A Trip To Italy For "Turn Of The Tides"

(Dream Collector #8, September 1994)

Tangerine Dream's style and influence is often compared to the one of the world's rock-giants like Genesis or Pink Floyd. But for years, there was an important difference: Edgar and his band always denied commercial performances, big press-meetings and similar public relation activities.

This made some people feel astonished when Edgar Froese, Jerome Froese and Linda Spa appeared during an official presentation of the Italian record company Les Folies Art which distributed Turn Of The Tides in Italy. This meeting with journalists but also with some fans took place on March, 6th at the "Sesto Senso Club" in Desenzano Sul Garde, near the Garda lake (Northern Italy).

An Italian TV crew asked TD some questions for an interview which was broadcasted a few days later, and nearly 100 people in the club asked many questions about the latest release. Especially fans and collectors wanted to know many details about the last 13 years while TD did not appear officially in Italy. Before, the band had been the last time in 1981 when an extensive European tour also included gigs in Rome, Firenze and Bologna.

For the first time, some video shots made for Turn Of The Tides were presented on a big screen. These clips were especially produced by the Italian company for this event. The film features most time landscapes with some technical effects, but it contains also some pictures of TD in the studio in Vienna. Some of the video material was also used for the broadcast of the TV interview.

When the presentation was over, most of the Italian people left the club with the feeling of having met some real -- but uncommon -- rock-giants...