Edgar Froese's fourth solo project Ages was recorded after TD's US tour of 1977 and after the internal differences with Peter Baumann had reached a point of no return. According to Edgar Froese, Ages was recorded at a very emotional time in his career. Peter Baumann had been asked to leave Tangerine Dream, and the group had to cancel a lot of dates and could not take on any new obligations. So Edgar Froese recorded Ages during this time, long before the next Tangerine Dream album Cyclone. The inspiration of Ages was the Park Guell built by the Spanish architect Gaudi in Barcelona. Seven years later, TD recorded another track obviously inspired by this garden: Gaudi Park (Guell Garden Barcelona) on their 1985 album Le Parc.
There was so much material that Ages became an double album. The track Metropolis was inspired by the Fritz Lang movie of the same name; while the longest track of the album, the 21-minute Tropic Of Capricorn was inspired by Henry Miller's book of the same title. According to Edgar Froese, for many years he read everything by the two American authors Henry Miller and Walt Whitman. As far as music can reflect words, he just tried subjectively to transfer his feeling about Miller's book into music.
While most of Edgar Froese's solo productions had been released on CD in the eighties, fans had to wait nearly 20 years for a CD release of Ages, and due to the limited capacity of a single CD, Virgin decided to leave out the closing title Golgatha And The Circle Closes instead of making this a double CD release.
In January 2005 a reworked version of Ages has been released by Edgar Froese. This version again features only eight of the original nine compositions (two of them slightly misspelled in the track listing), but opposed to the 1997 CD release which omitted the last track, Golgatha And The Circle Closes, this re-release leaves out the track Children's Deeper Study. Unfortunately, Edgar Froese did not use the opportunity to include this track on one of the other re-releases (like Stuntman, e.g.). Compared to the original version, the track order has been changed, and all tracks have been 'tangentized', that is, remixed and partially re-recorded in a similar way like on Beyond The Storm and the Ambient Highway series. This results in an overall warmer and fuller sound. Anyway, like with similar reworkings Edgar Froese has done before, it is left to the subjective opinion of the listener whether he prefers the original or the new versions. Though the inner page of the 2-page insert clearly states that the material is re-recorded and remixed, this fact is not recognizable from the outside. Furthermore, the information on Edgar Froese's home page and the cover credits wrongly state 1979 (instead of 1977) as recording year of the original version.
Like on all releases since 2003, the artist's name now includes his middle initial W. on the cover and in the credits. The cover artwork is completely new, using an excerpt of an photo that was used for the back of the original release. The order number is neither printed on the package nor the CD, but the number given below is the order number the Eastgate Music Shop lists this release. Copies sold in the UK have been found with an additional barcode sticker showing the TDP number listed below.
In January 2007 this release became available as MP3 download at the Tangerine Dream Download Shop.
In June 2009 Ages was re-released in Japan as part of a series of HiQualityCDs with mini LP paper sleeves featuring a slightly changed cover artwork, leaving out Edgar Froese's middle initial again.
In 2012 the original album was re-released as part of the compilation box Solo (1974-1983) - The Virgin Years (now including the track Golgatha And The Circle Closes).
Releases
Australia
1978: Virgin
Promo-2LP [a]: L 45803/4; red labels with sticker, foc
2LP [a]: L 45803/4; red labels, foc
2LP [a]: 25 756 XBT; multi-coloured labels, foc
Europe
1997: Virgin
CD [b]: 844 377-2
France
1978: Virgin/Polydor
2LP [a]: 2676 715; green labels, foc
Germany
1978: Virgin/Ariola
2LP [a]: 25 756 XBT; green labels, foc
2LP [a]: 25 756 XBT; red/green labels, foc
1984: Virgin/Ariola
2LP [a]: 25 756-406; red/green labels, foc
2005: Eastgate
CD [c]: eastgate 002 CD; white/silver/red disc; matrix code: 49002
Greece
197?: Virgin/Polygram
2LP [a]: 2776 715; green labels, foc
Italy
1978: Virgin/Dischi
2LP [a]: AVIL 212507; multi-coloured labels, foc
Japan
1978: Virgin/Victor
Promo-2LP [a]: VIP 9903/4; white promo labels, foc
