Tangerine Dream-Cyclone (1978)

In 1978, Tangerine Dream released their eighth studio album, "Cyclone". On this new release, the band, led by Edgar Froese and Christopher Franke, introduced several changes compared to their previous albums. The first change involved the lineup: Peter Baumann was no longer with the band, replaced by drummer and percussionist Klaus Krieger and keyboardist, wind instrument player, synthesizer player, and vocalist Steve Jolliffe. The second change concerned the German group's "new" sound, incorporating vocals into their compositions for the first time. This gave them a more conventional style within progressive rock, making this one of their albums most clearly focused on that genre. The 13-minute track "Bent Cold Sidewalk", with its wandering electronic vocals, became one of TD's more conventional progressive rock songs, while their usual spacey and atmospheric style appeared on "Rising Runner Missed by Endless Sender". However, the album's high point is the suite "Madrigal Meridian", where the succession of hypnotic synthesizer sounds and the constant sequenced rhythm create a vaporous atmosphere with a pulsating cadence, transforming it into a true journey through space. Its subsequent reception was met with strong criticism from its most purist fans, something that, nevertheless, did not prevent the album from achieving success on both sides of the Atlantic.