Tangerine Dream: Booster

Tangerine Dream first became a household name after the increasing attention received since their first experimental music releases in the late 70s. As an early proponent of Krautrock along with Kraftwerk and similar bands, Tangerine Dream first began by creating avant-garde pieces making use of early analog synthesisers. As their career advanced and Tangerine Dream refined their sound, they became highly influential in the development of the 'New Age' musical genre and inspired several other acts, such as Enigma.

The 'Booster' compilation contains a total of 16 tracks across 2 CDs and serves as a tasteful retrospective for the bands output, including excerpts from 'Logos' and 'Tangram.' Alongside examples of Tangerine Dreams past hits, the album includes several lesser known tracks and some more recent compositions. The album itself includes several tracks recorded live, alongside several studio compositions, the sonic quality however is truly remarkable, this album is indeed very well mixed to sound crisp with great attention to detail.

The first track, 'One Night In Space' is a masterpiece in its own right and establishes the sequencer driven electronica style which is seen throughout the entire album. It is unsurprising that this has been incorporated into many of their live sets of late. With that said, most of the album is more ambient than the first track, serving as great background music. The hypnotic quality of 'The Greek Mirror' for instance reminds the listener of the bands roots in new age music but in a much more sophisticated electronica soundworld.

Overall, this album remains one of my personal favourites of all time, containing some truly exceptional examples of electronica which remains unparalleled by any other band. A later expansion to the 'Booster' Series, 'Booster Volume II' is reviewed here.

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