Force Majeure

Force Majeure is a 1979 electronic music album released by the German group Tangerine Dream, originally issued on transparent vinyl. Following Stratosfear, the album developed Tangerine Dream's further evolution toward the more melodic sound they would adopt in the 1980s. For example, "Cloudburst Flight", is more of the tradition of progressive rock than the band's 1970s output of Berlin School. The distortion of the bass sequence on "Thru Metamorphic Rocks" was the result of a burnt-out transistor in the mixing desk. When the band heard the result, they decided to keep it. A remixed excerpt of "Force Majeure" titled "Lana" was used on the film soundtrack Risky Business and a remixed excerpt of "Thru Metamorphic Rocks" titled "Igneous" was used on that to Thief. A heavily remixed version was played live in 2003, and later released as "Meta Morph Magic" on the DM 4 album. In 1991, Chris Franke played "Cloudburst Flight" as part of his solo London Concert. Force Majeure is Tangerine Dream's fourth biggest selling album in the UK, reaching No. 26 and spending 7 weeks on the chart.