Christopher Franke - Klemania

Christoph(er) Franke has made his biggest mark post-Tangerine Dream as a soundtrack composer. His first solo album, Pacific Highway, attempted the same compositional style as the band he'd just left, and was relatively good at doing so. Klemania, however, leaves me with the sense that soundtrack composition has taken over his whole creative outlook. The first track in particular strikes me as a string of briefly described soundtrack themes glued together with ornamentations. The second piece achieves a more cohesive feeling, but still suggests many ideas strung together (albeit with more atmosphere than the first track) more than a fully developed, complete composition. The final track is a short one and also does little to distinguish itself. It has a TD-esque arpeggiation that runs through the whole piece, and is otherwise tidy and sparkly, but doesn't really say anything that Franke hasn't said a hundreds of times already. Klemania is worth having if you're a complete nut about TD and all things its various members have done (like me), but is by no means vital.