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Atem
by Tangerine Dream
Product Group: Music
Studio: Sbme Castle Us
ISBN: B00007L7FN
EAN: 0060768124523
UPC: 060768124523
Audio CD
Original Release Date: 1973-01-01
Release Date: 2003-01-21
SKU: CD0855
Condition: Very Good
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Customer Reviews
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My Favorite TD
Rating  (5)
Date: 2005-04-07
1 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
Atem (the song) reminds me of an ancient Inca sacrificial rite where the victim's heart was torn from his chest; Fauni Gena, of course, puts me in the midst of a tropical rainforest; Wahn takes me back to prehistoric days where cavepeople sat around a fire in the inky nights. This is my favorite TD album. Only their earlier (before '85 or so) really strike me as great, but oh what a time that was!
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The Metamorphosis Of Tangerine Dream
Rating  (4)
Date: 2005-01-21
2 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
After the dark space ambience of their previous release,"Zeit","Atem",TD's 4th album,released in 1973,is significantly lighter in tone when you compare the two.This release not only marks the changing sound of TD at the time,but also marks the band's first use of the then new Mellotron synthesizer.Out of this new synth model,a whole new sound was beginning to emerge from the depths of the Tangerine Dream well,and to good effect.The album opens on an unusually,surprisingly,energetic note on the opening moments of the title piece,"Atem",which really drives the piece along,but before long,the energy abruptly gives way to the classic TD musical sound of eerie,synthesized silence.For a moment,you can actually hear yourself breathing,as the eerie quiet synth backdrops sound like a soundtrack from a horror movie,and while the synths are at a low sound spectrum,they still manage to sound menacing,like one of those minutes where everything is relaxed,albeit eerie,but it is still threatening,as if there's something horrible around the corner,just waiting to ambush you,and while the synths and soundeffects do pick up in frequency and volume every now and then,nothing major really happens,and the piece eventually fades into silence,and ends.A brilliant work that proves that Tangerine Dream was the master of suspense among all the similar competing groups of the time.The second track,"Fauni Gena",features sustained recordings of what sound like birds in a jungle,chirping in the background,while a beautiful,yet eerie synthesized flute plays a structured tune,with support from other synths which make this piece turn out to be as close to meditative as Tangerine Dream was willing to go,but without sacrificing their trademark dark sound.A beautiful,relaxing,yet eerie and uneasy piece.The third track,"Circulation Of Events",is a very short work in terms of TD's standard track lengths at the time,clocking in at only about 5 minutes.Not much to say about this piece,except that despite the time constraint,the band was still able to make another great experimental cut.The last track on this album,"Wahn",is the reason why I rated this album 4 stars instead of 5.This piece is unique in Tangerine Dream's complete line of work,because here,they seem to have gone insane,by using their shameful vocal talents by way of grunts,shouts,and screams,that can easily disturb even the most accustomed fans of experimental/ambient music.Even I was disturbed when I first listened to this track,and I have to say,even today,I still don't much care for it because it detracts from the mood that the rest of the album set up,and is in no way in line with what the band was trying to accomplish at the time.There is a limit to everything,including experimentalism,and too much of it can add up with bad results,and "Wahn" is a perfect example of it.Thank goodness TD didn't try this ever again,because if they would have,it probably would have had negative consequences for the band.But don't let that set you off from buying this album,because the other three tracks on this album are all good enough to override the flaw of the final track.Overall,this album is just as good as TD's albums before it,and represents a snapshot of TD's metamorphosis of their sound from space music to more ambient sounding recordings.Happy Listening!
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The best of the cosmic Dream!
Rating (4)
Date: 2004-05-11
3 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
Man! I sure wish that someone would clue some people in to the eras of Tangerine Dream..."Worst Classic Dream",HA! I guess you could say that this isn't very technical of a T.D. CD?But this was the FIRST Tangerine Dream that had synths on it! This is a way-out classic from the early 1970's,not a new-age CD made on digitally perfect technology. Don't look for light airy music,look for experiments made by friends of Salvador Dali,or fearky,hairy, Kraut Rock madmen set loose in a studio and existing with a mind-set to experiment into deep space! Now this album is thee first step to the classic mid-period of Tangerine Dream! The baby steps were on Alpha Centauri ,and that was an album that reached for outer space with flute, guitar,and organ,for God's sake! If you are a Kraut Rock fan then this might be T.D.'s pinnacle for you!? Try ZEIT,and Alpha Centauri for earlier "reaching for space" madness.(With Zeit,possibly "floating in space" madness!?) Anyway,the ATEM album marked a finding of a "code" of sorts for Tangerine Dream. It opened the way to smoother,cooler,scarier sounds that were emitted on PHAEDRA,STRATOSPHERE,etc.("Un-easy listening" synth classics,I like to call 'em!) But,I have to say that fans of the more "Prog." T.D, AND the more "Kraut Rock" oriented T.D. fans should both hear this pivotal CD! The sound on this issue is a million miles better than the Relativity re-issues that had a giant sound 'drop-out' on one track. So, now you can put on headphones and just float into the space that these early explorers created. Just keep an open mind...please. This is a classic from the early 1970's for God's sake,enjoy it for what it is. Cosmic music of the trippy kind!
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Worst Classic Dream
Rating  (2)
Date: 2003-06-16
1 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
I liked the first 5-or-so minutes of the opener which evokes some Egyptian pyramid. Then it transitions into mediocre fare, and the next two songs continue the mediocrity. The last song, with the horrendous vocals, was thankfully a one-time experiment! "Alpha Centauri", "Green Desert", and "Zeit" are much better early TD. On the other hand, maybe the new remastered version will reveal the songs in a better way.
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Tangerine Transition
Rating (4)
Date: 2003-04-24
4 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
Tangerine Dream was going through a slow period of transition from 1970's "Alpha Centauri" to 1974's "Phaedra". This album represents a step in that transition where the band finally begins to embrace electronic instruments as their primary tools, while still holding on to some of their "Alpha Centauri"-type experimental approach. This is the last TD album released before they went to England to record with Virgin, and also the last studio album to feature drums until 1979's "Cyclone".Personally, I find this album somewhere between the industrial freakouts of "Electronic Meditation" and the icy moonscapes of "Zeit". There are some wild and crazy moments, but the disc is dominated by a sense of space, and empty quietness. Quite a lot of the album sounds like Zeit outtakes or backing tracks waiting for a solo, but they provide a nice contrast to the louder, more upfront moments. This is the first TD album to feature the Mellotron, which would become a staple of the Tangerine Sound in the following decade. The album is drenched in Mellotron, but the instrument is most prominent in the first two tracks, the sidelong epic "Atem" and the shorter, mysterious "Fauni-Gena". "Fauni-Gena" also contains some kind of backing track made up of jungle bird noises. Overall, I would say that if you like "Alpha Centauri"s first side, you'll like this record. Bear in mind that the primitive recording environment is made evident in the amount of tape hiss throughout the album, but that's easy to ignore.
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