There are different kinds of fans of Tangerine Dream music, so to understand my reviews, you must understand my tastes. I prefer their later works, with songs that are harmonious, rhythmic, lyrical, and "pretty." Their first excellent album for me was Underwater Sunlight. You might find (by reading lots of reviews) that the people who love TDream's early work dislike the later albums; people who like the later albums don't like the early stuff. I am the 2nd type. Of my 22 or so TDream albums so far, the greatest ones (in approximate order) are: Le Parc, Underwater Sunlight, Architecture in Motion, Private Music, Goblins' Club, Optical Race, Melrose, Lily on the Beach. OK albums are: Tang-go, Force Majeure, Exit. Unpleasant albums are: Turn of the Tides, Rockoon, Stratosfear, Phaedra, Atem, Alpha Centauri, Elect. Meditation, or anything else pre '83. The Private Music of Tangerine Dream is an interesting compilation. It mostly comes from Melrose, Optical Race, and Lily on the Beach. All tracks are good - Atlas Eyes is best. For new listeners of TDream, this is a wonderful intro album into their later music style - the songs have very wide audience appeal (your mom might even like it). TDream fans who share my tastes MUST try out Patrick O'Hearn.

There are endless numbers of 'Best of Tangerine Dream' collections; selecting between them is often difficult and invariably confusing. It is not helped by the fact that the band has had contracts with so many different record companies over the years, and each label naturally feels it is necessary to keep repackaging THEIR material as the best!

BMG continues to hold rights to the band's output released originally on the Private Music label from 1988 thru 1990. This covers the three mainstream albums "Optical Race", "Lily on the Beach" and "Melrose", as well as the soundtrack from the film, "Miracle Mile". The compilation album, "The Private Music of Tangerine Dream", presents just over half of one of these albums - "Melrose" - together with a couple of token tracks from each of the others. It also manages to include some 9-minutes-worth of material previously unavailable on official releases.

Just to make things really awkward, Tangerine Dream's own record company, TDI, have re-acquired the rights to "Optical Race", "Lily on the Beach" and "Melrose" and have produced their own compilations from those (together with four other albums of the early 90's), in the form of "Atlantic Bridges" and "Atlantic Walls"! Either of those two presents a rather better collection of songs than you'll find assembled here. And between them, the "Atlantic..." compilations duplicate a good two-thirds of this one, so I can't see how anyone really needs this too! Add in the fact that "Miracle Mile" is represented here in the form of a single 5-minuter ('After the Call') which sits rather badly amidst the rest, one is left thinking that the only remaining incentive for buying this disc is the presence of the two new tracks.

Naturally, you'll have to decide for yourself how badly you want these, but my view is that they in no way make this a viable purchase. Both are under 5 minutes in length and offer little of any worth. They give the impression of being unfinished sketches for tracks cut from other albums. 'Beaver Town' is the lighter of two, being little more than a jazzy, jangly synth line over a pop percussion track. 'Roaring of the Bliss' is little better, sounding like an early sketch for something from "The Dream Mixes". It features a synthetic piano pulse, organ wash and drums driving a heavy dance beat. In any case, it is surely only a matter of time before the band re-release these two numbers on one of their own archive editions - heck, they're dragging out everything else - and so, ultimately, this disc is really only for the most ardent of TD-completionists! To my mind, normal people may prefer to buy "Optical Race" and "Lily of the Beach" (and "Miracle Mile", perhaps) and leave it at that! Or just go for one (or both!) of the "Atlantic..." pair.

Tangerine Dream has a wealth of repackaging of releases that it can be puzzling and oftentimes quite puzzling to fans or those wanting to hear the group for the first time. This collection, though, actually makes sense.

The album focuses on 1988-1990, when the group found a home on Peter Baumann's Private Music label, which was located on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. Though it leans heavily on the album entitled Melrose, there is a flow to the numbers that brings a new focus to this period of the band's lengthy career.

This is a great walk down Melrose Avenue, as a former band member gave the group the flexibility to focus on the art of creating music.

I'm 43 and I remember the day I started listening to Tangerine Dream. I mean,even the name was weird but that's exactly what made it appealing and I have not stopped listening to this band for the last 16 years. I use it to MEDITATE every morning and to find ways to grow spiritually. Also,it's an awesome instrument to project your goals onto a tangible prism. I will keep it short, just wanted to express my gratitude to this band and I will listen to them or their music for a very long time,specially the MELROSE C.D.
Thanks to ALL.
Efren Miotto

This CD is probably one of their great works. It has some of the best songs from their best albums. I would really recommend it if you haven't heard any of their music before. Not to be looked over.