One of the items of ‘Free Radicals’ today is ‘Under the Lemon Tree #12’: an adventurous series of unbounded programmes that take the listener on an aural journey in which the key words are atmosphere & flow. It sounds contradictory but the usually cold month of December comes with the warm sounds of synthesizers. Embedded in the sounds of 2015, you will hear three ‘old school’ tracks in a minute, of which two even have vocals.
Mirror System is the somewhat more relaxed band of Steve Hillage and his wife Miquette Giroudy; the opponent of their ‘wilder’ System 7. ‘Batu Bolong’ is clearly influenced by the gamelan. Jam El Mar made his own version of the track, which you will hear near the end. Sandwich-like you will hear three older tracks in between. The first track is by the highly underestimated Tim Blake. He’s known from the band ‘Gong’ but also made records of his own. This is a track of his first LP: ‘Crystal Machine’. ‘Cyclone’ by Tangerine Dream was a shock to the fans: it had vocals in it! Chris Franke, former drummer, plays the (electronic) drums, something he hadn’t done in years. The shock, particularly over the vocals, was so great that newcomer Steve Jollife soon had to make way for a new member and on their next album the group fell back on more familiar terrain. That’s a shame because Cyclone is a very strong and mostly a much underestimated record. The ‘boss’ of Tangerine Dream – Edgar Froese – also made records of his own in his spare time. One of his better and warmer records that has a surprising atmosphere is Epsilon in Malaysian Pale. From that record you will hear the title track that has been re-recorded and remixed in 2004. In short: warm music for a cold month!
1. Mirror System “Batu Bolong“ (Hillage/Giroudy). 9:06.
2. Tim Blake “last Ride of the Boogie Child” (Blake). 7:52.
3. Tangerine Dream “Bent Cold Sidewalk” (Franke/Froede/Jollife). 13:09.
4. Edgar Froese “Epsilon in Malaysian Pale” (Froese). 18:26.
5. Mirror System “Batu Bolong“ (Hillage/Giroudy/Jam El Mar). 10:04
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Sources:
1. cd: N-Port – A-Wave AAWCD018.
2. cd: Crystal Machine– Voiceprint VP211CD.
3. cd: Cyclone – Virgin Records TAND 9.
4. cd: Epsilon in Malaysian Pale – Eastgate.
5. cd: N-Port – A-Wave AAWCD018.
