Alpha Centauri (album)

The music on this album is quite different from Tangerine Dream’s first album Electronic Meditation, partly because of a heavier reliance on keyboards and electronic technology, although they still mostly remain in the background: the dominant instruments on the album are organ and flute. The other difference is that this album focuses on dark, spacey soundscapes as opposed to jam sessions. The shift in instrumentation resulted in an atmosphere dubbed by Edgar Froese himself as "kosmische musik". Julian Cope's Head Heritage wrote that the album "used the space rock template from[Pink Floyd's] [A] Saucerful of Secrets (and removed the rock)".^[2]

A nowadays extremely rare single "Ultima Thule" was released in the same year. Side 1 employs the same guitar riff as "Fly ...", but the single was at the time otherwise an unconnected release. Re-releases of Alpha Centauri in the 2000s have however included either or both parts of Ultima Thule as bonus tracks.

Release

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[1]
Pitchfork	7.8/10^[3]

Alpha Centauri was released on March 1971 by record label Ohr. It sold 20,000 copies in their native Germany, nearly four times as many as their later classic Phaedra.

Track listing

Side A
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Sunrise in the Third System"	4:21
2.	"Fly and Collision of Comas Sola"	13:23

Side B
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Alpha Centauri"	22:04

Reissue bonus tracks
No.	Title	Length
4.	"Oszillator Planet Concert" (Sanctuary/Castle (2002), Arcàngelo (2004), Reactive/Esoteric (2011))	8:03
5.	"Ultima Thule, Part One (2000 remix)" (Arcàngelo (2004), Reactive/Esoteric (2011))	3:24
6.	"Ultima Thule, Part Two" (Reactive/Esoteric (2011))	4:24

Personnel

Edgar Froese – guitar, organ, bass, coffee machine, composer
Christopher Franke – drums, percussion, flute, zither, piano, VCS3
Steve Schroyder – organ, voice, echo machines, iron stick
Udo Dennebourg – flute, voice
Roland Paulyck – synthesizer

References

1 2 Breece, Michael G.. Tangerine Dream – Alpha Centauri at AllMusic
↑ "Julian Cope Presents Head Heritage | Unsung | Reviews | Tangerine Dream – Atem". 9 March 2012.
↑ Leone, Dominique (6 February 2003). "Tangerine Dream: Electronic Meditation/Alpha Centauri". Pitchfork.

External links

Alpha Centauri at Discogs (list of releases)

Tangerine Dream

Thorsten Quaeschning Hoshiko Yamane Ulrich Schnauss Edgar Froese Lanse Hapshash Kurt Herkenberg Volker Hombach Charlie Prince Steve Jolliffe Klaus Schulze Conrad Schnitzler Christopher Franke Steve Schroyder Peter Baumann Michael Hoenig Klaus Krüger Johannes Schmoelling Paul Haslinger Ralf Wadephul Jerome Froese Linda Spa Iris Camaa Bernhard Beibl

Live and studio albums	Electronic Meditation Alpha Centauri Zeit Atem Phaedra Rubycon Ricochet Stratosfear Encore Cyclone Force Majeure Tangram Quichotte Exit White Eagle Logos Live Hyperborea Poland Le Parc Green Desert Underwater Sunlight Tyger Livemiles Optical Race Lily on the Beach Melrose Rockoon Quinoa 220 Volt Live Turn of the Tides Tyranny of Beauty The Dream Mixes Goblins' Club Tournado TimeSquare – Dream Mixes II Ambient Monkeys Valentine Wheels Sohoman Mars Polaris Soundmill Navigator Antique Dreams The Seven Letters From Tibet The Past Hundred Moons Inferno The Melrose Years The Bootleg Box Set Vol. 1 DM 4 Rockface The Bootleg Box Set Vol. 2 Purgatorio Aachen–January 21st 1981 Montreal–April 9th 1977 Paris–February 2nd 1981 Sydney–February 22nd 1982 Ottawa–June 20th 1986 East Arizona Live Cleveland–June 24th 1986 Brighton–March 25th 1986 Kyoto Jeanne d'Arc Rocking Mars Phaedra 2005 Blue Dawn Paradiso Springtime In Nagasaki Madcap's Flaming Duty Summer In Nagasaki One Times One Detroit–March 31st 1977 Preston–November 5th 1980 Tangerine Dream Plays Tangerine Dream Purple Diluvial Views from a Red Train The Anthology Decades Tangram 2008 Hyperborea 2008 Autumn in Hiroshima Flame Chandra - The Phantom Ferry Part I Live @ Dussmann Berlin Winter in Hiroshima DM V Zeitgeist Concert Under Cover – Chapter One The Endless Season The Island of the Fay The Angel of the West Window The Gate of Saturn Finnegans Wake Knights of Asheville Live at Admiralspalast Berlin Cruise to Destiny Starmus — Sonic Universe Lost in Strings — Volume I Franz Kafka — The Castle Chandra - The Phantom Ferry Part II Sorcerer 2014 Phaedra Farewell Tour 2014 Supernormal Quantum Gate Live at the Philharmony Szczecin-Poland

Soundtracks	Sorcerer Thief Das Mädchen auf der Treppe Risky Business Wavelength Firestarter Flashpoint Heartbreakers Legend Three O'Clock High Near Dark Shy People Miracle Mile Destination Berlin Dead Solid Perfect Canyon Dreams The Park Is Mine L'Affaire Wallraff (The Man Inside) Deadly Care Rumpelstiltskin Catch Me If You Can The Keep Zoning Oasis Der Meteor The Hollywood Years Vol. 1 The Hollywood Years Vol. 2 Transsiberia What a Blast Great Wall of China Mota Atma L'Inferno The Music of Grand Theft Auto V: Volume 2 The Score The Cinematographic Score: GTA5

Singles	"Dreamtime"

Videos	Canyon Dreams Three Phase Inferno Madcap's Flaming Duty

Works	Discography Filmography Tangerine Tree Bootleg recordings

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