The 1983 studio album Pinnacles would be Edgar Froese's last solo recording for the next twelve years. According to Edgar Froese, it reflected his deep love for the Australian Outback. Thus it was named after a region in Western Australia, a couple of hundred miles from Perth where bizarre stones have grown out of the desert sands thousands of years ago.
Pinnacles was stylistic like TD's White Eagle (1982) and Hyperborea (1983) using much the same instruments and digital sampling techniques. It was recorded by Edgar Froese for the first time on his own 16-track tape.
Re-Releases
In 2012 the original album was re-released as part of the compilation box Solo (1974-1983) - The Virgin Years, which was carefully remastered and provides an excellent sound quality.
The 2005 Re-Recording
In April 2005 a reworked version of Pinnacles has been released by Edgar Froese. All tracks have been 'tangentized', that is, remixed and partially re-recorded, though the differences to the original releases are not as distinct as on the re-releases of the earlier albums up to Ages. Three of these remixes appear to be identical to the versions that have previously been released as part of the Ambient Highway series, only Specific Gravity Of Smile had not been remixed before. It is left to the subjective opinion of the listener whether he prefers the original or the new versions, but doubtless as a result of this treatment the original 22 minute long title track was replaced by an 8 minute excerpt which features only the first of the three original movements, making this record the shortest solo album by Edgar Froese ever. Obviously some fans complained about this, so in May 2005 the following statement was published on Edgar Froese's web site: "Edgar cut off what -- in his opinion -- never should have been part of this song. But he is planning a kind of replacement for those fans, who felt uncomfortable with this situation." It is unknown if this official statement is the plain truth; an educated guess could be that this album was mostly compiled from existing remixes without taking into account that the remixed version of Pinnacles was only an excerpt -- suitable for a compilation like Ambient Highway but inappropriate for the re-release of the complete album. Anyway, currently there is no further information about this matter.
Like on all releases since 2003, the artist's name now includes his middle initial W. on the cover and in the credits. The early cover previews of the forthcoming 2005 re-releases used an identical style of artwork, featuring the same typeface and the reduced original artwork (or an excerpt of it) in a monochrome, wide frame, which made these re-releases some kind a of series. Of the final releases only Ages and, to a certain degree, Epsilon In Malaysian Pale used this artwork style. The re-release of Pinnacles now features a completely new design using artwork by Edgar Froese himself instead of the original (and more appropriate) photos of the Pinnacle desert by his wife Monika. Though the inner page of the 2-page insert clearly states that the album contains new recordings, this fact is recognizable from the outside only by the slightly cryptical remark "Pinnacles 2005 Production". The order number is neither printed on the package nor the CD, but the number given below is the order number the Eastgate Music Shop lists this release. Copies sold in the UK have been found with an additional barcode sticker showing the TDP number listed below.
In January 2007 this release became available as MP3 download at the Tangerine Dream Download Shop.
In June 2009 the 2005 re-recording of Pinnacles was re-released in Japan as part of a series of HiQualityCDs with mini LP paper sleeves featuring a slightly changed cover artwork, leaving out Edgar Froese's middle initial again.
Releases
France
1983: Virgin/Ariola
LP [a]: 205 594; red/green labels
Germany
1983: Virgin/Ariola
LP [a]: 205 594; red/green labels
1988: Virgin/Ariola
CD [a]: 255 594; identical to UK version; sticker with German number on jewel case
1993: Virgin
CD [a]: 787 217-2; identical to UK 1988 version; sticker with German number on jewel case
2005: Eastgate
CD [b]: eastgate 007 CD; blue/white disc; matrix code: 49007
2007: Eastgate
Download [b]: complete release or individual tracks as MP3
