Alpha Centauri (album)

Alpha Centauri is the second major release and second studio album by German electronic music group Tangerine Dream. It was released in March 1971 by record label Ohr.

Alpha Centauri
1971 LP album cover
Studio album by Tangerine Dream
Released	March 1971
Recorded	January 1971
Studio	Dierks Studio
Genre	Krautrock[1] electronic[2] space music[3]
Length	39:48
Label	Ohr
Producer	Tangerine Dream
Tangerine Dream chronology
Electronic Meditation (1970) Alpha Centauri (1971) Zeit (1972)

Content

The music on this album is quite different from Tangerine Dream’s first album Electronic Meditation, partly because of a heavier reliance on keyboards and electronic technology, although they still mostly remain in the background: the dominant instruments on the album are organ and flute. The other difference is that this album focuses on dark, spacey soundscapes as opposed to jam sessions. The shift in instrumentation resulted in an atmosphere dubbed by Edgar Froese himself as "kosmische musik". Julian Cope's Head Heritage wrote that the album "used the space rock template from [Pink Floyd's] Saucerful of Secrets (and removed the rock)".[4]

A nowadays extremely rare single "Ultima Thule" was released in the same year. Side 1 employs the same guitar riff as "Fly and Collision of Comas Sola", but the single was at the time otherwise an unconnected release. Re-releases of Alpha Centauri in the 2000s have however included either or both parts of Ultima Thule as bonus tracks.

Release

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Head Heritage	positive[2]
Pitchfork	7.8/10[1]

Alpha Centauri was released on March 1971 by record label Ohr. It sold 20,000 copies in their native Germany, nearly four times as many as their later classic Phaedra.

Track listing

Side A

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Sunrise in the Third System"	4:21
2.	"Fly and Collision of Comas Sola"	13:23

Side B

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Alpha Centauri"	22:04

Reissue bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
4.	"Oszillator Planet Concert" (Sanctuary/Castle (2002), Arcàngelo (2004), Reactive/Esoteric (2011))	8:03
5.	"Ultima Thule, Part One (2000 remix)" (Arcàngelo (2004), Reactive/Esoteric (2011))	3:24
6.	"Ultima Thule, Part Two" (Reactive/Esoteric (2011))	4:24

Personnel

• Edgar Froese – guitar, organ, bass, composer
• Christopher Franke – drums, percussion, flute, zither, piano, VCS3
• Steve Schroyder – organ, voice, echo machines, iron stick
• Udo Dennebourg – flute, voice
• Roland Paulick – synthesizer

References

1. Leone, Dominique (6 February 2003). "Tangerine Dream: Electronic Meditation/Alpha Centauri". Pitchfork.
2. "Julian Cope Presents Head Heritage | Unsung | Reviews | Tangerine Dream – Alpha Centauri". 5 February 2005.
3. Breece, Michael G.. Tangerine Dream – Alpha Centauri at AllMusic
4. "Julian Cope Presents Head Heritage | Unsung | Reviews | Tangerine Dream – Atem". 9 March 2012.

External links

• Alpha Centauri at Discogs (list of releases)