The short version
- Tangerine Dream's fourth album, released on Ohr in March 1973.
- John Peel made it one of his albums of the year and played it, and British mail orders grew.
- The baby on the sleeve is Jerome Froese, Edgar Froese's son. He was two years and four months old when it came out.
- The band's early Ohr period ends here. From the next album the sound gets more structured.
In Britain this record was hard to find in a shop, so people ordered it by post. You heard it on the radio, wrote out an order form and sent it off. The English Wikipedia says the pile of those orders is what made Richard Branson take notice of the band, and marks it as something handed down rather than documented. What happened next is not in doubt, though. The next album came out on Virgin.
Where this record sits
The title means breath. Where the four sides of Zeit sat almost still, this one moves. AllMusic called it more melodic and less dissonant than the band's other early work, and said the line-up puts a nice topspin on the old prog rock sound. The same piece adds that while it is still common to see the band filed as progressive or art rock, this album is pure space music.
Julian Cope's Head Heritage calls it the band's transitional album, and the English Wikipedia lands on the same spot: the early Ohr period closes here, and later albums take a more structured and more commercially viable sound.
The line-up is the same three. Froese on Mellotron, organ, guitar and voice; Franke on EMS VCS 3, drums, percussion, organ and voice; Baumann on organ, piano and VCS 3. Two voices in that list is what the previous record did not have.
- Released
- March 1973, Ohr (West Germany)
- Played by
- Edgar Froese (Mellotron, organ, guitar, voice), Christopher Franke (EMS VCS 3, drums, percussion, organ, voice), Peter Baumann (organ, piano, EMS VCS 3)
- Cover
- Jerome Froese, two years and four months old at release
- UK release
- issued officially on Polydor around this time, along with Alpha Centauri
Track listing
| 1 | Atem | 20:32 |
| 2 | Fauni-gena | 10:52 |
| 3 | Circulation of Events | 5:55 |
| 4 | Wahn | 4:33 |
The timings are the ones MusicBrainz carries for the 1973 Ohr pressing.
Through the four pieces
- "Atem." 20 minutes 32 seconds, a whole side. Head Heritage called it the band's most powerful moment. Listen for where the Mellotron enters and drops away.
- "Fauni-gena." 10 minutes 52 seconds. The force of the first piece drains out and air is left. Count how thin the sound gets here.
- "Circulation of Events." 5 minutes 55 seconds, opening a second side of two shorter pieces.
- "Wahn." 4 minutes 33 seconds, with the vocal experiments furthest forward. Listen for the point where a human voice gets pushed over toward being an instrument.
How to listen
- Do not break the first 20 minutes. The other three pieces come to 21 together.
- Take one pass following only the Mellotron. Tape-made strings and electronics die away in different shapes.
- Turn the last two pieces up a little. The rough edges in short pieces get buried when you play them quietly.
What happened next
Radio is what carried this record in Britain. John Peel made it one of his albums of the year in 1973, and the English Wikipedia credits his championing of it with bringing the band to British listeners in a big way. Alpha Centauri and this album did get an official UK release on Polydor around then, but people went on ordering the records by post.
Looking back, Head Heritage called it the band's most adventurous and exhilarating listening experience, in the same piece that calls it transitional.
The baby on the sleeve grew up and joined the band. Jerome Froese.
Where to get it
The 1973 Ohr pressing is this record's first shape. In Britain it circulated as a Polydor release alongside Alpha Centauri, and the two were later packaged together. Put on side one and leave the 20 minutes alone. Knowing the title means breath, you start to hear where it draws in and where it lets go.