Ricochet

Chris Franke: "Ricochet is probably my favourite, because it proved that when we create live music, it is always different. When we create in the studio we pursue particular directions and we experiment, and it becomes more polished, but somehow the live work remains more classic. Ricochet still says something to me."

(Interview with Johnny Black, thisBEAT, issue 17, April 1986)

In November 1975, a live album was released with the title Ricochet. It was recorded during the tour earlier the same year, in England and possible France. The title is not as cosmic as those on the previous albums: Ricochet is just named after an electronic game the band got obsessed with during these tours!

Ricochet is a very good live recording, but whether or not it is a real live album might be a good question; approximately 40 hours of music were recorded on the tour, so Tangerine Dream spent a lot of time finding the best pieces and putting them together to form a new piece. New material was also added -- as the piano solo at the beginning of Ricochet, Part Two, which was recorded on the piano in the living room at the Manor Studio a few days earlier! Several parts were recorded in a studio -- like the drum part maybe? -- But all in all, the result is rather good and the music on the album is more melodic than the music on the previous albums.

It is also impressive that Tangerine Dream managed to get that much good music from the concerts down on tape at all, since they did not make any substantial use of a frontmixer, but did most of the mixing themselves on stage. To be able to hear what was coming out of the front speakers, it was necessary to turn up the volume and that might not always have been a pleasure to the audience; Tangerine Dream had gained the reputation of being one of the loudest bands around and at one point the sound pressure in front of the P.A. system was measured to be about 120 dB!

Many people consider Ricochet as one of the highlights of Tangerine Dream's early career and I can only agree to that. I think that this album whether live or not captures many of the elements that is the quintessence of Tangerine Dream in this period; driving sequencers, melodic guitar, the mellotron lurking in the background, strange sounds, a cosmic atmosphere and on top of that, simple but very logic melodies or themes given sufficient time to be explored deeply.