Force Majeure
by Tangerine Dream

Force Majeure by Tangerine Dream
Year: 1979
Release date: 1979-02-02
Overall rank: 3,857th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
78/100 (from 105 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1979 (65th)
Award Top albums of the 1970s (649th)
Award Best albums of all time (3,857th)

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Tangerine Dream bestography

Force Majeure is ranked 4th best out of 123 albums by Tangerine Dream on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Tangerine Dream is Phaedra which is ranked number 1216 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 1,437.

Tangerine Dream album bestography « Higher ranked (2,789th)
Rubycon
This album (3,857th)
Force Majeure
Lower ranked (4,655th) »
Ricochet

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

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Force Majeure track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 82 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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Track pick (860 - 45 votes)
Average Rating: 86 (45 votes)Comments: View 0

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Force Majeure rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 3,857th | 1970s rank: 649th | 1979 rank: 65th

Force Majeure collection

Force Majeure ratings

Average Rating: 
78/100 (from 105 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 5 ratings for this album.  | Show all 105 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
85/100
 
05/11/2026 04:24 emnasut  Ratings distribution  15387/100
 
50/100
 
05/09/2026 16:49 Pavloss  Ratings distribution  45050/100
 
75/100
 
01/19/2026 18:55 Exist-en-ciel  Ratings distribution  9,66870/100
 
70/100
 
12/29/2025 07:51 cicadelic  Ratings distribution  12,77473/100
 
80/100
 
06/09/2025 23:06 TodFitz  Ratings distribution  27,38263/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album is rated in the top 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 77.9/100, a mean average of 77.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.4/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.8.

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Force Majeure favourites

Showing all 13 members who have added this album as a favourite

Force Majeure comments

Showing all 5 comments |
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Rating:  
95/100
From 05/08/2022 01:49 | #285105
This was the sound of Tangerine Dream closing the 70s and entering the 80s (just about). Less synth washes, more conventional structures and beats, and a hint at shorter form tracks. If the 80s synthesizer sound doesn't excite you, there's unlikely to be anything of interest here but if analogue warmth is your thing, dive right in. TD have quite probably released over 100 albums of original material but in my opinion, nothing (not even their first few albums) has the appeal of this one. A great late night listen.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 08/06/2019 15:25 | #240836
Very good album. The 3 songs are pretty solid, but I have a soft spot for "Thru Metamorphic rocks", with the wolves howling at the end ; magical.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 05/26/2018 20:49 | #215642
I feel that Tangerine Dream peaked with this release. Of course I love their early stuff (Rubycon, in particular), but the mix of their soundscapes with more song-like structures (even if the songs were put together as one long track), is done brilliantly here. Whether jumping from melody to atmosphere and back again on the title track, or expanding on the martial rhythms of the final section the record, this is an outstanding album. There's even an opportunity for our heroes to show off their guitar-playing chops on Cloudburst Flight. Definitely one to check out.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 03/05/2018 22:26 | #210189
After the disappointing Cyclone album (in comparison to previous work) Tangerine Dream pulled out all the stops with this album, thankfully losing the vocals. I have a near mint copy on vinyl and it sounds superb on a decent audio system. I hear things on the vinyl I don't hear on my CD version. At this point in time Tangerine Dream are moving away from sound collages into more melodic territory, a typical example being 'Cloudburst Flight', I saw Eric Froese play the guitar intro to this at the Royal Albert Hall and was mesmerised by the Mini Moog sample which led the piece of music, skilfully delivered by Thornsten Quaeschning, a bass sequence underpinning the track, originally on a Moog Modular no doubt. Nice to hear real time drums played, most notably on 'Thru Metamorphic Rocks'. Overall a superb album.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 02/24/2016 17:13 | #160664
Cloudburst Flight is brilliant, it's a pity the rest of the album is nowhere near as good.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Best Albums of 1979
1. London Calling by The Clash
2. The Wall by Pink Floyd
3. Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division
4. Fear Of Music by Talking Heads
5. Off The Wall by Michael Jackson
6. Breakfast In America by Supertramp
7. Entertainment! by Gang Of Four
8. Highway To Hell by AC/DC
9. Rust Never Sleeps by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
10. Reggatta De Blanc by The Police