Force Majeure

FORCE MAJEURE is undisputed as one of the finest Tangerine Dream recordings and a milestone in electronic music in its own right. Released in 1978, the album seemed a true anomaly outside of Europe. Its panoply of unearthly sounds and mysterious sonic designs sounded foreign to American ears weaned even on non-mainstream music.
FORCE MAJEURE's three epic tracks have proved so enduring that pieces of them have cropped up in some of the Dream's better soundtracks (such as THIEF). This is cinema music for the mind's eye-a veritable feast for the senses, and a picturesque study in sonic architecture of an arresting, utterly alien nature. The indescribable analogue treasures nestled within the classic FORCE MAJEURE are perhaps best appreciated via headphones. The charismatic sequencers and electronic ricochets striated throughout "Thru Metamorphic Rocks" pivot within the listener's cranium, eventually working their way permanently into the subconscious. The electronic drumming on the title track retains the thrust of rock, but this is music rooted in surrealism and abstraction.|