Zeit (1972) is the third album by the German electronic music group Tangerine Dream. A double album in LP, it was the first release of the classic lineup featuring Peter Baumann.
Overview
The style of this album is slower and more atmospheric than their previous albums. Indeed, it was considered to be a joke at the time because of its extreme avant garde nature.[citation needed] Its atmospheric drone music tone is similar to ex-member Klaus Schulze's album Irrlicht (released the same month) as it stemmed from a common idea that Schulze and Froese couldn't agree on and parted ways about. Florian Fricke from the Munich-based group Popol Vuh, playing Moog synthesizer, and four cellists appear on the first track. The album cover depicts a solar eclipse.
As explained by Paul Russell for the 2002 reissue, "Zeit, which means 'time', was based on the strange if somewhat pretentious philosophy that time was in fact motionless and only existed in our own minds."[1] And concluding, "Without doubt Zeit is a Krautrock master work still capable of surprises without having to shock. The album which took the band to the edge of international recognition, still sounds timeless 30 years on."[1]
Devotées of dark ambient music often refer to it as being one of the first (and perhaps finest) examples of the genre.
Running Times and Releases
Before the recent 2002 reissue there were two common releases on CD: A single CD release and a double CD set. The single CD release from Castle Music Ltd in 1999 has catalog number CMACD 555. The double CD set from Relativity in 1987 has catalog number 88561-8070-2.
The most significant difference between the two releases are the track lengths with the total running time of the double CD set being slightly longer than that of the single CD release. Specifically, the tracks "Birth of Liquid Plejades" runs about 3 seconds longer, "Nebulous Dawn" runs about 2 seconds shorter, "Origin of Supernatural Probabilities" runs about 2 seconds longer, and the eponymous track "Zeit" runs about 3 seconds longer. The most commonly given reason for this is that originally, when released on vinyl, Zeit was a two record set and the slightly longer running time would not fit on a single CD, but only by a few seconds. In reality, the difference seems to be due to the duration of silence between tracks; they being slightly longer than those of the single CD release.
In the early days of CD production it was not considered advisable to put more than 74 minutes of music on a single compact disc, which could also be an explanation for spreading the album across multiple discs.
The sound of the two releases is also strikingly different, the original Relativity release having a much "brighter" and more detailed sound. The Castle release was "remastered" from the original master tapes over a decade later and there seems to have been a deterioration in quality since then, as it exhibits a notably "muddier" and bottom-heavy sound.
Oddly, the track lengths listed on the two discs of the Relativity release are quite inaccurate with tracks 1 and 2 being listed at 20:00 and 18:00 minutes, respectively and tracks 3 and 4 being 20:12 and 17:43, respectively.
The total time for the Single CD release is 74:22 while the total time for the double CD set is 74:28.
Another notable difference between the two releases is that the double CD set has a significant light blue border surrounding the image of the solar eclipse on its cover, both front and back.
Track listing
All tracks by Tangerine Dream (Froese, Franke, Baumann).
- "Birth of Liquid Plejades" – 19:54
- "Nebulous Dawn" – 17:56
- "Origin of Supernatural Probabilities" – 19:34
- "Zeit" – 16:58
Personnel
- Musical
Tangerine Dream
With guest musicians
- Florian Fricke – Moog synthesizer on "Birth of Liquid Pleijades"
- Steve Schroyder – Organ outro on "Birth of Liquid Pleijades"
- The Cologne Cello Quartet — Cello intro on "Birth of Liquid Plejades"
- Christian Vallbracht
- Joachim von Grumbcow
- Hans Joachim Brüne
- Johannes Lücke
- Technical
- Graphical
- Edgar Froese – Cover art
- Monique Froese – Cover and sleeve photography
References
Notes
- ^ a b c Zeit CD booklet.
- ^ Cf. the Textura reference in Drone music.
See also
