This album is probably more intense overall than its predecessor, "Optical Race", but with a slightly lighter mood and more variety toward the end. Paul Haslinger and Edgar Froese continue to show off their wizardry here on electronic keyboards, guitars and drums, and again the emphasis is on progressive, driving compositions that are never boring because they don't just stick to one pattern or texture, but morph and grow with each phrase. This music is undeniably cool and a great motivator for workouts or physical tasks. Standout numbers on "Lily on the Beach" include "Desert Drive", "Crystal Curfew", "Valley of the Kings" and the opening track, "Too Hot for My Chinchilla" (no kidding, that's the title and no, I don't have the slightest idea what it means!). The closing track, "Long Island Sunset", is nice too, with varying tempos and intensities, and accoustic saxophone and flute provided by guest artist Hubert Waldner. If you like "Lily on the Beach", you're sure to like two other Tangerine Dream releases too--"Optical Race" and "Melrose".

This album, one of the three Melrose companions featuring Paul Haslinger (also "Melrose" and "Optical Race") is a continuation of TD's experimentation with shorter tracks, the longest being 7 minutes. In doing this, there's no room to have changes of pace or texture within a single track, and those who like TD for their musical-journey type experiences may be disappointed. One other "disappointment" which annoys me personally is the use of aggressive electric guitar on several tracks - to me, this seems like "Eddie Van Halen crashed our party!", not TD. Enough of the bad points.

Most of the tracks have a catchy melody that is memorable, and makes for great driving music. The title track ("Lily on the Beach") has a very interesting tune, and moves along seamlessly. Another notable is "Mount Shasta", which has some very large, open, majestic tones to it, as well as an unusual stop-and-go bass rhythym behind the theme. "Twenty-Nine Palms" (can't imagine where this title came from?) has a beautiful melody for piano as the main theme, but would probably sound much better on a full-bodied grand piano, than on the somewhat spikey sounding electric. The final track "Long Island Sunset" is magnificent. Featuring one Hubert Waldner on sax and flute, the piece builds serenely to a fast, raucous flute section in the middle (reminiscent of Ian Anderson), stepping down with sax to the dreamy, sunset-like closing minutes. The sax addition must have gained immediate approval, as we have the almost regular addition of Linda Spa on many subsequent TD discs "blowing her own horn" with admirable skill and contribution.

For fun music, with melodies to hum, and rhythyms to tap your feet to (or gas pedal!), the three Melrose discs are very satisfying, and somehow keep being listened to over and over again.

Lily on the Beach was the very first TD album I listened to and love it. I like TD style in this Album. As far as other TD albums this album is very different from what I have noticed. TD is pritty cool. I love it, this is very quick pace and yet not annoying. You feel like your going on a Rollercoaster with imagination. Great Job TD!

This is one of my favorite works from Tangerine Dream. When I listen to this CD, I often find that many of the tunes will pull me into their world as it were, putting me very much at ease. As a collection, it strikes a nice balance between the energetic and the somber.

As with any musical group, my favorite collections are those I can listen to regardless of my mood and still enjoy them. This CD is one of those collections. If you've never listened to Tangerine Dream, buy this CD and you'll get a very good idea of what their music is about.

"Lily on the Beach" dates from 1989, during the period when the Tangerine Dream line-up was reduced to just Edgar Froese and Paul Haslinger (although Jerome Froese makes his first appearance on a TD disc here, as guest guitarist on the track `Radio City', while another guest, Hubert Waldner, contributes some lovely sax and flute playing on the closing track, `Long Island Sunset').

In many ways, this disc represents the very peak of that period in Tangerine Dream's musical history. It contains 13 tracks, totalling some 56 minutes of music in all. Only one track (`Long Island Sunset', 7:11) is longer than 5 minutes -- most clock in at around 4 mins -- but almost without exception each exhibits the delicacy of sound and intricacy of structure that was once synonymous with Tangerine Dream. And taken all together, the listener is treated to a great variety of unusual (yet distinctive) synthesiser voices used with great sensitivity. Percussion lines are heavy and yet varied -- interesting in both style and beat, employing a fascinating array of different percussion voices not only across the album as a whole, but within each track also. In fact, I think the use of percussion on this disc is about the best that Tangerine Dream ever managed: more punchy and used with greater emphasis and prominence than on earlier discs but also used with more variety and to greater effect within the music as a whole than on many of their later discs. The synth programming is generally more interesting than on later discs, too, although many listeners may regard it all as just so much more trademark Dream.

Nothing wrong with that, say I, especially when employed in such strong tunes as these, with great melodies supported by an interesting beat. Don't miss out!