supernatural probabilities

elsewhere classic

Tangerine Dream – Zeit

(Largo In Four Movements)

(Ohr, 1972)

A lot has been said about Zeit (engl.: Time), it’s an album of a perfectly executed concept, namely time being non-existent outside of the minds of living beings. It’s the single most timeless work of music conceived in the modern era and hasn’t aged despite being one of the first pieces of music utilizing synthesizers as the main instrumentation in a record release that entered the mainstream. Tangerine Dream fully embraced the electronic music age on their third album and at the time this must have been astounding, it was a giant leap. The album has been called everything from meaningless to boring to frightening to being the first true dark ambient recording – and it probably is, with a generous portion of kosmische space music thrown in. In almost 50 years it has lost none of its power to totally consume the listener and demand repeat listens. Edgar Froese and co. reached new levels with Zeit, an inspired, majestic piece of work. You only have to allow yourself to abandon preconceived ideas of time and the 75 minutes of Zeit will transport and compel you. Stellar like nothing else.

I discovered this album very late in my music collecting, the Tangerine Dream albums that were released a decade later, when i started listening to music, didn’t appeal to me, so I never bothered to look back into the history of the band. Then I was intrigued by the striking similarities of Coil’s album Time Machines with Tangerine Dream’s Zeit album, the titles were similar as was the artwork, a total eclipse on the Tangerine Dream album and the giant oval black hole on the Coil album. When I found out that they also shared musical parallels I was intrigued and delighted when I first heard Zeit, anyone who likes Time Machines should also listen to Zeit and the other way round. They both seem to exist in the same invisible universe many wormholes away from our generally perceived reality.

Tangerine Dream – Zeit (Arcàngelo, Japan 2005, double CD edition)

Zeit received many reissues after its initial release on Ohr (which was also repressed at least once in 1972). With the commercial success of the band and signing to Virgin, the album was available everywhere. Apart from the original pressing, a noteworthy repress is the reissue on its original home Ohr on translucent orange vinyl in as recent as 2018, already difficult to find for under 50 Euro. I also like the 2005 Japanese mini gatefold LP double CD reissue on Arcàngelo with the music spread over two CDs as it was on the double vinyl (unlike other double CD versions that have the live recording Klangwald on the bonus disc). A lot of remasters of the digital version exist, including the 2011 Ben Wiseman master that was issued in a collector’s vinyl and CD box. Opinions on the best digital version are divided, they all have their own characteristics, some are more sterile but also crystal clear, others are warmer with a very audible noise floor more like the original version. If you are a nerd you’ll have to check them out yourself, it’s a whole different world in itself, I am sure as long as I am obsessed with this album I will buy additional varying copies of the many different versions. John Peel once wrote a letter to the band saying that after a day of listening to random new music: „…my lady and I sit down and listen to Zeit before going to bed, it clears all the muck out of our heads“, good advice.

(Jenus)