Rubycon (album)
| Rubycon | ||||||||||||
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| File:Rubycon.png | ||||||||||||
| Studio album by Tangerine Dream | ||||||||||||
| Released | 21 March 1975 | |||||||||||
| Recorded | January 1975, The Manor, Shipton-on-Cherwell | |||||||||||
| Genre | Electronic music, Ambient, Berlin School | |||||||||||
| Length | 34:53 | |||||||||||
| Label | Virgin Records | |||||||||||
| Producer | Tangerine Dream | |||||||||||
| Tangerine Dream chronology | ||||||||||||
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Rubycon is the sixth studio album released in 1975 by German electronic music group Tangerine Dream.[1] It is widely regarded as one of their best albums. Rubycon further develops the Berlin School sequencer-based sound they ushered in with the title track from Phaedra.
Although not quite matching the sales figures for Phaedra, Rubycon reached number 10 in a 14-week run, their highest-charting album in the UK.[2]
Music
The album consists of two long tracks, each just over 17 minutes long. “Rubycon, Part One,” the A side of the LP, “ebbs and flows through tense washes of echo and Mellotron choirs, as primitive sequencer lines bubble to the surface”.[3] The B side, “Rubycon, Part Two,” “opens in a wonderfully haunted way” before “the synthesizer arpeggios return to drive things along”.[3]
Critical reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [3] |
Tom Moon includes Rubycon in his 2008 book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die: “This voyaging vision of sound, ever-unfolding and not quite ever arriving, has been imitated endlessly since 1975. But somehow its admirers haven’t quite captured the openness and faraway grandeur of Tangerine Dream”[4]
In his book Digital Gothic: A Critical Discography of Tangerine Dream, music journalist Paul Stump praises the album, noting: “Rubycon is simply a refinement of its predecessor—but to an acme of excellence, and demonstrates a mastery of primitive technology breathtaking in its audacity, tenacity and sheer artistic vision. It is probably the best album the band have made…” [5]
Tour
Christopher Franke's Moog synthesizer was damaged in transit during a tour after the album was released, and Franke himself was nearly killed from an electrical shock.[6]
Track listing
- "Rubycon, Part One" – 17:18
- Composed and played by:
- Edgar Froese: mellotron, guitar and VCS 3 synthesizer
- Christopher Franke: double Moog synthesizer, Synthi A, organ, modified Elka organ and prepared piano
- Peter Baumann: organ, EMS Synthi A, electric piano (Fender Rhodes) and prepared piano
- Composed and played by:
- "Rubycon, Part Two" – 17:35
Personnel
- Production credits
- Monique Froese – photography
- Mick Glossop – engineer
- Roland Paulick – technical assistance
References
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- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Swan, Glenn. Rubycon at AllMusic
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