I recently learnt that the version of Phaedra I’ve been listening to for the past 15 years had not only the wrong track order, but also the wrong track names. This is not entirely surprising, given how this version was… ah, acquired.

But after learning what the order and names should’ve been, I think I still prefer my version. And yes, that’s probably because I’m use to it, but if the official album were to have these names and this order, I think it would actually work really way. I may go so far as to say that if I got a copy of the official album, I’d probably change it to match the version I been listening to.

In case your curious, here’s how the tracks are named in my version:

Official Version lmika Version
Phaedra Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares
Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares Phaedra
Movements Of A Visionary Sequent ‘C’
Sequent ‘C’ Movements Of A Visionary

I’m actually a little surprised that my version of Sequent ‘C’ is officially called Movements Of A Visionary and visa-versa. The name Movements Of A Visionary gives it a more mysterious feeling, which fits well with the small, soft, reverb-filled piece of music that it is. As for the track with has that name officially… well I just assumed the name Sequent ‘C’ made the most logical sense for a piece of music with a sequencer in the key of C. I don’t have an explanation for Phaedra or Semblance other than “long piece == long title,” but Phaedra just feels like a title that fits better for a piece of music that predominantly features a mellotron.

The tracks in the version I listen too are arrange in the following order:

No. Official Version Name lmika Version Name
1. Sequent 'C' Movements Of A Visionary
2. Phaedra Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares
3. Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares Phaedra
4. Movements Of A Visionary Sequent 'C'

The fact that Phaedra is the first track in the official version make sense, given that on vinyl it would’ve taken up an entire side, but I reckon starting the album with a small, soft piece — acting almost like a prelude — whets the appetite for the heavier stuff. This would be track two, which is 17 minutes long, and is quite dynamic in it’s contract across the piece. You then climb down from that into what I thought was the title track which — given that it appears as the third one in my version — gives the artists an opportunity to have a something simpler to act as the centrepiece of the album. Then you end with a relatively lively piece with a driving sequencer, that finishes with a decisive C(7) chord, making it clear that the album is now over.

So that’s how I’d name and arrange the tracks in this album. I don’t want to say that Tangerine Dream got it wrong but… they did get it pretty wrong. 😀