The title track is an almost spooky exercise in synth/sequencer tension and dynamics: while eerie atmospheres of Mellotron go head to head with spiraling Moogs, dense, humming sequencer webs percolate along the surface, motile and mobile. The album's closer, "Sequent C," leaves the listener breathless, as black electronic clouds form and dissipate and the surrounding space becomes corporeal sound. PHAEDRA remains one of the seminal recordings of the electronic movement, and stands up--even years later--as an original, stunning piece of music.
Widely considered one of Tangerine Dream's masterworks, fallout from the sonic phenomenon that is PHAEDRA can still be found lingering in the ambient movement of the early '90s and in much of contemporary electronica. The aural architecture that the band built from scratch remains unparalleled. Tangerine Dream was truly ahead of its time--the four epic-length tracks on PHAEDRA revealed a band that fully understood--and loved to manipulate--the complex array of knobs, dials, and switches that protruded from their synthesizer facades.
Tangerine Dream: Edgar Froese (guitar, organ, Mellotron, synthesizer, bass instrument); Peter Baumann (flute, electric piano, organ); Chris Franke (keyboards, Moog synthesizer).
Q (5/95, p.134) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...[a] remarkable achievement, given the then fledgling nature of synthesizer technology and the leading role therefore thrust upon the unwieldy and limited Mellotron..." Q (Magazine) (p.141) - "There are few more inspire albums of German cosmic music than Berlin instrumental pioneers Tangerine Dream's breakthrough."
Edgar Froese - guitar, organ, Mellotron, synthesizer, bass instrument Chris Franke - keyboards, Moog synthesizer Peter Baumann - flute, electric piano, organ
The best album ever recorded. "Phaedra", made in 1974, is the music of the futurepast, of a place which perhaps could never exist yet somehow always has. It slides through the dark reaches of the universe, catapulting you further than you ever imagined possible. It is, quite simply, the most incredible recording ever made. It consists of four tracks of decreasing length, each doing completely different things to your brain. Go with it. It will haunt you. It will show you things you will not be able to put into words. This album is nearly 30 years old. That should put things in perspective for you. This is visionary stuff, completely serious, unspeakeably emotional and unrelentingly beautiful. There is not a single work spoken or sung on the album, just washes of organs and dense pulse layers, synth spirals, otherworldly whisperings and a binding, rolling, awesome structure to the proceedings that sweeps you away until you're completely and utterly lost in the music, so lost you don't know how you got there and you never want to go back; you never even want to know where it is you started out. Buy it. Treasure it. Listen to it in the dark, lying down, with your eyes closed. Oh, the things you'll see. The places you'll go. Submitted by a reviewer (Ireland) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo 1 of 1 found this helpful.
Awesome !!! I'm probably one of the few T-Dream fans that actually like all of their incarnations from the early spacy-trippy Phaedra, Stratosphere and Force Majure type stuff but also like Lily on the Beach and Optical Race so I might not be the best one to take advice from on this album but I have to say that Phaedra is really awesome. If you have iTunes on your MAC play Phaedra and use the Visualizer which fills your screen with continuous constantly changing abstract visuals. It was made for this album. Just kick back and relax and away you'll go :-) Submitted by a reviewer (New York, NY) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo
Top 10 of all time ambient albums For the true ambient music fan, this album should be on your top 10 of all time list, alongside Ambient #4 On Land by Eno, and Gone to Earth (Instrumental) by David Sylvian. Submitted by Bruce (Toronto, ON Canada) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo
NetZero Well, this CD begins with ebbs and flows
from spacey currents, thrills and chills, and of course spooky influences.
Thank You. Submitted by Stephen (Menifee Lake, CA, USA) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo
A masterpiece! Phaedra may take some getting used to, ideally, any Tangerine Dream album requires about 2 listens. However, once you're into it - the album contains some spellbinding atmospheres courtesy of Froese's exceptional mellotron skills. Submitted by a reviewer (Wolverhampton, UK) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo
The best album ever recorded.
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