Le Parc

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Customer reviews

review by: Stonegnome date: 2008-05-05 rating:
Around the world in under 40 minutes!
The theme of this album is, as the title suggests, park spaces around the world. At first glance, the concept appears unassuming and hardly feels the topic for great musical expression. Bear in mind, though, that Tangerine Dream are masters of musical landscape and this topic certainly has given them scope aplenty to demonstrate this mastery. The hallmark Tangerine Dream electronic textures have been enhanced on several tracks by the inclusion of appropriate environmental recordings (of children playing, traffic passing and gulls crying over the sound of the sea) all of which add to the sense of actually being there. br / br /Thus we can't help but feel the bustle and vibrancy of 'Le Parc (L.A. Streethawk)', enjoy the expansive views from 'The Cliffs of Sydney (Sydney)' and become involved in the daring of the skateboarders of 'Central Park (New York)'. Every inch of this musical journey is a delight, from the well-ordered lawns of 'Tiergarten (Berlin)' and the impressive but civilised beauty of 'Gaudi Park (Guell Garden, Barcelona)' to the vast imposing grandeur of 'Yellowstone Park (Rocky Mountains)'. This latter comes complete with haunting Amerindian tonalities and Clare Torry's wordless evocation of an ancient and almost forgotten spirit-world. Particularly beautiful too are the synthesised oriental flutes, strings and drums that portray the mystical peace of 'Zen Garden (Ryoanji Temple, Kyoto)' and which provide a perfect setting for Katja Brauneis' exquisite wordless vocals. br / br /My only complaint about this disc is that there is simply not enough of it! Just less than 40 minutes in duration, it is decidedly slim fare by today's CD standards. You should be aware too, that the 5-CD set "Dream Roots Collection" contains 7 of the 9 tracks from this album (the missing ones are 'Hyde Park (London)' and 'The Cliffs of Sydney') so, if you are currently without this disc, and also "Tyger" and "Underwater Sunlight", you might want to consider buying the box set instead of the single CDs. The box set versions are slightly different, but are in no way inferior to these originals. It would be a shame not to have the Sydney track, though...

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review by: date: 2007-10-20 rating:
C'est Fantastique!!!
This was the first Tangerine Dream album I ever heard way back in 1986 when I was but 11 years old. br /While everyone else at school was listening to whatever was in the top 10 at the time, I was getting down to artists such as Icehouse, Kraftwerk, Jean Michel Jarre, Mike Oldfield and The Cars. br /A friend told me that if I liked keyboard based instrumental music I would like Tangerine Dream, and in particular, 'Le Parc'. I never looked back. br /This record was made by the Edgar Froese, Chris Franke, and Johannes Schmoelling lineup (still best lineup in my opinion) that achieved great success throughout the 1980's with highly experimental studio albums, top notch movie soundtracks (Thief, Firestarter, Flashpoint, Legend etc) and massive tours. With 'Le Parc' Tangerine Dream went for a little more accessibility, and shorter pieces. br /Opener, 'Bois De Bologne' is a fairly typical, by the numbers piece which gets the record off to a decent start. It's just a shame that the track fades out just as it's getting interesting. br /Next track 'Central Park' is one of my favourites and really works in creating a mental image of New York. It's a swashbuckling number that wouldn't sound out of place in a Hollywood action movie. br /'Gaudi Park' is one of the weaker tracks here. It's a little too repetitive and works as nothing more than an album filler. br /'Tiergarten' is a lovely piano led piece with a Sunday School/Gospel feel to it. br /'Zen Garden' is a meditative number that I used to dislike intensely. Now I find it a nice, relaxing track. It's still another of the weaker tracks on offer, but is more enjoyable than I remember. br /Title track 'Le Parc' will be familiar to males of my age as the theme tune to 1980's action series 'Streethawk'. It's a lively, energetic track, guaranteed to get you arrested for speeding. br /'Hyde Park' is another great track, with a nice, poppy feel to it and a good, solid rhythm/beat. br /'The Cliffs Of Sydney' is fairly dramatic piece, that once again wouldn't sound out of place in an action thriller movie, and is typical of the kind of music Tangerine Dream would contribute to soundtracks. br /Album closer 'Yellowstone Park' is a fine number with lots of atmosphere and is obviously inspired by Pink Floyd's 'Great Gig In The Sky' as they get Clare Torry in to peform some similar vocal gymnastics. It's a great finale to what is arguably one of the band's best efforts of the 1980's. br /The production is crisp and clear, especially on the remastered version of the album, and on the right sound system, the rhythm section on several of these tracks sounds meatier and a lot less dated than on previous records. br /Sadly, a road weary Johannes Schmoelling would leave the band after this record, thus ending five or six years of high productivity and great success. br /'Le Parc' ends a series of very, very good studio albums, and I love it as much now, as I did in 1986.


review by: date: 2006-11-13 rating:
A Superb Re-Issue...
br /This was one of the first CD's I ever bought, back in late 1985. Having had such good results from the other re-remastered TD albums, it was now the turn of this excellent collection of tracks to be re-purchased. br / br /Tangerine Dream at this time were, apparently, doing a lot of prep work alone, getting together regularly to compare notes and to finish and mix the tracks. I believe that this album was also the last studio outing for Johannes Schmoelling, who left shortly after to follow an excellent solo career. br / br /The theme of various parks around the world is an interesting one and works really well, the use of short tracks now being commonplace in their releases. Favourites for me are "Le Parc (LA-Streethawk)" and "Hyde Park", although there's huge merit in all the others, other favourites changing with familiarity over the years. I very much enjoy the difference in styles presented here and I've discovered that fans of the band all have their different favourites. Even Clare Torry, the lady singer from Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon, makes a welcome appearance in the track "Yellowstone Park" br / br /I must admit to being a bit cautious when buying re-remastered CD's. Sometimes the original issue was awful and needed all the help it could get offered by modern technology. On other occasions, better master tapes become available, immediately giving a vastly better sound to re-issued CD's (and LP's). Mostly though, all that's needed is a little bit of what the good people at Decca once called "Beauty-Shopping" i.e. tidying up the levels here and there, carefully minimising hiss and cleaning up edits. This re-release sounds louder than my original CD (fortunately the loud bits haven't been totally squashed and butchered in the process, which can happen when the volume is lifted excessively when remastering) and it's easier to hear "into" the mix I found, helping me to enjoy less favoured tracks more. br / br /The inside of the CD *booklet* is also different to my original "Jive" CD, having info on the band at this time and an appraisal of each track. br / br /I very warmly recommend this (Castle/Sanctuary) CD issue.

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