After releasing a quartet of albums for German label Ohr, electronica pioneers Tangerine Dream signed to Richard Branson’s newly established Virgin imprint late in 1973, for whom they launched a string of basic albums, amongst them Phaedra, Rubycon, and Stratosfear.
Hearken to Rubycon proper now.
The West Berlin trio’s timing was impeccable, as Virgin have been basking within the success of their first album launch, Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, and have been among the many hippest names to drop inside the trade. Hooking up with Branson’s group additionally secured entry to model new state-of-the-art gear; the Moog synthesizer the band rapidly acquired grew to become a key component of their Virgin debut, Phaedra, issued in February 1974.
Although an eerie, glacial soundscape composed with few obvious business pretensions, Phaedra nonetheless grew to become a fully-fledged crossover success. Championed by the press and seized upon by influential BBC Radio One DJ John Peel, it rose steadily in to the UK High 40 (the place it peaked at No.15 throughout a formidable 15-week run) and was a crossover hit in Europe, ultimately accruing seven gold discs for the band.
Sudden achievements
If this sudden achievement disturbed Edgar Froese and co’s artistic processes, it actually didn’t present on Phaedra’s equally singular follow-up, Rubycon. Initially launched on March 21, 1975, that album couldn’t fairly match Phaedra’s phenomenal worldwide efficiency, but it surely peaked at No.10 within the UK (TD’s highest UK LP chart inserting) and once more attracted a welter of optimistic vital notices.
Looking back, such fulsome reward was warranted, as Rubycon stays one among Tangerine Dream’s most deathlessly compelling information. Recorded and executed by the band’s “classic” line-up of Froese, Christopher Franke, and Peter Baumann, it featured two ruminant 17-minute passages made up primarily from ethereal Mellotron, amorphous synths, and ready pianos, although the primitive sequencer figures that have been such a giant a part of Phaedra returned to drive the 2 tracks ahead as they hit their respective midway marks.
Even now, each items sound like snippets of arcane, however alluring information beamed in from distant stars, although it’s the breathtaking “Rubycon, Part Two” – with its eerie, siren-like drones, massed male voice choir interlude, and Froese’s otherworldly, backwards-masked guitar – which ensures that Rubycon stays one of many foremost go-to titles in Tangerine Dream’s labyrinthine catalogue.
Rubycon may be purchased right here.
