Stratosfear



Stratosfear is the eighth album by the German group Tangerine Dream. It marks the beginning of the band's development away from their uncompromising early 1970s synthesizer experiments toward a recognizably more melodic sound, a trend they would pick up again in 1979's Force Majeure. The title track "Stratosfear" has been played live many times and has been released in a re-mixed form on a number of other albums.

Stratosfear combines Tangerine Dream's acoustic and electronic influences more tightly than before. For instance, at the end of the last track, "Invisible Limits", the deep piano/flute tune reveals the album's romantic flavour even after the earlier predominantly synthetic compositions (tracks #1 to last part of track #4).

The LP reached No.39 in the UK, in a 4-week chart run, and eventually reached silver status for selling in excess of 60,000 copies (£100,000+).

Nick Mason of Pink Floyd did the original mix of Stratosfear in April 1976 at Hansa by the Wall. Due to disputes between Tangerine Dream and Virgin, this mix was abandoned.

Personnel

 * Edgar Froese – Moog synthesizer, Mellotron, guitars, 12-string guitar, grand piano, bass guitar, mouth organ
 * Peter Baumann – Moog synthesizer, Mellotron, Projekt Elektronik Rhythm Computer (modular synthesizer), Fender electric piano
 * Christopher Franke – Moog synthesizer, Birotron, organ, percussion, harpsichord

Single
A single was released in 1976 with excerpts from two tracks.