Tangerine Dream – Rubycon 50th Anniversary Edition: Album Review

By Mike Ainscoe on 3rd December 2025 • ( 1 Comment )

Tangerine Dream reissued with groundbreaking and genre defining ambient electronics – plus load of live stuff!

Release Date: 28th November 2025

Label: Reactive

Format: 5CD box set

ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS IN OXFORD

The 50th Anniversary edition of the legendary album Rubycon by Tangerine Dream certainly captures a sense of time and place. Their second album for Virgin Records came off the back of the impressive Phaedra (cue the terms ‘classic’ and ‘watershed’) and comprised two long pieces which continued the pioneering work in the use of sequencers and synthesiser technology. The result – what’s regarded as some of the finest ambient music ever recorded.

This new edition features the remastered original stereo mix, along with a version of Rubycon entitled ‘extended introduction’ mixed by Steven Wilson. A degree of a shift in the technology from 50 years ago as observed in Wouter Bessels’ essay (in which quotes and observations from the era are gathered when the recording) which was hampered by technical issues and inconsistent power supplies. A difficult birth to what’s a chilled out and smooth ambient piece of music.

(ALMOST) TOP OF THE POPS

The record was also their highest UK charting release, reaching number 10 on the UK charts. Initially a template for the minimal and haunting, the pulse of sequencers at the halfway point of Part 1 sees the piece gain power and accelerate into what at one point seems a controlled nod to the Floyd’s One Of These Days before a slow come down.

The industrial sounds of Pt 2 were well ahead of their time, a little acknowledgement due to young Branson who saw the potential of extended instrumental pieces of music – a gap in the market which he could plug with the Tangs and Mike Oldfield. Again, the throb of synths becomes a foundation on which to place washes and contrasting melody lines. The celestial finale sees the piece reach a relaxing and calm conclusion.

The booklet also contains takes the in depth analysis of Rubycon from the tour programme as Christoph Franke chats with Karl Dallas. The accompanying commentary is nice to revisit whilst taking in Steven Wilson’s remix, as he describes the progression of the music and outlines what the band were aiming to achieve with things such as backward and forward tapes. An audio commentary you can read!

LIVE!

The two live sets – The Rainbow in London in October 1974 and The Royal Albert Hall in April 1975 (which featured Michael Hoening replacing Peter Baumann) – both capture the spirit of improvisation that was the Tangerine Dream MO of the time. No simple (or not so simple) regurgitation of album tracks or playing the hits here.

Describing the setting up in the essay, again it’s hard to fathom that back in the Seventies, such a band would be experimenting with presenting quadraphonic sound at The Royal Albert Hall having spent the previous year’s show at The Rainbow battling with bureaucracy in getting some heating in the building as they loaded in.

Of course, the two live sets included in the package are simply titled ‘Part 1’ etc and give fascinating glimpses into the art of improvised performance. John Peel’s intro serves as a brief intro to the band as well as plugging his radio show as well as a historical audio document.

IMPROV AT ITS FINEST

Throughout the live sets, there’s some element of finding a starting point and locking in leads down whatever paths they may take until a point is reached where the consensus seems to be “we’re done!” and after a moment of silence, the the audience twig and an enthusiastic round of applause ensues. The air is rife with improvisation , experimentation and expansion. Improvisations that may lead nowhere and come to some sort of natural conclusion – the “had enough, let’s end it there” moment and some moments which may yield the sort of spark that merits further investigation in the studio. Perhaps the starting point for future more structured compositions. Fascinating to witness though and the thrill of being witness to creation of music never heard before.

The improv equivalent of the King Crimson MO of successful road testing of new material. Tangerine Dream using electronics and synthesised sounds, the likes of which hadn’t really been seen before. A fine collection and record of a significant and unique period.

Here’s a taste of more recent Tangerine Dream: