Possibly a little OT, but I did observe Chris Franke listening to the
MOTM system at NAMM, so there is at least a little topic fitness... ;)
I saw TD concerts in 1977 and in 1986. Both shows were unique. The '77
show had Franke operating a lot of Moog modular for the sequences (and you
had to pay attention to the sequencing, it changed subtly all the time);
Froese worked the Mellotron, Minimoog, etc. as did Baumann. I cannot
remember very many details as this was 26 years ago. They had an
impressive array of both electronic and acoustic instruments they'd use
thorughout the show.
Easier to recall is the 1986 "Underwater Sunlight" concert. This one
was half FM digital (Yamaha TX816 rack systems all over the place), and
half PPG Wave. MIDI tied everything together using some Atari ST
computers. Of course, there were still the acoustic grand and the
Mellotron. I think the very first issue of Electronic Musician profiled
their concert setup for the 1986 tour. Aside from the piano, everything
else was electronic.
I think, in retrospect, what made these concerts and the albums up to
and including 1987's "Canyon Dreams" so good was Chris Franke. He was the
sequencer guru, and after he left TD to do film scores, the band's music
just wasn't the same. Of course, around 1990 is when Edgar's son was old
enough to start tinkering with the band. In my humble opnion this was a
Bad Idea(tm). Nothing egainst Jerome, but he was keen to using lots of
drums, and that just doesn't fit the 'Berlin school' credo. I lost
interest in TD after 1990, save for the '220-Volt Live' album which sort
of bucked the trend a little and recalled a bit of the band's golden era.
I did pick up a few CDs later on; mainly the Tangent box which covered
the 1973~1986 area and is a really good box set to own--even if Froese did
a little revisionist mixing of a few tracks. His "Beyond the Storm" solo
double CD is also quite good; it recaptures some of what was lost in the
post-Franke TD era.
Crow
/∗∗/
On Sat, 21 Jun 2003, Markk wrote:
> same here... give me old T.D. with Christopher, Edgar, Peter and all synth.
> 3 large modulars...
>
> you either love it or you don't...
>
>
> I'll admit, though, to losing interest in TD when "Optical Race" came out.