Force Majeure

Newly remastered in Stereo from first generation master tapes. Force Majeure saw Tangerine Dream close the 70s with one of their most enduring Virgin masterpieces, paving the way for yet another decade of innovation. For Force Majeure, Tangerine Dream nucleus Froese and Christopher Franke chose to collaborate with cellist Eduard Meyer and drummer Klaus Kruger, who later departed to join Iggy Pop's band.

Pieced together from sessions at Hansa Ton Studio (a stone’s throw from the notorious Berlin Wall), Force Majeure repositioned Tangerine Dream in their familiar, all-instrumental terrain. Akin to Rubycon, the album was dominated by two lengthy explorations, though on this occasion, the towering titular track and the closing Thru Metamorphic Rocks were punctuated by the relatively succinct Cloudburst Flight, which incorporated an intense, squalling guitar solo from Froese.

Force Majeure, however, was undoubtedly the record’s tour de force. Perpetually nomadic and unerringly melodic, its undulating 18 minutes took in everything from to spatial ambience to arena-rock bombast and, eventually, icy, Kraftwerk-esque synth-pop minimalism – and not a second was superfluous.