Two European instrumental bands that have made names for themselves with distinctive styles - the synthesizer-computer music pioneers of Tangerine Dream and ancient-America-inspired Cusco - have produced new albums for their fans worldwide.
TANGERINE DREAM; "Tyranny of Beauty" (Miramar). * * * 1/2
Besides having a resonant title that makes you think for a minute, the seemingly annual album from Tangerine Dream is a marvelous fudging of the borders between spacey '90s instrumentals and out-and-out rock. This one begs for the volume to be turned up an extra notch or two, to let the music take over. The result is ambience with real punch - stirring, tough-but-sweet music with Pink Floyd-like power, sans words (. . . though there are vocal effects that serve as ingredients in the overall sonic recipe).
As a unit, Tangerine Dream pioneered and fostered moody instrumental music for more than a quarter-century. During its rise to fame, the then-German band featured three men, all playing synthesizers. Only Edgar Froese remains of that trio, but he and his principal partner these days, his son Jerome Froese, tip the hat to his two mid-'70s cohorts, Peter Baumann and Chris Franke, with a remake of 1976's "Stratosfear." The 10-minute original, with a pulsating trance fit for a "Dr. Who" adventure, built to a shivery electronic scream; the new version is half as long, with a denser performance augmented by percussive rhythms and guitars, but it retains most of that old spine-tingling eeriness.
"Statosfear '95," as it's titled, is not the only mesmerizing track. The opening "Catwalk" is at once primordial and futuristic. "Little Blond in the Park of Attractions" starts dreamily then gets a rock edge, thanks to Gerald Gradwool's electric guitar. "Living in a Fountain Pen" (quirky, thought-provoking titles are another TanDream specialty) is a stylistic stew, with a Renaissance-reminiscent harpsichord, country-western guitar twang and jazzy sax all serving as preludes to a head-wagging rock beat.
It all wraps up with a dip into the classical past (a signature on recent albums), a reworking of the Largo theme from Handel's "Xerxes." The piece, with a floating alto sax solo by Linda Spa, turns out to be one of the few truly subdued moments on a strong album that, even more than is usual with Tangerine Dream, defies simple categorization.
CUSCO; "Apurimac II: Return to Ancient America" (Higher Octave Music). * * *
Montezuma and Xul-Kan, each a king long ago, would likely be surprised by the music emerging from Cusco's sixth album. To us the 10 songs - two bearing the names of those legendary rulers - have a pleasantly exotic, if homogenized, Meso-American air. To Monty and Xul the mix of pipes, percussion and electronics would certainly be akin to magic.
"Apurimac II - Return to Ancient America" is indeed a sequel. The debut album from Cusco, a European project with that Peruvian name, was "Apurimac," named for the sacred source of the Amazon River. That collection introduced mastermind Michael Holm's concept - Andean-influenced themes and images updated and transmogrified. This time around the inspirations are the Maya and Aztec civilizations of Central America farther north.
The melodies, with titles like "Yucatan" and "Goddess of the Moon," vary from the energetic to the lilting. "Montezuma," for instance, is a wild dance, with primitive, pounding percussion and flute effects. (You may have heard it in a current TV ad.) Xul-Kan might be perplexed by "Xul-Kan, King of Palenque," as it surrenders quite thoroughly to modern pop. "Dance of the Sun Priest" also sounds more than a bit urban. "Maya Temple," though, is understandably meditative, and "Temple of Remembrance," the final cut, is a dream-weaving epic.
RATINGS: four stars (* * * * ), excellent; three stars (* * * ), good; two stars (* * ), fair; one star (* ), poor, with 1/2 representing a higher, intermediate grade.