Electronic Meditation

Electronic Meditation is the first major release and first studio album by German electronic music group Tangerine Dream. It was released in June 1970 by record label Ohr.

Electronic Meditation
1970 LP album cover
Studio album by
Tangerine Dream
ReleasedJune 1970
RecordedOctober 1969
Genre
Length36:37
LabelOhr
ProducerTangerine Dream
Tangerine Dream chronology
Electronic Meditation
(1970)		 Alpha Centauri
(1971)

Recording and history

The album was recorded in a rented factory in Berlin in October 1969, using just a two-track Revox tape recorder.[3]

Electronic Meditation is the only Tangerine Dream album to feature the line-up of Edgar Froese, Klaus Schulze and Conrad Schnitzler. Two other musicians, organist Jimmy Jackson and flautist Thomas Keyserling, also performed on the album although they were uncredited in the original release.[4]

Content

Its style is a unique form of free jazz, electronic art music, and instrumental rock; or as Sound on Sound magazine described it, "free electronic rock".[3] Its instrumentation ranges from conventional instruments such as the guitar, organ, drums, and cello to various custom-made electronic devices implemented by Edgar Froese and found sounds such as broken glass, burning parchment, and dried peas being shaken in a sieve. The backwards vocals at the end of side B are of Edgar Froese reading from the back of a ferry ticket from Dover to Calais. The first five albums released by Ohr Records, including Electronic Meditation, featured sleeves by Reinhard Hippen, all with dismembered baby doll parts as a central aspect of the imagery. The original LP had a balloon inserted in the cover; the 2004 Japan CD release is a copy of the original LP cover and includes the balloon.[4]

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Classic Rock[5]
Pitchfork7.6/10[1]

In its retrospective review, AllMusic wrote: "The album is not without its flaws, but it's strong in many ways and shows abundant promise".[2] Stephen Dalton in his review for Classic Rock described the album as "more an historically interesting cult curio than essential Krautrock milestone", reminding however that "from sketchy but seminal basement tapes like these, an entire cosmos of sound was mapped."[5]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Edgar Froese, Klaus Schulze and Conrad Schnitzler.

Side A
No.TitleLength
1."Genesis"5:57
2."Journey Through a Burning Brain"12:26
Side B
No.TitleLength
3."Cold Smoke"10:38
4."Ashes to Ashes"4:06
5."Resurrection"3:27

Personnel
Tangerine Dream
Additional personnel
  • Jimmy Jackson – organ (uncredited in the original release)
  • Thomas Keyserling – flute (uncredited in the original release)

References
  1. Dominique Leone, Leone (6 February 2003). "Tangerine Dream: Electronic Meditation/Alpha Centauri". Pitchfork.
  2. Brenholts, Jim. "Tangerine Dream – Electronic Meditation". AllMusic. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  3. "Tangerine Dream: Their Changing Use Of Technology Part 1: 1967–1977". Sound on Sound. December 1994.
  4. Berling, Michael (29 September 2016). "Electronic Meditation". Voices in the Net.
  5. Dalton, Stephen (July 2012). "Tangerine Dream - Electronic Meditation". Classic Rock. No. 172. p. 107.
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