Force Majeure
by Tangerine Dream
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Tangerine Dream bestography
Force Majeure is ranked 4th best out of 124 albums by Tangerine Dream on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Tangerine Dream is Phaedra which is ranked number 1187 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 1,475.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Listen to Force Majeure on YouTube
Force Majeure track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 82 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Force Majeure rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 5 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Skerns | Top 90 Music Albums of 1979 | 12/90 | 4 |
| 2026 |  jeremy9 | Top 36 Music Albums of 1979 | 19/36 | 3 |
| 2026 |  ExTeaSea | Top 65 Music Albums of 1979 | 49/65 | 1 |
| 2026 | Exist-en-ciel | Top 100 Music Albums of 1979 | 71/100 | 2 |
| 2026 |  sssvnnn | Top 100 Music Albums of 1979 | 4/100 | 5 |
| 2026 | Steppenwolf666 | Top 100 Music Albums of 1979 | 43/100 | 3 |
| 2026 |  hoyquarlow | Top 50 Music Albums of the 1970s | 50/50 | 0 |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Top 100 Music Albums of 1979 | 86/100 | 1 |
| 2026 | stevengnz | Top 97 Music Albums of 1979 | 88/97 | 1 |
| 2026 |  ssteve | Top 38 Music Albums of 1979 | 21/38 | 2 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 87 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 372 | |||
Force Majeure collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 47 members
Force Majeure ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
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 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 107 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 08/03/2026 10:34 |  MetalMan67 | 6,250 | 71/100 |
| ! | 07/14/2026 21:12 | duelek | 2,227 | 75/100 |
| ! | 05/11/2026 04:24 | emnasut | 153 | 87/100 |
Rating metrics:
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 14.6.
Force Majeure favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 13 members
Force Majeure forum mentions
Defago 06/14/2015 20:16 in BYT - G7 - 1979 (benpaco) v 1985 (borejko)View all forum mentions
Force Majeure comments
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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. (Edited)
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. (Edited)
hoyquarlow 08/06/2019 15:25 | #240836 | TOP COMMENT
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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. (Edited)
DJFresh-Rock 05/08/2022 01:49 | #285105 | TOP COMMENT
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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. (Edited)
Cloudburst Flight is brilliant, it's a pity the rest of the album is nowhere near as good.
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