Hyperborea

AMG Review of Hyperborea

Glenn Swan
All Music Guide

Tangerine Dream set the stage for the style of "artsy" soundtrack music that dominated the '80s. Although Hyperborea is not a soundtrack, it was clearly influential on some of the work the group was hired to do for Risky Business, Flashpoint, Dreamscape, Firestarter, Legend, and close to 20 others. There have been at least a dozen members in this trio over the years, but the assembly of Chris Franke, Edgar Froese, and Johannes Schmoelling proved to be one of the most prolific and influential. Hyperborea was a turning point for the band -- a distinctive departure from the free-form psychedelica-and-moog prog rock improvisations, it was an album of crispness, structure, and a little bravery too -- a showcase for artists with enough chops to adjust to the new technology without getting lost in it. Getting its hands on the popular new keyboards of the mid-'80s, the band found wonderful textures, richly overlapping sequences, and on some level a chance to reinvent themselves, and with great results. Recorded in Berlin in 1983, it was the shape of things to come for the remainder of the decade.