Must've been a memorable start to the 80s for Johannes Schmoelling. Having just settled into the new Tangerine Dream lineup, his upcoming first concert was not only across the Berlin Wall and behind the Iron Curtain, but in the great hall of the Palast Der Republik, with the heads of government and other officials in attendance at the second of the day's concerts. So, you know, no pressure.
TD's famous East Berlin concerts on 31st January 1980 came about thanks to Edgar Froese's friendship with East German musician Reinhard Lakomy. Lakomy was not only one of the best-known musicians in the DDR (and about to try his hand at a few electronic albums too - one of them
here), but also had the ear of a contact at the state Ministry of Culture. Lakomy made the case to them that Tangerine Dream, free of potentially troublesome lyrics, would be a safe bet for the first Western group to take part in the DT64 radio show's Youth Concert series. Froese at one point even invited Lakomy to join Tangerine Dream, but the powers that be would've made this unworkable so the idea was abandoned.
The afternoon and evening shows saw the new TD lineup preview their reconfigured sound, which would shortly lead to the Tangram album, for thousands of East Berlin fans who could afford tickets (some prices heavily scalped) and the aforementioned government officials. Before the evening concert, which was the one recorded, a great swell of ticketless fans desperate to get in moved Froese to demand they be admitted or there would no concert.
The second show's recording, then, was eventually broadcast on East German radio in its entireity (more of that later), and also formed the basis of a souvenir album. The contractual agreement was that for six years following the concert, the album would only be released on Amiga, the DDR state label for popular music, so TD edited the tapes and duly delivered the record that ended up with the strikingly surreal cover image above. Officially it had no title, but became known as "Quichotte" as this was what the two sides were called - named after a film version of Don Quixote being shown at a nearby cinema at the time of the concert.
The rest of the world finally got to hear the album in 1986, when it was titled "Pergamon" after a museum in East Berlin, but retaining Quichotte Part 1 and Part 2 for the track titles. Starting out with a dramatic piano statement, Part 1 builds slowly, quickly recognisable as a close cousin of Tangram in its main themes. After eleven minutes, the sequencer runs kick in until an atmospheric interlude provides a convenient switching point between the two LP sides. A few more minutes of this in Part 2 are followed by an even more high-energy run of full-tilt synths, sequencers and a scorching extended guitar solo by Froese to take the album towards its end. With 46 minutes of music this good from a freshly-minted lineup, Quichotte/Pergamon is a great counterpoint to the more polished Tangram.
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As mentioned earlier, the full evening concert was recorded for East German radio broadcast, and the Tangerine Tree fan project managed to track down a good quality recording - followed a few years later by an even better source, which is what we have here. Presented in full with even the four-minute introduction by the radio hosts intact, the complete concert featured a 40 minute piece followed by a 47 minute one, and a 13 minute encore. So obviously much more music than appeared on Quichotte/Pergamon - and here's where the fun starts, spotting where the concert was used to construct the LP.
Part One, for starters, wasn't used for the LP at all. Starting from swishing atmospherics, it builds up from calm ambience in the first nine minutes until the unmistakeable introductory theme from Tangram appears. From here, there are other elements that show that forthcoming album as a work in progress, along with lengthy runs that are looser and more open-ended, and went otherwise unreleased.
Part Two then is the section of the concert on which the album was based. The piano introduction is slightly longer than the LP edit, and there are occasional out-of-tune instruments that were cleaned up or enhanced for the album, but otherwise Quichotte Part 1 can be heard in its entirety. What happens next though, around 28 minutes in, is that concert and album diverge - yep, Quichotte Part 2 is mostly a replaced (presumably studio backup) recording, likely from TD deciding that section with the great guitar solo sounded better than the respective section from the concert (good though it is). The encore is another great sequencer piece that was otherwise unreleased, that eventually winds down to a lovely Tangram-esque mellow finish. The recording fades out on the final rapturous applause from the fans - must've been quite an experience to be there. Wonder if anyone in the audience was also at TD's show in East Berlin just over ten years later, when they played their last DDR concert. Just been listening to that one too (Tree Vol. 49, February 1990), and ouch, their best days had gone at that point. But Vol. 17, with newbie Schmoelling on board, is a classic.
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Concert programme
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Previously posted at SGTG: