This never was one of Tadream's more popular releases and I actually can appreciate why. You can't dance to it, you can't really "meditate" to it (in the traditional sense) it's not a head-trip like their earlier stuff, maybe it IS a bit hokey(particularly "Alchemy of the Heart"), the eubonic flavored female vocals may not have been the best choice for translation, and probably most people just plain don't dig William Blake all that much. The vocalist in particular,whose name I forget(forgive me)has a rich, powerful voice, but a Lorenna McKinnet sound would have been much better suited than the Whitney Houston approach used here.

Reguardless, I recommend TYGER to folks looking for something unique. It was the last TD studio album with the great Christopher Franke(TD's sound was never the same for me afterwards). The intro the the song "Smile", most likely Franke's baby, is classic TD. (But then that lady tries to sing barratone for a few words, it sounds forced.)

The title track works best in mergeing the vocals with the text with music, overall. The album concludes with "21st Century Common Man" parts one and two, and while they feel out of place with the rest of the album, they have an energy that's fun.( It's GREAT fun listening to those tracks while takeing a nocturnal highway drive. Preferrably with a convertable.)

Not quite vintage TD, but the last of what I would call from their "classic" years. ( 71-87 )

I follow Tadream's work since 1981. Usually I like 11 out of 10 of their albums, if you know what I mean. Most people don't like this particular one, due to the vocals. But the band used vocals before like in the song "Kiev Mission" in the CD "Exit", and they did great. The problem with "Tyger" is that they were perhaps in one of their 'decaf' days. People like to crucify Miss Smith but the truth is, she sings beautifully. The engineering in this one though, was not too bright. Not to mention that the attempt to put together poems by William Blake and their sound was not the best idea either. They seem to run in different direction, music and words. Nevertheless, this work has very good moments, especially "Alchemy Of The Heart" and "21st Century Common Man (Part I)". It is a more commercial Tangerine Dream than we are used to hear, indeed, but in my opinion, still a great work. To make short, either you are a fan and you better have it or you may become and the thing might be out of catalog in the future..And who knows, you might even enjoy the lyrics!

Edgar Froese, Paul Haslinger and early group member Chris Franke are joined by singer Jocelyn Bernadette Smith for this album, which is somewhat of a departure from the pattern set by their three previous releases, "Optical Race", "Lily on the Beach" and "Melrose". Many of the tracks revolve around the sung and narrated poems of William Blake (1757-1827). Smith performs "The Tyger" (as in: "Tyger, Tyger, burning bright / In the forests of the night..."), "London", "The Fly", "The Smile" and an exerpt from "America". While I normally prefer instrumental music to that with lyrics, Blake's surreal, often brooding poetry is a good match for Tangerine Dream's compositions, and is certainly more thought-provoking than many modern lyrics (which generally wallow in boring, self-indulgent states ranging from lovelorn to just plain horny, crying much but saying little). Most of the run-time of this album, however, remains instrumental, and the music is similar to the other work of Tangerine Dream--fervent, provocative and ever-changing with a focus on electronic keyboards. My favorite track on "Tyger" is the third one, "Alchemy of the Heart", whose striking beginning makes an excellent background against which to teach a student the basics of musical improvisation. A timid beginner could simply play, hold and repeat a "D" for the entire first section, listening to how that one note continues to fit in with the changing chordal structure. Slightly more adventurous, the player could then experiment by moving at will from note to note of the d minor chord (D-F-A), all of which still fit in with what Tangerine Dream is doing. Then one could begin to "fill in the holes", moving up and down the scale while always knowing from experience that if something clashes, a safe retreat can always be found again on any of those three basic notes. Explorations of octaves, rhythm, harmony and descant are supported too, because of the simplicity of "Alchemy's" opening structure; predictable and repetitive, there's just not a lot to collide with, and yet the styling is provocative enough to invite participation. It's just perfect! I only wish that particular section was a bit longer... For anyone interested in trying this sort of exercise, "Hot Springs", a lengthier composition with similar experimental potential, can be found on "The Elements: Volume II" by improvisational flutist Esther "Little Dove" John.

In 1978, Tangerine Dream's first major attempt at introducing vocals into their music (with the album "Cyclone") met with fairly dismal failure. Nine years and two changes of personnel later, the band made a second attempt with "Tyger". This album's title comes from its opening track, which is a setting of William Blake's poem "The Tyger". Others of Blake's allegorical and prophetic writings appear throughout the album. The track `London' features not only "LONDON" (from his "Songs of Experience") but also mixes in the prefacing stanza from "A Little GIRL Lost" and the whole of "THE FLY" from the same collection, plus half-a-dozen lines (46-51) from "America: A Prophecy" (1793). Similarly, `Smile' sets the first poem from Blake's so-called "Pickering" manuscript, written about 1803.

The vocalist throughout is guest R&B star, Jocelyn Bernadette Smith, who, it must be said, has a very powerful and beautiful singing voice, and is a joy to listen to. While she does quite a good job of difficult stuff, here, I find these tracks a little marred by her seeming lack of understanding of just what she is singing about at times. (She certainly doesn't know how to pronounce "Thames", for instance.) None the less, with these works, Tangerine Dream demonstrate that they are well able to integrate the singing voice into their own particular sound world.

Froese was no doubt drawn to Blake's mysterious and mystical works through his own interest in Surrealism - a movement that has often drawn heavily on Blake for its inspiration. Perhaps even, he was responding to the direct plea made in Blake's "Milton: A Prophecy": "Rouze up, O Young Men of the New Age! Set your foreheads against the ignorant Hirelings... who would, if they could, for ever depress Mental, and prolong Corporeal War. Painters! On you I call. Sculptors! Architects!" Now, how could Froese, as a true artist (painter as well as musician) of the New Age, resist that? In terms of commercial appeal, however, the choice was probably ill advised. These texts are not easy to comprehend at the best of times. They have certainly never enjoyed wide popularity outside of the intellectual elite. I suspect that most people (especially in English-speaking countries) get too much Blake forced upon them at too early an age to ever develop much of a taste for it! But whether or not this album is (as some have suggested) as far ahead of its time as Blake was ahead of his, its subject matter just about kills it stone dead for most listeners. Which is a great shame, for the settings are really rather fine and deserve to be given a fair hearing.

Plus, there is a lot of music on this disc that does not involve William Blake. The lengthy instrumental track `Alchemy of the Heart' harks back to the album "Underwater Sunlight" in its delicacy and flowing lyrical nature. And by way of a bonus, the closing two tracks comprise another entirely instrumental work: `21st Century Common Man'. Added to the album some years after its first release in an attempt to improve sales, this work is neither of the same class nor character as the rest of the disc and really comes across as hasty, after-the-event padding. It would be churlish in the extreme to complain about its presence, though, as there is certainly nothing unpleasant about it. But even with this extra material, the total playing time of 45 minutes still isn't generous.

In my view, no collection of mid-period (`Blue Years') Tangerine Dream would be complete without this disc. It has to be pointed out, though, that much of its best music appears also (in only slightly altered form) on the 5-CD "Dream Roots Collection", so you might prefer to buy that instead.

Here's another of those TD albums that comes along now and then where Edgar Froese has clearly decided to change direction and see what happens...

Although the introduction of vocals is nothing new, ("Exit" in '81 and disastrously on "Cyclone" even earlier), it's only "Tyger" that you could call a lyrical album. Although some would say the setting of Blake's most famous works to music is something of a pretentious folly, I disagree. I think the somewhat ominous words lend themselves to TD's brand of synthesiser treatments.

The music throughout is first rate TD, the lineup of Froese, Franke and Haslinger producing some strong compositions. I particularly like "London", sung in the style of Grace Jones amd "Alchemy Of The Heart" is reminiscent of earlier TD work done with Schmoelling while the ground work for "Optical Race" can clearly be heard in Haslinger's piano playing.

"Smile" uses those wonderful breathy flute tones first introduced on "Song Of The Whale" from "Underwater Sunlight", so if you liked that (I do) you'll love this!

"21st Century Common Man" is more in the "Le Parc" style; it owes a debt to tracks like "Bois de Boulogne" and "Le Parc". Narrower in scope than the rest of the album, Froese can't resist unleashing his guitar once again, but mercifully it doesn't detract too much. This is more of a traditional instrumental TD piece; several themes merging from one to the next and although it's not a bad track by any means, I don't think it really fits on this album.

I know many TD fans despise "Tyger" for the introduction of vocals, but in retrospect I think Froese spent his time with Paul Haslinger (in particular) looking for a way to change TD for good; it's a shame that the weaker tracks on "Optical Race" and "Lily On The Beach" became his model for change rather than "Tyger"...