Official Bootleg Series Vol 2

The 1978 show is of questionable provenance. A reliable fan site credits a performance on March 3rd, while the packaging states it to be on March 6th. There is no way of resolving this minor issue as there is no recording of either show known to the broader Tangerine Dream trading community. It sounds like an audience recording, despite the lack of any obvious near-field audience noise in the first set, which also fades in after the set has begun and fades out before it is finished, thus no applause. It sounds like an analog cassette recording, and this would also explain the truncated first set, at 48 minutes, the approximate actual length of one side of a 90 minute cassette. The noise level and frequency response are also typical of cassette. Further, it sounds very much like a mono recording given a very subtle fake stereo conversion treatment, with no sounds at any point clearly panned to one side or the other. The probable source explains the generally fair to poor sound quality, yet this is probably the best-sounding example of a 1978 tour recording I have heard. As for the music, there is a lot of falling back on motifs and techniques of previous tours, and when they try to improvise with vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Steve Jolliffe, it never really gels nicely. Klaus Kreiger's drumming talents are largely wasted, with little opportunity for him to find a place to establish a groove, resorting mostly to washes of cymbals or just tapping his hi-hat along with the sequencers. Founder Edgar Froese and Jolliffe clashed frequently throughout the tour. From the included photos, it was clearly a visually stunning performance, thanks to Laserium. Too bad there was never a tour in support of the excellent Force Majeure album, which also featured Kreiger, but not Jolliffe.The singular event of the January 31st 1980 concerts at the Palast der Republik in East Germany was the real draw for me here, and I was not disappointed. The liner notes claim this release is not a direct transcription from the radio broadcast, but includes some post-concert mixing by the band. However, a band-endorsed fan trading group recording said to be based on a direct radio transcription is, in fact, almost perfectly identical to this release for the first two sets. The only difference is about 2db or so of additional hard limiting in this release. The encore set, however, is a significant and welcome upgrade. The previously fan traded version was admitted to be an off-the-air recording by a fan, while this release clearly comes from a more direct source. There is a lot of intentional bandpass-swept white noise in this encore which is largely absent from the traded version, probably due to frequency response limitations of the source, and possible algorithmic noise reduction applied in the fan remastering. If you haven't heard this show, this would be the time to get it, as it is the best quality copy you are likely to get, and the organized fan trading community was asked to cease activities by Edgar about 10 years ago, and has complied. More and more of the fan trading club output has been converted to official releases since then. This show was historical in many ways for the band and for the world. The first performance by a West German band in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin wall, the first performance by long-time member Johannes Schmoelling, and arguably a sweet spot in the transition of the band from fully improvisational to rigidly pre-programmed. Further, if you love the albums Tangram, or Pergamon, this is basically the essence of those two albums along with other unique passages and a lot of improvising on the themes.Bottom line, even if you have all of the Trees and Leaves and every previously released official Tangerine Dream album, or none of the above, I recommend this this set as an essential for anyone who loves Tangerine Dream, Electronic Music, Rock Music, or just Music.

This is the second release of Tangerine Dream "Official Bootlegs". While the first release featured the classic lineup of Froese/Baumann/Franke and two shows recorded in cathedrals in Europe. Box 2 has moved on a few years into the Johannes Schmelling era, and the first disk actually features TD with some vocal assistance. And after hearing it you will soon realize why they didn't do that very often. But not to worry, the vocal section is quite short. The two shows in this set are from 1979 and 1980, both are excellent recordings and if you are a true TD fan, you will want these in your collection.

As my title states,the 1980 show is Johannes Schmoelling's live debut and what a way to start your tenure in TD. The East Berlin show is a treasure! The quality of the sound,the performance,everything about the show is just perfect. A little snippet of what would become "Tangram" is heard in the first set which is really cool. If you have the cd of "Pergamon" or "Quichotte" then you've heard the bulk of the second set. Which is a good release but when paired with the rest of the show,it puts the evening really into perspective. I love the idea of putting the new guy out there all by his lonesome to open the second set,a trial by fire as they say. And Johannes comes thru with a beautiful piano interlude to start the second half of the night. I have to admit I have a soft spot for this version of the band. I got to see them in Santa Monica later in November of 1980 and was just blown away.Now for the 1978 Paris show. I'm not the biggest fan of the "Cyclone" era stuff,but it's okay. The tape used is an audience tape,not a real bad one,but not the best I've heard. The Detroit show in Bootleg Box # 3 is an audience tape and sounds much better. Paris has it's moments,but I still go for the '80 show in this box.I still give it 5 stars mainly because the quality of the '80 show outweighs any and all flaws of the '78 show.I'm still pining for the Santa Monica shows from '77 & '80 to be the next box in the series. Who knows.

Not quite as impressed with this compared to the other two. Nice to listen to the live version of the 4 pc Dream, but disappointed that it fid not feature Bent Cold Sidewalk or Rising Runner..... the other concert, back to 3 pc has great moments. As a follower since the Stratosphere/Sorcerer/Encore era, still nice to have!

at last... the four member tangerine dream released their live recording. their first using digital synths [ not analog ] . my personal favorite album of theirs. the cds are listed set 1 and set 2 with 2 encores. but set 1 and set 2 are ONE performance spread over two discs due to time. there is fade-out at the end of disc 1... and fade-in to begin disc 2. both include snippets of MADRIGAL MERIDIAN. one massive cut of almost 90 minutes.

The Service: Excellent service - delivered well in time and well packaged.The Box Set: Two Concerts immortalised on CD officially for the first time; unless if you include Pergamon and Quichotte for the 1980 EMaybe Tast Berlin Concert.It was great listening to the 78 concert, I think that year has been poorly served for TD fans with only sketchy records published of the line up, the tour and also a lack of tour photographs of any decent quality and quantity. Steve Joliffe was something else on this tour, he must have had a set on him to take the front with vocals in the way that he did. Personally, I love the stuff from 78. It was uncompromising and a slap in the face of Punk. There is only so much mileage you can get out of an 8 note sequence though, and sometimes it can be a grind - but if you are in the mood then it flies!.The 1980 East Berlin concert is a different bag, new member Johannes Schmoelling with an ear for melody and wearing his heart on his sleeve comes in and revitalises an outfit in need of a fresh approach. The music has a bit more direction that from the tour that came before it, and variety is injected into sequences by Mr Franke. Mr Froese smashes it with a guitar solo that must have been gifted to him at the "crossroads"!Summary: an excellent box set with great music, great sleeve notes (with a surprising admission from Steve Joliffe) and a double sided mini poster which when combined makes a worthwhile package for the price.

Having had the "Encore" album since the seventies and this being from the same period, I must say that the flow is a bit different. I have the impression that, in comparison to "Encore", the pieces on this one (as well as on volume 2) never really get going.

Tangerine Dream were the electronic group when I was in my late teens and early twenties. I had all their albums and travelled to nearby cities when they did a tour of Canada back in the 80s. As the state of the art of synths expanded, so did the abilities of the band. And while they members of Tangerine Dream changed over the years, the sound was pretty consistent.This set is a live recording of converts in Paris and East Bermin in 1978 and 1980 respectively, and is the second in the so-called Bootleg series (if they were ever released as bootleg LPs, I never saw them, but that's not too surprising). The two recordings (spread over two CDs each) are quite different. The 1978 performance in Paris is more, well, let's be generous here and say "experimental" with some discordant sounds and weird progressions. It's the sort of TD I'll listen to once in a blue moon, and that's about it. There's some weird stuff on these CDs! Fortunately, he 1980s recording is more traditional Tangerine Dream, recorded from a live radio feed with quite good quality. There's quite a few really good pieces here, including a lovely opening on the second CD of the concert. Alas, it dos from that to something a bit more out there, but it's still a good concert.Like the first volume of "bootleg" discs, these releases offer chances to get hither-to unavailable music from TD. I prefer this second volume to the first both artistically and sound-quality-wise, but fans will want both. The 1980 concert presented here is the best of the four concerts, in my opinion.

Secondo volume di concerti celebri.1978 Parigi: Quell'anno,all'interno della formazione del gruppo si aggiunge un batterista,facendo diventare i Tangerine Dream un quartetto.Il concerto inizia con un componente del gruppo che recita al pubblico frasi in lingua latina (più probabilmente,Esperanto),e da questo punto in poi,sopra un ritmo propulsivo di batteria,si susseguono improvvisazioni di pianoforte,flauto,chitarra,clavinet. L'impressione è quella di trovarsi nel mezzo di una "jam session krautrock" (Can,Harmonia,La Dusseldorf).Anche la seconda parte è dominata dal batterista e da assoli di chitarra elettrica in stile Heavy Prog.La musica di questo concerto è abbastanza interessante,ma le reazioni della critica e del pubblico non sono molto a favore di un cambiamento di direzione del gruppo, verso la musica rock. 1980 Berlino Est: Quell'anno i Tangerine Dream ritornano ad essere un trio,ed anche nella musica ritornano al loro stile elettronico Cosmic Ambient.Il concerto viene tenuto nel palazzo della repubblica del regime Comunista (entrambi,ormai smantellati) e in quella occasione, il gruppo circondato da una grande quantità di sintetizzatori all'avanguardia,e con un grande impatto visivo,dà prova di abilità della sua decennale esperienza nella musica strumentale.Durante il concerto vengono eseguite sezioni da "Tangram",album pubblicato nello stesso anno.La seconda parte del concerto inizia con un preludio di pianoforte in stile impressionista ed in seguito ,come nella prima parte,il gruppo esegue i suoi classici poemi sonori.Il finale è affidato ad un crescendo in uno stile quasi Techno , con un brillante assolo di guitar-synth. Il cofanetto include 4 compact disc e due riproduzioni di manifesti d'epoca.

The 1978 show is way more experimental. Some sounds are grating to my ears. Excellent improvisations nonetheless. Schmoelling's arrival brought melody and 'orchestral arrangements' to the music. That band really pushed the boundaries of their instruments, both old and new. Pioneers, and still the reference (Schulze is the other) after all these years. Great to hear the full concerts!