Edgar Froese - Dalinetopia

Edgar's first album of all new material for some 21 years should be a matter for some rejoicing. After all, as a founder member of Tangerine Dream he is partly responsible for some of the most innovative and groundbreaking EM there has ever been. Whatever your personal tastes in EM are, almost everything you hear owes at least some small debt to this great group.

And yet…things are never that simple, Beyond The Storm, and the rather odd Ambient Highway collection were patchy to say the least. The latter, in particular would have benefited from severe pruning into one, excellent double CD. His constant tinkering with his musical past suggests that he is either never happy with the finished product, or that he has quite simply run out of fresh ideas.

So it is a pleasure to be able to report that in parts this is actually rather good, not as good overall as say Epsilon or Stuntman that's for sure, but certainly a good deal better than much of TD's recent material. As most of will you already know Edgar met Salvador Dali, whilst still in The Ones in 1965, and it was that meeting which led Edgar to eventually start TD and the rest is, as they say, history. As Edgar himself puts it in the sleeve notes, this CD is composed in his honour and respect.

There are ten tracks, each representing some aspect of Dali. Daleroshima opens the proceedings, and good it is too, until a rather unfortunate and very intrusive drum sound appears. Thankfully it fades away and the rest of the track sounds like something from Pinnacles. Next up is Dalozapata, those drums again and these dominate the piece with guitar and washes of sound in the background. Not very promising it has to be said.

The third track is Dalamuerte. This opens with a lovely synth sound – very gentle and almost cosmic like. A guitar starts, and a real surprise it is too, a stunning solo, the likes of which I have never heard Edgar play before. Think David Gilmour and you wouldn't be far wrong. Next is Dalerotica – a great track. Over six minutes long, with a pulsating sequencer driven sound, and lots going on around it. The track winds down with some excellent cosmic effects. Would be great live and without a doubt the best piece so far.

The fifth track is Daliesquador – another fantastic piece, a fast beat from the start, some synth sounds wash around it before another even faster sequencer kicks in which just gets faster and faster. Who'd have thought we would be hearing such stuff from Edgar again! The sixth track Daluminacion starts with another surprise - a piano, first as a solo and then some muted sounds fill in, almost orchestral. A sequencer starts, fades and then back again – very effective. I could have done without the heavy drums at the 2 minute 30 seconds mark. The sequencer keeps going, as does the piano. Unfortunately it doesn't last as the drumming sound becomes too prominent, the piano fades away and the rest of the piece is rather clichéd for my tastes.

Dalagalor is another very interesting track with that great guitar sound again, and an unusual melody which drives it along. This is quite exceptional stuff, bursting with ideas and vim and if you listen hard there is also a wonderful sequencer sound weaving in and out. Next up is Daluna. This suffers by comparison from the preceding track but is excellent nonetheless.

Dalysisyphus – starts with that too prominent drum sound again, and it doesn't do much for me. Also at over seven minutes it is far too long. Dalinetopia – an almost tribal rhythm starts this one off accompanied by choral sounds. It is effective and interesting, and as the pace picks up, it begins to sound nothing like EM at all! A strange finale, which wouldn't have sounded out of place on an album by The Pat Metheny Group!

So there you have it, 10 tracks of varying quality, but at least five of which stand out as some of the very best material he has ever recorded. This burst of creativity obviously comes out of the fact that this particular subject is close to Edgar's heart. The question I suspect most of us will be asking is, can it continue?