Tangerine Dream top 10 - #4 Church Theme (piano version)

Church Theme / Silver scale

Edgar’s autobiography doesn’t mention this track nor the production of the soundtrack to the movie Wavelength from 1983.

Church Theme, included in the soundtrack, is a shortened and remixed version of Silver Scale, a track performed live during European tours in 1980 and 1981, but not released by that name until 1994 on the compilation album Tangents.

Church Theme ends just when the action starts in the Silver Scale version, as the introductory chord progression is followed by an octave-based sequence, forming the background to an improvisational set lasting for about 10 minutes.

This sequence is one of TD’s trademark rhythms and can be heard in several other compositions, like Diamond Diary and Burning Bar from Thief and Main Title from The Park Is Mine.

In their concerts from that time, Silver Scale was sometimes mixed with the track Horns of Doom, which was never released on any official studio or compilation album.

However, I find the initial chord progression especially appealing. It is another example of Tangerine Dream at the peak of their creative ability. The first simple chords, moving up and down, are intertwined with an unchanging bass note, which gives the intro an eerie atmosphere, before the bass note is changed in harmony with the following chords, releasing the full potential of the silver scale alluded to in the title.

I consider the film Wavelength a lot less noteworthy than its soundtrack. It is a low-budget science fiction film with pretty unknown actors (maybe with the exception of Robert Carradine, but he is probably more famous for being the brother of David Carradine than for his own acting career) giving forgettable performances. The three bald kids playing the mute aliens seem completely unaware of what’s happening, which was probably what the director intended, but it just adds to the viewer’s lack of engagement for the story. Consequently, the reception was lukewarm, although some critics did praise the soundtrack.

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wavelen...)

Sheet music: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ijvdm4u2iah...