Alpha Centauri is the second studio album by German electronic music group Tangerine Dream. It was released in March 1971 by record label Ohr.
| Alpha Centauri | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 1971 LP album cover | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 1971 | |||
| Recorded | January 1971 | |||
| Studio | Dierks Studio | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 39:48 | |||
| Label | Ohr | |||
| Producer | Tangerine Dream | |||
| Tangerine Dream chronology | ||||
| ||||
Content
editThe music on this album is quite different from Tangerine Dream's first album Electronic Meditation, partly because of a heavier reliance on keyboards and electronic technology, although they still mostly remain in the background: the dominant instruments on the album are organ and flute. The shift in instrumentation resulted in an atmosphere dubbed by Edgar Froese himself as "Kosmische Musik".[citation needed] Julian Cope's Head Heritage wrote that the album "used the space rock template from [Pink Floyd's] Saucerful of Secrets (and removed the rock)".[4]
A nowadays extremely rare single "Ultima Thule" was released in February of the same year. Side 1 employs the same guitar riff as "Fly and Collision of Comas Sola", but the single was at the time otherwise an unconnected release. Re-releases of Alpha Centauri in the 2000s have however included either or both parts of Ultima Thule as bonus tracks.
Release
edit| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [3] |
| Head Heritage | positive[2] |
| Pitchfork | 7.8/10[1] |
Alpha Centauri was released in March 1971 by record label Ohr. It sold 20,000 copies in their native Germany, nearly four times as many as their later classic Phaedra.[citation needed]
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Sunrise in the Third System" | 4:21 |
| 2. | "Fly and Collision of Comas Sola" | 13:23 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Alpha Centauri" | 22:04 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 4. | "Oszillator Planet Concert" (Sanctuary/Castle (2002), Arcàngelo (2004), Reactive/Esoteric (2011)) | 8:03 |
| 5. | "Ultima Thule, Part One (2000 remix)" (Arcàngelo (2004), Reactive/Esoteric (2011)) | 3:24 |
| 6. | "Ultima Thule, Part Two" (Reactive/Esoteric (2011)) | 4:24 |
Personnel
edit- Edgar Froese – guitar, organ, bass, voice
- Christopher Franke – percussion, lotos flute, pianoharp, zither, synthesizer
- Steve Schroyder – organ, voice, echo machines, iron stick
- Udo Dennebourg – flute, lyrics
- Roland Paulick – synthesizer
References
edit- 1 2 Leone, Dominique (6 February 2003). "Tangerine Dream: Electronic Meditation/Alpha Centauri". Pitchfork.
- 1 2 "Julian Cope Presents Head Heritage | Unsung | Reviews | Tangerine Dream – Alpha Centauri". 5 February 2005.
- 1 2 Breece, Michael G.. Tangerine Dream – Alpha Centauri at AllMusic
- ↑ "Julian Cope Presents Head Heritage | Unsung | Reviews | Tangerine Dream – Atem". 9 March 2012.
External links
edit- Alpha Centauri at Discogs (list of releases)