I LOVE this CD by Tangerine Dream. There is so much great guitar work. The acoustic and electric guitar work on Twilight Brigade, the flamenco guitar work on galley slave's horizon and firetongues. Great synth work and keyboard playing as well. This CD rocks, it may seem like smooth jazz in some places, but it is great music. One of my favorite instrumental rock albums period, up there with Steve Vai and Joe Satriani. Jerome Froese and Zlatko Perica did some spectacular work on this CD. There are great guitar solos on nearly every track. Some other Tangerine Dream CDs from this period are Tyranny of Beauty and Rockoon, but this one is by far the best of the bunch. This was a time when Edgar Froese was experimenting with the sound. The previous album Melrose was the first release with son Jerome involved, there was some great guitar work on a couple of tracks but it was predominantly keyboard and sax oriented. In the time between the release of Melrose and Turn of the Tides, Paul Haslinger left the band and "guest musicians" guitarist Zlatko Perica joined the band, along with saxophonist Linda Spa who had played for live shows in the early 90s. This CD is much more guitar oriented than its predecessors, but the keyboards/synth still shine.

Fans of rock music are going to love this CD. Fans of new age might not appreciate this. If you are into guitar music, or music without vocals, this CD is for you. And at Two bucks a pop for a used copy, what are you watiing for?

The only thing that could make this CD better would be the use of an actual drum kit and not the drum machine.

Other TD releases you may like: Rockoon, Tyranny of Beauty, Atlantic Bridges, Atlantic Walls.

This is an excellent album, and I think represents TD's transition from the music of the 70's and 80's to the Tangerine Dream of the 90's. The album is truly a roller-coaster experience, with many emotions being stirred. Together with Oasis, this is one of my favorite TD album from the 90's. If you're new to Tangerine Dream, buy this CD.

After the unimpressive shift in direction with 1991's Rockoon, the band took a break, promised a more "organic" sound and showered the fans with this amazing pile of nothing. Since the departure of Chris Franke, Froese has been essentially on his own, completely out of ideas as to where to take TD in the new decade. It seems that the band, ie. Froese, chose to ignore both the atrocious musical developments of the '90's (alternative rock) and the positive ones (return of the analog synthesizer sound, rise of techno) and blindly pushed on with zero to contribute by mid-decade. Turn of the Tides fails to impress on any level, filled to the brim with, well, filler. The opener, Pictures at an Exibhition is an uninspired remake that while competent, doesn't hold a candle to the ELP version on

. Turn of the Tides, the final piece, is an exercise in aimless meandering complete with the annoying sounds and progressions we're familiar with from the previous albums. Everything inbetween is just dull, insipid filler that seems as much a bunch of cast-offs from Melrose as Melrose was the throwaways from Optical Race. The genius is clearly gone, the fuel spent, and the glory is firmly in the past. From Phaedra to Tyger, these guys delivered with every single album. Once the key members (Baumann, Schmoelling, Franke) departed, the band stalled, and this album is a prime example.

God was I confused when Rockoon came out, and then Turn of the Tides came out and though I thought it was better I couldn't believe how stagnant Tangerine Dream seemed to become. What I liked about Turn of the Tides was the bright mix, how the synths had more shine again like in Firetongues which has the most gripping phrases on the album, and overtime I began to really appreciate Zlatco Perica's guitar work which really is the melodic thrust of anything that works on Turn of the Tides. This formula [an irritating pattern of Tangerine Dream's approach in the 90's] in my opinion will later prove even more effective in recent albums with guitarist Bernhard Beibl. I would give Firtongues a 9.5. The Galley Slave Horizon scores a ten to me with the pounding timpani's of the opener, its scorching dual guitar opening theme, it's dropaway and steady build up to a thick groove. It's a really good piece.

Other than that the album is pretty spotty. There are good moments during Twilight Brigade (great guitar work), and even in Jungle Journey which though begins with a nice opening with tenor sax and a nice sequencer rythm, some good (not great) guitar from Edgar Froese, ends often times with my getting a headache, a dull caffiene type of headache from too much perfected sound, not enough moving music.

Edgar Froese takes a unique soundtrack route; this November 1994 release is based on his surrealist creation, The Coachman's Tales, and is a solidly guitar-driven masterpiece.

While Edgar and Jerome Froese have very expressive styles on guitar, it is the work of Zlatko Perica - lead, acoustic, rhythm - that adds a stylish signature to the work. Linda Spa - saxophones and sound design - Roland Braunstein, trumpet, the Viena Horn Ensemble and vocalists Julie Ocean and Jayney Klimek add brilliant flourishes.

But through the incredible beginning with Pictures at an Exhibition to the final piece, Story of the Brave, the leaders remain Edgar and Jerome Froese, who share the duties on keyboards, synthesizers, programming and sound design.

These a gentle tides that bring to shore a highly-stylized artistic soundscape.