I’ve started a series where I review and introduce some of my most favorite albums. Or, at the very least, I share some music with the reader that has had a definite impact upon my tastes, my experiences, etc. Music is fairly vital to me personally, and I suspect that most people find that the music they choose to listen to in their everyday life has high value and meaning to them. Perhaps, their lives gain greater meaning and value because they are exposed to powerful music. Either way, music is something that we humans seem to value and cherish, and it’s an essential part of the human condition.
Previously, I introduced you to a seminal album by Tangerine Dream. This was Phaedra, released in 1974. The word “revolutionary” is overused but it is quite applicable to this album. Phaedra, despite no airplay, went all the way up to No. 15 in the UK charts, so this album quite literally put Tangerine Dream on the international music map. They toured Europe (mainly just Germany and the UK, with some time in France), played quite a few gigs, and thus cemented themselves as powerful up-and-comers.
By January 1975, they found themselves back in the studio to record another album. How to keep the momentum going after such a pathbreaking album like Phaedra? Many musical groups and bands fold under that pressure. Yet, by every metric and measure, Tangerine Dream were able to deliver a stunning successor.
Edgar Froese, the TD frontman, shares some thoughts:
"When the band walked into the Manor for the second time, we were weighted down by the pressure of the success of Phaedra. There was a pressure to do it again but one has to point out that Simon Draper (the producer) and Richard Branson at Virgin did not pressure us to be commercial. The attitude was that Tangerine Dream could do whatever they wanted to on record, which was a very unusual practice for a record company". (Interview with Mark Pendergast, January 1994, Tangents)
Froese: "When we did Rubycon we talked much about if we wanted a commercial success or if we wanted to be progressive on our own terms. And honestly we decided that it was mostly ourselves it was all about. We wanted to develop the music we liked the most and to express ourselves personally". (Tangenten No.6, 1994)
Froese: "The recording of Rubycon was a very floating process. Unlike the Phaedra production there was never a break in the creative flow. The band had been on tour for most of the previous year and was now hot to spend a month working on some new music. Because of the commercial success of Phaedra, the sequencers could now be technically better equipped. At that time this branch of technology was fairly unknown and any technical alterations had to be custom-built. This was a very extensive undertaking and most of our earnings went into new equipment."
"I had orchestral instruments recorded by the BBC for my Mellotron, at the time a very luxurious thing to do. One can hear an oboe on Rubycon, Part Two as well as numerous strings sections had horns. The biggest problem, however, was the inconstant power supply at the Manor. At the time there were electrical problems throughout the Oxford region and sometimes the power was cut off for two to three hours at a time. We had to interrupt recording sessions when this happened, to connect our synths to electrical generators. Chris' Moog often played completely random sequences because of the unstable electrical current driving the oscillators. It was a crazy situation. When we finished recording there were altogether 12 hours of music from which to mix the final master". (Interview with Mark Pendergast, January 1994, Tangents)
For me, if a piece of music transports me to another place, or alters my consciousness in any degree, then it’s a worthy piece of music. Rubycon is a master-level album at taking you to another mental or emotional place. However, it’s subtler than Phaedra. There are aspects to Phaedra that make it otherworldly. There are broad musical strokes, brushes with a wide scope. With Rubycon, you are seemingly no longer on a planet but taking a cosmic voyage. There is a darker serenity, if that makes any sense.
A reviewer by the name of Neu!mann over at Progarchives has this to say:
Even more than their groundbreaking 'Phaedra', its 1975 sequel defined for all time the classic Tangerine Dream sound: urgent, overlapping sequencer rhythms, typically bookended by nebulous pre-New Age soundscapes, and underscored by Edgar Froese's unique touch with a Mellotron. For better or worse, the success of both albums ('Rubycon' was a UK top-ten hit) helped to shape a revolution in modern rock.
But the difference between them is striking. The music of 'Rubycon' was, as always, based around long electronic improvisations, but with a stronger, more confident sense of structure, slowly building in each long, self-titled track to an actual climax and resolution, dramatically so when stretched to seventeen-plus minutes. Even better, the trio had finally mastered their new equipment (the sequencer tuning was somewhat insecure on the earlier effort), and the driving momentum of each section, together filling both sides on an entire vinyl LP, is still nothing short of exhilarating.
And yet I suspect some fans would rather skip the ambient introductions and cut straight to the rhythmic chase, parts of which were actually excerpted (foolishly) as a 45 rpm single when the album was first released. But the scale of the music, and the interdependence of each chapter, can only be appreciated when heard without interruption.
Witness the spine-tingling moment near the six-minute mark in 'Part One', when the drifting meditative daydream slowly becomes an ominous deep-space nightmare, just before the sequencers kick in with their usual dynamic flair. Or the soothing transition to Mellotron flute at the end of 'Part Two', gracefully ending an otherwise turbulent piece of music on a palpable note of relief.
Worldwide success and a string of quintessential albums would follow. But this was Tangerine Dream at the peak of their electronic inspiration.
Album info:
Songs / Tracks Listing
1. Rubycon Part 1 (17:18)
2. Rubycon Part 2 (17:35)
Total Time: 34:53
Line-up / Musicians
- Edgar Froese / Mellotron, EMS Synthi A and VCS3 synthesizers, organ, guitar, gong
- Christoph Franke / prepared piano, Moog and Synthi A synths, organs (modified Elka tr. 1), gong
- Peter Baumann / organ, prepared piano, Fender Rhodes, EMS Synthi A and ARP 2600 synths
This is, in short, one of the crucial albums, a mandatory inclusion on any “must listen to” album list.
The best way to experience Rubycon would be to go into a dark room, put on some headphones, and hit ‘play’.