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Brücken Froese Beginn Review by Gary Hill This is a joint disc from Claudia Brücken and Jerome Froese. Brücken (who provides the vocals - except for a few that are provided by a couple guest vocalists and just a couple songs) was best known as the lead singer of the group Propaganda in the 80s. You may also recognize the name "Froese" as a big part of Tangerine Dream history. In fact, Jerome Froese's father Edgar Froese was the main man behind that group. Jerome Froese was also a member of the band. Here he provides all the instrumentation. This album has a lot of Tangerine Dream styled electronic sound, but also a lot of pop and electronic dance music styled textures. In whole, this is an entertaining set that is often accessible and definitely proggy. This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2018 Volume 4. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2018.

Track by Track Review

(The) Last Dance Starting ambient, this works to some cool mellow electronic sounds. The vocals come in over the top really bringing both a grounding to it and a gentle beauty.

Wounded Cool electronics and gentle vocals make up the main concepts here. There is some distorted musical concepts later in the track, though, bringing a different texture to it all.

Flight (of) Fancy I like the almost classical element of the opening section of this. The cut has some of the most "song-like" structure, though. I can make out hints of things like Kate Bush on this. It's an almost mainstream tune in a lot of ways. It has some great moments and textures.

Cards Electronic sounds with a lot of energy and vibe make up the musical concept here. There is a rather mainstream feeling to this. Yet, it is still very much based in electronic prog. It gets more rocking further down the road. While the vocals are evocative and human, some of the music makes me think of Kraftwerk a bit.

Light (of the) Rising Sun Mellow, atmospheric, musical textures serve as the backdrop for a pretty vocal performance. This is a particularly short piece.

Whispers (of) Immorality There is a gentle folk prog turned electronic element here. As this cut builds out later it really makes me think of something that Kate Bush might do.

Sound (of the) Waves More of a traditional progressive rock sound opens this. The cut begins to build forward from there. The tune builds out into some cool rocking stuff as it continues to evolve. This is actually one of my favorites here. It just works so well.

Stars Walking Backwards Coming in darker and more rocking than the rest of the music here, there is almost a Pink Floyd kind of vibe to this. As it builds outward later there is a prominent percussive element at play. This is energetic, and the vocals manage to bring some extra magic to it. There is definite a bit of an EDM thing at play here.

Forevermore There is a chiming guitar type sound that dance around this arrangement. The musical concept here is slow moving and richly arranged. There are space elements in terms of some of the layers of sound that dance over the top of this.

Sweet Sense (of) Liberation I dig the energy and groove of this cool song. it has a real rocking vibe with a lot of EDM in the mix.

Unbound Spaces Coming in mellower, there is a real electronic space vibe as this works outward. There is a gentle, nearly classical music vibe to this in a lot of ways. It gets more energy and a bit of an EDM vibe later, but returns to the mellower stuff to end.

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