At the time of its release in 1983, "Logos" was the first available live recording featuring the relatively new Tangerine Dream line-up of Edgar Froese, Christoph Franke and Johannes Schmoelling. (Schmoelling's first concert with the band, on the disc "Pergamon", was not at that time widely available.) All of the music for this album was laid down at a single concert, held at the Dominion Theatre, London, on 6 November 1982 and is almost entirely free of any studio overdubs - facts that will of their own speak volumes to long-standing aficionados of Tangerine Dream's live albums.

The main track of this disc consists essentially of a 10-part suite constructed from musical ideas drawn from the band's soundtrack for Michael Mann's film, "The Keep", which went on general release the following year. At the heart of the `Logos' suite, parts V and VI are lifted straight from the film (from the scenes `Nickel? Silver!' and `The last of the soldiers in black', should you be interested in such things). The rest of the suite is mostly new synthesiser numbers, sewn together with moody musical threads drawn from elements of the film's soundtrack. For once, the whole set sounds keyboard derived, with MIDI-driven synthesisers and samplers - allegedly the first time the band had used samplers live - carrying the weight of the music, and with no guitar work anywhere in evidence.

In addition to the 45-minute suite, which constituted just half of the concert proper, there is also a 5-minute encore item, `Dominion'. All in all, the release is redolent of the slick and highly professional live performances that epitomised this group at their height. Ideas segue seamlessly, with constant changes of mood and tempo, all building beautifully to climax and coda, just as expected. The only complaint might be that it is all just a tad too slick and effortless, without any hint of the frisson that one might expect from a live performance. But then that's the beauty (and curse) of programmable MIDI, for you!

This remastered CD has not only had the old vinyl release's irritating side-break in the middle of the Logos set removed but also features index markers for the various parts - a very nice touch, indeed. There is no noticeable difference in the sound quality, to my ears, from earlier editions but then it was always very good and would have been difficult to improve upon. At 50 minutes in total, the running time is a rather less than generous by modern CD standards but with music making of this quality, who cares?

When I first heard Dream in the the early 70's (Phaedre) I had to laugh at the mere suggestion that this band was the inheritor of Floyd's more experimental side. But a few years later I listened to Exit and got interested again. Then I heard Logos on a local college radio station with a friend ( who by the way had no inkling at all for electronic music), and both of us were floored. He went on to listen to the station all the time, and I went out and really started collecting TD works, starting with Logos. The maturity of thier work had become apparent in Logos, perhaps more than any other single piece of TD's, and remains for me a personal favorite to this day. Froese and Schmoeling finally put together a long electronic piece comparable and even transcending what Floyd did with Echoes (Meddle). It starts slow and builds and builds and builds and shifts tempos in its building until it finally climaxes and then just keeps on going and exploring the climax until the end of the piece. A truly remarkable classical feat reminiscent of some of the best classical pieces. I recommend this cd as a starting point to TD only if the listener is willing to accept shorter pieces with the same kind of awesome and subtle power as the longer tracks on this cd illicits. If anything, Logos will hook you into the Dream like no other TD work.

Johannes Schmoelling, who was a member of TD when this live album was recorded, has said that this was his favourite lp with Tangerine Dream. The music has real verve and energy and represents electonic music at its best. Along with Tyger, Rubycon, Poland, and Hyperborea this is one of their greatest albums.

Most of the other reviewers have said it already. This may be Tangerine Dream's offical "must-have" CD. Not that it's nessessarily their "best",(although it's in my top five without a doubt) it's just that this is definately the ONE album by them I can't imagine anyone not being entertained and swept away by.

And therein lies the key, I think. This is an "entertaining" Tangerine Dream, as opposed to the meditative, cerebral Dream of yore. (Does anyone use that word anymore?) Yet it has a muscle and vision later Tadream "fun" albums gradually lacked. (particualy the post 1988 albums. sigh...)

"Logos" is bursting with life, bredth and scope. It's sounds are rich and captivating. It sounds surprisingly fresh and non-dated considering it's almost two decades old already.

This was as good as they got, and those days are gone. gone, gone...

Having been a TD fan for some time now, I must highly recommend this CD. My TD collection has grown to almost 70 titles and this one is STILL one of my favorites. Having been at the concert in person had a long lasting effect. Just buy it...listen to it 3 times and you'll be hooked. Trust me