte. This opera was actually a source of inspiration for Edgar, while writing Drunken Mozart In The Desert, but that doesn’t change my opinion about opera, that it’s a horrible round of stilted snobbishness, catered for the lite.
   Obviously I should think that about Paradiso, too. Indeed, it’s a very solemn piece, but aesthetically, the two cd’s are an amazing journey. I might be blamed for a statement like that, as the review comes from a fan, who is supposedly, blindly in love with the band with the name of Tangerine Dream.This is in no way the case. Paradiso doesn’t sound like a classic TD album, although it could easily become one.The quite long passages, which can be heard on the album, does not appear to be dull, as there’s a thumping difference between the tracks. We don’t go as far as Purgatorios very electronic and sometimes wildly poppy universes, but we generally find the same type of tracks.
   That is an alternation between operatic vocal in Italian, narration by Bianca Acquaye in French, as well as the more poppy items in English and Spanish. The English contributions are more toned down, focusing on an epic force of attraction, while Iris Camaa‘s long-winded popsongs, perhaps, make the hearts of certain male TD fans pound.It’s all packed into a pompous symphonic, modern opera, but further elaboration of the tracks, is beyond my abilities.

   Despite a weird production, Paradiso is a masterpiece. The trilogy began as early as 1996, and as a very important chapter in the career of Tangerine Dream has ended, it makes you think, whether or not, the world tour of 2007/2008 will be the end of the band.
   Hopefully that’ll happen more bombastic than the rather short conclusion of this work!

   2007. Jacob Pertou

4. 

   Hans Sijtsma / the Netherlands – 2022-11-22

   Got a lot time to listen to this great album, and a very good closer to the Dante project by TD. This is together with Inferno and Purgatorio a classic case in the TD history.
   A lot of great stuff on this record, it will be still a work of a genius.

   2007. Hans Sijtsma / the Netherlands