Tangerine Dream - Oedipus Tyrannus (1974)

Tangerine Dream have probably released more official and unofficial albums that almost any other band, which when you include their sanctioned bootleg releases must run into the hundreds, and yet even they have mythical albums which have never seen the light of day, and 'Oedipus Tyrannus' is one of those. Rumours have abounded for years on the net about an album supposedly recorded some time in 1974 but never released, but no-one could seem to agree on the track listing or what the music sounded like. When I first heard about it I Googled it and found it quite easily, but after playing it and doing further research I found that it was actually a live album recorded in Chichester in 1974, supposedly featuring live versions of some of the tracks, but I wasn't convinced that it was what I was looking for. More investigation was needed, and I finally found someone who seemed to know what they were talking about, who confirmed that parts of an album had been recorded as suspected, and that some of the tracks were accessible in various locations, so you had to piece it together yourself. It's generally agreed that the album consists of three tracks - Overture, Zeus and Baroque, and the first one was surprisingly easy to find as it was actually included on the Virgin Records sampler 'V' in 1975! That just left the other two tracks, which had been professionally recorded at CBS studios, but which had then been rejected by the band. Somehow they made their way to John Peel, who played all three tracks on his radio show as one long piece, and luckily recordings of that are still available. I later found out that the Chichester recording wasn't even a live gig, as it was just the Peel radio broadcast with some other live tracks added to the CD. So by taking the first track from the 'V' sampler and adding the best versions that I could find of the other two tracks from the Peel broadcast, we have all that is available of this legendary album. It's only 23 minutes long, so to make up some time I've added on both sides of their rare 1971 debut 7" single 'Ultima Thule. (Great timing, as we've just received pictures of the planet Ultima Thule from the New Horizons spacecraft.) 

Track listing

01 Overture
02 Zeus
03 Baroque
04 Ultima Thule (Part One)
05 Ultima Thule (Part Two)