Tangerine Dream
Ultima Thule

THE REVIEW

"Ultima Thule" is a mythical and mythological single released by Tangerine Dream in 1971. The group came from the previous, abrasive and psychedelic "Electronic Meditation". However, in the wake of that album, drummer Klaus Schulze—later also in Ash Ra Tempel as well as the author of an extraordinary solo career in electronic music—and violinist Conrad Schnitzler, a radical experimenter, left: they were surely too strong personalities to coexist with the late Edgar Froese. Froese then surrounded himself with drummer Christopher Franke and keyboardist Steve Schroyder to rearrange his ideas: he already had in mind the Cosmic Music of the masterpiece "Alpha Centauri". But their acid and psychedelic attitude emerges forcefully while listening to the single "Ultima Thule" from 1971: never again in the future would they be so spontaneous and out of their minds. Part one "Ultima Thule (Part 1)" sees Froese literally unleashed with the fuzz of his guitar: he manages to extract sounds so powerful, raw, and rough that they make all previous garage-rock pale in comparison: then the music becomes more fluid and dreamy with the surreal sounds of the organ approaching the Pink Floyd of "A Saucerful Of Secrets": we are facing an incredible piece. "Ultima Thule (Part 2)" is instead more subdued and meditative and already foreshadows future cosmic evolutions. Listening to this single makes one think about the boundless potential of Edgar Froese, a true genius. Who knows what amazing records Tangerine Dream could have released had they insisted on the psychedelic path of "Ultima Thule (Part 1)". The following "Alpha Centauri" will in any case be a very important album still imbued with a psychedelic attitude combined with avant-garde solutions and research: critics will speak for the first time of "Cosmic Music". From "Zeit" onwards, the group will devote itself to meditative electronics with great "visionary" impact. "Atem" will be another timeless classic before the introduction of the sequencer and records like the still great "Phaedra". But if you haven't listened to "Ultima Thule" yet, do it absolutely: here are Tangerine Dream at their most genuine.