Cyclone
	Produced by Tangerine Dream
	Released on March 1978
	UK CHART POSITION #37
	Find it at GEMM
VI 2097 cover

C yclone is the band’s most “commercial” effort to date, including songs with vocals that suggest a Teutonic Pink Floyd. The change in direction stemmed in part from the band’s first lineup change since 1972’s Zeit: with Peter Baumann off to pursue a solo career, the band re-enlisted multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Steve Jolliffe and added drummer Klaus Krieger. Jolliffe is clearly influenced by Roger Waters, going so far as to double his own vocals to achieve the same half mad/half sane stance that marked Waters’ style, but the Pink Floyd fascination extends to the whole band, who appropriate the ending of “Dogs” to form the basis of “Bent Cold Sidewalk.” The second vocal track, “Rising Runner Missed By Endless Sender,” is twitchy electronic rock similar to Polyrock, although the ambitious lyrics are delivered in more of a defiant whisper than actual singing. While the group’s willingness to tamper with their formula is praiseworthy, most would agree that the album’s return to that formula on the side-long “Madrigal Meridian” is the real highlight here. On this piece, Christopher Franke’s sequencers have an urgency heretofore only hinted at, while Krieger’s drums serve to pull the rug out from the under the rhythm in a delightful way. The result is space music that runs like a well-oiled machine, more fluid and engaging than past experiments with sequencer-based epics. Although it has a reputation as an agitated exception in a very mellow catalog, Cyclone belongs with TD’s better albums from the ‘70s. Despite his considerable contributions, Jolliffe left after only one album with the band, and began a prolific (though less visible) solo career.

VI 2097 back cover

TRACK LISTING

1. BENT COLD SIDEWALK    13:00
2. RISING RUNNER MISSED BY ENDLESS SENDER    4:55
3. MADRIGAL MERIDIAN    20:32
   
   All songs written by Chris Franke/Edgar Froese/Steve Jolliffe

CREDITS

CHRIS FRANKE -- Moog modular synthesizer, Projekt electronic sequenzer, compuertstudiodigital sequenzer loop mellotron, melltron m400, ARP soloist synthesizer, Elka string synthesizer, electronic percussion, Oberheim sequenzer, Oberheim eight voice polyphonic synthesizer, Oby one
EDGAR FROESE -- Oberheim eight voice polyphonic synthesizer, twin keyboard mellotron mark V, ARP Omni string synthesizer, ARP digital soloist synthesizer, Moog modular synthesizer and Projekt electronic time control system, Gibson Les Paul custom guitars, Korg ps3100 polyphonic synthesizer, Roland gs500 guitar and gr500 controller, Slina string ensemble, Ovation acoustic guitar, cover painting
STEVE JOLLIFFE -- vocals, bass flute, alto flute, c-flute, piccolo, cor anglais, bass clarinet, Hohner clavinet, Elka string synthesizer, grand piano, Fender Rhodes, Roland system 100 synthesizer, tenor and soprano horns, lyricon by Computone
KLAUS KRIEGER -- polyester custom built drums with mutli trigger unit, electronic percussion, Paiste cymbals, bubims, burma gong set
Ottmar Bergler -- engineer
Tangerine Dream -- mixing
Monique Froese -- cover inside photograph

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