Tangerine Dream
Encyclopedia
Tangerine Dream is a German
electronic music
group founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese
. The band has undergone many personnel changes over the years, with Froese being the only continuous member. Drummer and composer Klaus Schulze
was briefly a member of an early lineup, but the most stable version of the group, during their influential mid-1970s period, was as a keyboard trio with Froese, Christopher Franke
, and Peter Baumann
. Early in the 1980s, Johannes Schmoelling
replaced Baumann, and this lineup, too, was stable and extremely productive.
Tangerine Dream's early "Pink Years" albums had a pivotal role in the development of Krautrock
. Their "Virgin Years" and later albums became a defining influence in the genre known as New Age music
, although the band themselves disliked the term.
Although the group has released numerous studio and live recordings, a substantial number of their fans were introduced to Tangerine Dream by their film soundtracks, which total over sixty and includes Sorcerer
, Thief
, The Keep
, Risky Business
, Firestarter
, Legend
, Near Dark
, and Miracle Mile
.
, Klaus Schulze
and Conrad Schnitzler
.
The most notable of Froese's collaborations ended up being his partnership with Christopher Franke
. Franke joined Tangerine Dream in 1970 from the group Agitation Free
to replace Schulze as the drummer. He is credited for the initial discovery of the sequencer technique introduced on Phaedra
, that came to define the band's music. Franke left Tangerine Dream over creative differences with Froese nearly two decades later in 1987.
Other long-term members of the group included Peter Baumann
(1971–1977), who later went on to found the New Age label Private Music
, to which the band was signed from 1988 to 1991; Johannes Schmoelling
(1979–1985); Paul Haslinger
(1986–1990); and, most recently Froese's son Jerome Froese
(1990–2006).
A number of other members were also part of Tangerine Dream for shorter periods of time. In contrast to session musicians, they also contributed to some compositions of the band during their stay. The five most notable such members are Steve Schroyder
(organist, 1971–72), Michael Hoenig
(who replaced Baumann for a 1975 Australian tour and a London concert, included on Bootleg Box Set Vol. 1), Steve Jolliffe
(wind instruments and vocals on Cyclone and the following tour; he was also part of a short-lived 1969 line-up), Ralf Wadephul
(in collaboration with Edgar Froese recorded album Blue Dawn, but it was released only in 2006; also credited for one track on Optical Race (1988) and toured with the band in support of this album), and Linda Spa
(saxophonist who appeared on numerous albums and concerts between 1990 and 1996, as well as 2005 onwards).
As of 2009 Tangerine Dream comprises Edgar Froese and Thorsten Quaeschning, who collaborated in the composition of Jeanne d'Arc (2005) and several subsequent releases. For concerts and recordings they are joined mainly by Iris Camaa, Linda Spa
and Bernhard Beibl.
in the mid-1960s to study art. His first band, the R&B
-styled The Ones, was gradually dismantled after releasing only one single, and Froese turned to experimentation, playing minor gigs with a variety of musicians. Most of these gigs were in the famous Zodiak Free Arts Lab
, although Froese's band was also invited to play for Salvador Dalí
. Music was mixed with literature
, painting
, early forms of multimedia
, and more. Only the most outlandish ideas attracted any attention, and Froese summed up this attitude with the phrase: "In the absurd often lies what is artistically possible". As members of the group came and went, the direction of the music continued to be inspired by the Surrealists
, and the group came to be called by the surreal-sounding name of Tangerine Dream, inspired by the line "tangerine trees and marmalade skies" from The Beatles
' track "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
."
Froese was fascinated by technology and skilled in using it to create music. He built custom-made instrument
s and, wherever he went, collected sounds with tape recorders for use in constructing musical works later. His early work with tape loops and other repeating sounds was the obvious precursor to the emerging technology of the sequencer
, which Tangerine Dream quickly adopted upon its arrival.
The first Tangerine Dream album, Electronic Meditation
, was a tape-collage Krautrock
piece, using the technology of the time rather than the synthesized music they later became famous for. The line-up for the album was Froese, Klaus Schulze, and Conrad Schnitzler
. Electronic Meditation was published by Ohr in 1970, and began the period known as the Pink Years (the Ohr logo was a pink ear). But starting with their second album, Alpha Centauri
, the group has been a trio or occasionally duo of electronic instruments, commonly augmented by guitar from Froese (or, much later, other musicians as well), and occasionally also other instruments. Of these, drums from Christopher Franke
and organ from Steve Schroyder (on Alpha Centauri) or Peter Baumann
(on subsequent releases) feature prominently in the band's music during the early 70s. They also started their heavy usage of the Mellotron
during this period.
was named as Album of the Year by British DJ John Peel
, and this attention helped Tangerine Dream to sign to the fledgling Virgin Records
in the same year. Soon afterward they released the album Phaedra
, an eerie soundscape that unexpectedly reached #15 in the United Kingdom
album charts and became one of Virgin's first bona-fide hits. Phaedra was one of the first commercial albums to feature sequencers and came to define much more than just the band's own sound. The creation of the album's title track was something of an accident; the band was experimenting in the studio with a recently acquired Moog synthesizer
, and the tape happened to be rolling at the time. They kept the results and later added flute, bass-guitar and Mellotron
performances. The cantankerous Moog, like many other early synthesizers, was so sensitive to changes in temperature that its oscillators would drift badly in tuning as the equipment warmed up, and this drift can easily be heard on the final recording. This album marked the beginning of the period known as the Virgin Years.
In the 1980s, along with other electronic music pioneers such as Jean Michel Jarre
and Vangelis
, the band were early adopters of the new digital
technology which revolutionized the sound of the synthesiser, although the group had been using digital equipment (in some shape or form) as early as the mid-seventies. Their technical competence and extensive experience in their early years with self-made instruments and unusual means of creating sounds meant that they were able to exploit this new technology to make music quite unlike anything heard before. To the modern listener, their albums of that period may not seem so exceptional, but only because the technology they adopted at that time is now used almost universally.
Through the 1970s and 1980s the band toured extensively. The concerts generally included large amounts of unreleased and improvised material, and were consequently widely bootlegged
. They were notorious for playing extremely loudly (reaching 134db in 1976) and for a long time. The band released recordings of a fair number of their concerts, and on some of these the band worked out material which would later form the backbone of their studio recordings (for example, Pergamon, which documents a concert given in East Berlin shortly after Johannes Schmoelling joined the group, contains themes that would appear later on Tangram
). An excellent introduction is the seminal Ricochet album; this was recorded during a tour which included European cathedrals, with some later overdubbing.
and "The Harbor" from 1987's Shy People
, the group only recently returned to featuring vocals in a musical trilogy based on Dante
's Divine Comedy and their 2007 album Madcap's Flaming Duty
.
After their 1980 East Berlin
gig, when they became one of the first major Western bands to perform in a Communist country, Tangerine Dream became very popular behind the Iron Curtain
. They were one of the most popular bands in Poland in the early 1980s and even released a double live album of one of their performances there called Poland
, recorded during their tour in the winter at the end of 1983. Because of the abstract nature of the music—and, arguably, the lack of lyrics—they did not attract censorship from the authorities, unlike many other Western bands. With Poland, the band moved to the Jive Electro label, marking the beginning of the Blue Years.
was used as the theme for the television program Street Hawk
. Some of the more famous soundtracks have been Sorcerer, The Keep, Risky Business
, Firestarter
, Near Dark
, Shy People
, and Legend
. At their best, the soundtracks have been as musically successful as the regular studio albums, and many fans discovered them through their film or television work. A track from Phaedra
was used in the Godfrey Ho
film, "Thunder Ninja Kids: The Hunt for Devil Boxer."
, Private Music, and Miramar, and many of the minor soundtracks were released on Varese Sarabande. In 1996, the band founded their own record label, TDI, and more recently, Eastgate. Subsequent albums are today generally not available in normal retail channels but are sold by mail-order. The same applies to their Miramar releases, the rights to which the band has bought back. Meanwhile, their Ohr and Jive Electro catalogs (known as the "Pink" and "Blue" Years) are currently owned by Esoteric Recordings
.
Edgar Froese also released a number of solo recordings which are similar in style to Tangerine Dream's work. Jerome Froese released a number of singles as TDJ Rome, that are similar to his work within the Dream Mixes series; in 2005 he released his first solo album Neptunes. Jerome is presently on hiatus from Tangerine Dream to concentrate on his solo career. He has recently finished his second solo album Shiver Me Timbers which was released on October 29, 2007.
To celebrate their 40th anniversary (1967–2007), Tangerine Dream announced their only UK concert at London Astoria on April 20, 2007. Tangerine Dream also played a totally free open air concert in Eberswalde
on July 1, 2007 and at the Alte Oper
in Frankfurt
on Main on October 7, 2007. 2008 saw the band in Eindhoven Holland playing at E-Day (an electronic music festival) together with Ron Boots; later in the year they also played the Night of the Prog Festival in Loreley, Germany
, as well as concerts at the Kentish Town Forum, in London on November 1, at the Picture House, Edinburgh on November 2, and their first live concert in the USA for over a decade, at the UCLA Royce Hall
, Los Angeles
on November 7. Recent announcements (2009) have been made of upcoming shows in Germany
and Japan
.
In 2009 the group announced that they would play a concert at the Royal Albert Hall
in London, on April 1, 2010, titled the Zeitgeist concert, 35 years after their milestone concert there on April 2, 1975. The entire concert was released as a 3-CD live album on 7 July 2010.
, while Chris Franke contributed the more avant garde elements of Karlheinz Stockhausen
and Terry Riley
. Yes
-like influence was brought in by Steve Joliffe on Cyclone. The sample-based sound collages of Johannes Schmoelling drew their inspiration from a number of sources; one instance is Steve Reich
's Music for 18 Musicians
on, for example, parts of Logos Live
, and the track Love on a Real Train from the Risky Business
soundtrack.
Classical music has had some influence on the sound of Tangerine Dream over the years. György Ligeti
, Johann Sebastian Bach
, Maurice Ravel
, and Arcangelo Corelli
are clearly visible as dominant influences in the early albums. A Baroque sensibility sometimes informs the more coordinated sequencer patterns, which has its most direct expression in the La Follia section that comes at the very end of the title track of Force Majeure. In live performances, the piano solos often directly quoted from Romantic classical works for piano, such as the Beethoven and Mozart snippets in much of the late '70s- early '80s stage shows. In the bootleg recording of the Mannheim
Mozartsaal concert of 1976 (Tangerine Tree
volume 13), the first part of the first piece also clearly quotes from Franz Liszt
's Totentanz. The first phrase is played on a harpsichord synthesizer patch, and is answered by the second half of the phrase in a flute voicing on a Mellotron
. During the 90s, many releases included recordings of classical compositions: Pictures at an Exhibition
(on Turn of the Tides
), Largo (from Xerxes)
(on Tyranny of Beauty
), Symphony in A Minor (by J. S. Bach), and Concerto in A Major / Adagio (by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
) (both on Ambient Monkeys).
Since the 90s, Tangerine Dream have also recorded cover versions of Jimi Hendrix' Purple Haze
(first on 220 Volt Live
) and The Beatles
' Eleanor Rigby
, Back in the U.S.S.R., Tomorrow Never Knows
, and "Norwegian Wood
".
An infrequently recurring non-musical influence on Tangerine Dream, and Edgar Froese in particular, have been 12th-19th century poet
s. This was first evident on the 1981 album Exit
, the track title "Pilots of the Purple Twilight" being a quote from Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem Locksley Hall
. Six years later, the album Tyger
featured poems from William Blake
set to music; and around the turn of the millennium, Edgar Froese started working on a musical trilogy based on Dante Alighieri
's Divine Comedy, completed in 2006. Most recently, the 2007 album Madcap's Flaming Duty features more poems set to music, some again from Blake but also e.g. Walt Whitman
.
Pink Floyd
were also an influence on Edgar Froese and Tangerine Dream, the band in its very early psychedelic rock band phase playing improvisations based on Pink Floyd's Interstellar Overdrive
. Madcap's Flaming Duty is dedicated to the memory of the late Syd Barrett
. The title refers to Barrett's solo release, "The Madcap Laughs
".
The band's influence can be felt in ambient artists such as Deepspace, The Future Sound of London
, David Kristian
, and Global Communication
, as well as rock, pop, and dance artists such as Radiohead
, Porcupine Tree
, M83
, DJ Shadow
, Ulrich Schnauss
, Cut Copy
, and Kasabian. The band also clearly influenced 1990s and 2000s Trance music
, where lush soundscapes and synth pads are used along with repetitive synth sequences, much like in their 1975 releases Rubycon
and Ricochet, as well as some of their music from the early 1980s. The group have also been sampled countless times, more recently by Recoil
on the album SubHuman
and on several Houzan Suzuki albums.
.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
group founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese
Edgar Froese
Edgar Wilmar Froese is a German artist and electronic music pioneer, best known for founding the electronic music group, Tangerine Dream. Although his solo and group recordings prior to 2003 name him as "Edgar Froese", his solo albums from 2003 onward bear the artist name "Edgar W. Froese".Froese...
. The band has undergone many personnel changes over the years, with Froese being the only continuous member. Drummer and composer Klaus Schulze
Klaus Schulze
Klaus Schulze is a German electronic music composer and musician. He also used the alias Richard Wahnfried. He was briefly a member of the electronic bands Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel before launching a solo career consisting of more than 60 albums released across five decades.-1970s:In...
was briefly a member of an early lineup, but the most stable version of the group, during their influential mid-1970s period, was as a keyboard trio with Froese, Christopher Franke
Christopher Franke
Christopher Franke is a German musician and composer. From 1971 to 1988 he was a member of the electronic group Tangerine Dream. Initially a drummer with The Agitation, later renamed Agitation Free, his primary focus eventually shifted to keyboards and synthesizers as the group moved away from its...
, and Peter Baumann
Peter Baumann
Peter Baumann formed the core line-up of the German electronic group Tangerine Dream with Edgar Froese and Christopher Franke in 1971. While touring with the band, Baumann composed his first solo album in 1976...
. Early in the 1980s, Johannes Schmoelling
Johannes Schmoelling
Johannes Schmoelling is an electronic musician and was a member of the prolific electronic music group Tangerine Dream from 1980 to 1986. A classically trained musician he began playing piano at the age of eight...
replaced Baumann, and this lineup, too, was stable and extremely productive.
Tangerine Dream's early "Pink Years" albums had a pivotal role in the development of Krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
. Their "Virgin Years" and later albums became a defining influence in the genre known as New Age music
New Age music
New Age music is music of various styles intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management or to create a peaceful atmosphere in their home or other environments, and is often...
, although the band themselves disliked the term.
Although the group has released numerous studio and live recordings, a substantial number of their fans were introduced to Tangerine Dream by their film soundtracks, which total over sixty and includes Sorcerer
Sorcerer (film)
Sorcerer is a 1977 thriller adventure film, produced and directed by William Friedkin, starring Roy Scheider, Bruno Cremer, Francisco Rabal and Amidou. It is the second remake of the 1953 French film Le Salaire de la Peur ....
, Thief
Thief (film)
Thief is a 1981 neo-noir film written and directed by Michael Mann and based on the novel The Home Invaders by "Frank Hohimer"...
, The Keep
The Keep (film)
The Keep is a 1983 horror film directed by Michael Mann and starring Scott Glenn, Gabriel Byrne, Jürgen Prochnow, Alberta Watson and Ian McKellen. It was released by Paramount Pictures. The story is based on the F...
, Risky Business
Risky Business
Risky Business is a 1983 American teen comedy-drama film written by Paul Brickman in his directorial debut. It stars Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay. The hit film launched Cruise to stardom.-Plot:...
, Firestarter
Firestarter (film)
Firestarter is a 1984 science fiction thriller film based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King. The plot concerns a young girl who develops pyrokinesis and the secret government agency which seeks to control her. The film was directed by Mark L. Lester, and stars Drew Barrymore and David...
, Legend
Legend (film)
Legend is a 1985 fantasy film released by Universal Pictures, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, and Tim Curry. Though not a very notable success when first released, it received a single Academy Award nomination for Best Makeup, and since its initial release, has developed...
, Near Dark
Near Dark
Near Dark is an American vampire/Western horror film, written by Eric Red and Kathryn Bigelow, and directed by Bigelow. The story follows a young man in a small midwestern town who becomes involved with a family of nomadic American vampires...
, and Miracle Mile
Miracle Mile (film)
Miracle Mile is a 1988 apocalyptic thriller cult film written and directed by Steve De Jarnatt, and starring Anthony Edwards and Mare Winningham that takes place mostly in real time. It is named after the Miracle Mile neighborhood of Los Angeles, where most of the action takes place. The movie was...
.
Line-up
In the late 60s and early 70s, several short-lived incarnations of Tangerine Dream were formed by Froese teaming up with various musicians from West Berlin's underground scene. A few of these collaborators included Steve JolliffeSteve Jolliffe
Steve Jolliffe is an English musician.Jolliffe was a member of the blues-rock band Steamhammer between 1969 and 1970, playing saxophone and flute on their Mk II album, the band's second album in 1969....
, Klaus Schulze
Klaus Schulze
Klaus Schulze is a German electronic music composer and musician. He also used the alias Richard Wahnfried. He was briefly a member of the electronic bands Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel before launching a solo career consisting of more than 60 albums released across five decades.-1970s:In...
and Conrad Schnitzler
Conrad Schnitzler
Conrad Schnitzler was a prolific German experimental musician.Schnitzler was born in Düsseldorf. He was an early member of Tangerine Dream and a founder of the band Kluster. He left Kluster in 1971, first working with his group Eruption and then focusing on solo works...
.
The most notable of Froese's collaborations ended up being his partnership with Christopher Franke
Christopher Franke
Christopher Franke is a German musician and composer. From 1971 to 1988 he was a member of the electronic group Tangerine Dream. Initially a drummer with The Agitation, later renamed Agitation Free, his primary focus eventually shifted to keyboards and synthesizers as the group moved away from its...
. Franke joined Tangerine Dream in 1970 from the group Agitation Free
Agitation Free
Agitation Free was a German experimental krautrock band. The band was formed in 1967 with Michael "Fame" Günther , Lutz "Lüül" Ulbrich , Lutz Ludwig Kramer and Christopher Franke . They were initially called Agitation, a name they chose at random from a dictionary...
to replace Schulze as the drummer. He is credited for the initial discovery of the sequencer technique introduced on Phaedra
Phaedra (album)
-Personnel:* Edgar Froese – producer, Mellotron, guitar, bass, VCS 3 synthesizer, organ* Christopher Franke – Moog synthesizer, VCS 3 synthesizer* Peter Baumann – Organ, electric piano, VCS 3 synthesizer, flute-Chart performance:-References:*...
, that came to define the band's music. Franke left Tangerine Dream over creative differences with Froese nearly two decades later in 1987.
Other long-term members of the group included Peter Baumann
Peter Baumann
Peter Baumann formed the core line-up of the German electronic group Tangerine Dream with Edgar Froese and Christopher Franke in 1971. While touring with the band, Baumann composed his first solo album in 1976...
(1971–1977), who later went on to found the New Age label Private Music
Private Music
Private Music is a United States record company founded in 1984 by experimental musician Peter Baumann, as a home for instrumental music. Initially signing such artists as Yanni, Suzanne Ciani, Patrick O'Hearn, and Baumann's former bandmates Tangerine Dream, the record label specialized in New Age...
, to which the band was signed from 1988 to 1991; Johannes Schmoelling
Johannes Schmoelling
Johannes Schmoelling is an electronic musician and was a member of the prolific electronic music group Tangerine Dream from 1980 to 1986. A classically trained musician he began playing piano at the age of eight...
(1979–1985); Paul Haslinger
Paul Haslinger
Paul Haslinger is an Austrian-born composer and musician currently based in Los Angeles, California.- Life and career :...
(1986–1990); and, most recently Froese's son Jerome Froese
Jerome Froese
Jerome Froese is a musician who, in 1990, officially joined his father, Edgar Froese in the band Tangerine Dream. He remained a member until 2006; currently he is working on several other projects...
(1990–2006).
A number of other members were also part of Tangerine Dream for shorter periods of time. In contrast to session musicians, they also contributed to some compositions of the band during their stay. The five most notable such members are Steve Schroyder
Star Sounds Orchestra
Star Sounds Orchestra are Steve Schroyder and Jens Zygar, a psychedelic trance project from Germany.-Discography:*Psy Force *Ooz...
(organist, 1971–72), Michael Hoenig
Michael Hoenig
Michael Hoenig is a German composer who has composed music for several movies and games, in addition to two solo albums...
(who replaced Baumann for a 1975 Australian tour and a London concert, included on Bootleg Box Set Vol. 1), Steve Jolliffe
Steve Jolliffe
Steve Jolliffe is an English musician.Jolliffe was a member of the blues-rock band Steamhammer between 1969 and 1970, playing saxophone and flute on their Mk II album, the band's second album in 1969....
(wind instruments and vocals on Cyclone and the following tour; he was also part of a short-lived 1969 line-up), Ralf Wadephul
Ralf Wadephul
Ralf Wadephul, born 1958 in Berlin, is a German keyboardist/composer who collaborated with Tangerine Dream in the late 1980s on their first "Melrose Years" album Optical Race...
(in collaboration with Edgar Froese recorded album Blue Dawn, but it was released only in 2006; also credited for one track on Optical Race (1988) and toured with the band in support of this album), and Linda Spa
Linda Spa
Linda Spa is an Austrian composer.Originally she learned fashion design in Vienna, but soon started with her musical training. She studied flute, clarinet, saxophone and composition...
(saxophonist who appeared on numerous albums and concerts between 1990 and 1996, as well as 2005 onwards).
As of 2009 Tangerine Dream comprises Edgar Froese and Thorsten Quaeschning, who collaborated in the composition of Jeanne d'Arc (2005) and several subsequent releases. For concerts and recordings they are joined mainly by Iris Camaa, Linda Spa
Linda Spa
Linda Spa is an Austrian composer.Originally she learned fashion design in Vienna, but soon started with her musical training. She studied flute, clarinet, saxophone and composition...
and Bernhard Beibl.
Origins: Psychedelia and krautrock
Edgar Froese arrived in West BerlinWest Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
in the mid-1960s to study art. His first band, the R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
-styled The Ones, was gradually dismantled after releasing only one single, and Froese turned to experimentation, playing minor gigs with a variety of musicians. Most of these gigs were in the famous Zodiak Free Arts Lab
Zodiak Free Arts Lab
The Zodiak Free Arts Lab, sometimes known as the "Zodiak Club" or "Zodiac Club," was a short-lived but highly influential experimental live music venue, founded in the then West Berlin in late 1967 by German artists/musicians Conrad Schnitzler and Hans-Joachim Roedelius The Zodiak Free Arts Lab,...
, although Froese's band was also invited to play for Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
. Music was mixed with literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
, painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, early forms of multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
, and more. Only the most outlandish ideas attracted any attention, and Froese summed up this attitude with the phrase: "In the absurd often lies what is artistically possible". As members of the group came and went, the direction of the music continued to be inspired by the Surrealists
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
, and the group came to be called by the surreal-sounding name of Tangerine Dream, inspired by the line "tangerine trees and marmalade skies" from The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' track "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a song written primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney, for The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band...
."
Froese was fascinated by technology and skilled in using it to create music. He built custom-made instrument
Custom-made instrument
An experimental musical instrument is a musical instrument that modifies or extends an existing instrument or class of instruments, or defines or creates a new class of instrument. Some are created through simple modifications, such as cracked drum cymbals or metal objects inserted between piano...
s and, wherever he went, collected sounds with tape recorders for use in constructing musical works later. His early work with tape loops and other repeating sounds was the obvious precursor to the emerging technology of the sequencer
Music sequencer
The music sequencer is a device or computer software to record, edit, play back the music, by handling note and performance information in several forms, typically :...
, which Tangerine Dream quickly adopted upon its arrival.
The first Tangerine Dream album, Electronic Meditation
Electronic Meditation
-Personnel:* Edgar Froese – six- and twelve-string guitar, organ, piano, sound effects, tapes* Conrad Schnitzler – cello, violin, typewriter* Klaus Schulze – drums, percussion, metal sticks* Jimmy Jackson – organ...
, was a tape-collage Krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
piece, using the technology of the time rather than the synthesized music they later became famous for. The line-up for the album was Froese, Klaus Schulze, and Conrad Schnitzler
Conrad Schnitzler
Conrad Schnitzler was a prolific German experimental musician.Schnitzler was born in Düsseldorf. He was an early member of Tangerine Dream and a founder of the band Kluster. He left Kluster in 1971, first working with his group Eruption and then focusing on solo works...
. Electronic Meditation was published by Ohr in 1970, and began the period known as the Pink Years (the Ohr logo was a pink ear). But starting with their second album, Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri (album)
- Personnel :* Edgar Froese – guitar, organ, bass, coffee machine, composer* Steve Schroyder – organ, voice, echo machines, iron stick.* Christopher Franke – drums, percussion, flute, zither, piano, VCS3* Udo Dennebourg – flute, voice...
, the group has been a trio or occasionally duo of electronic instruments, commonly augmented by guitar from Froese (or, much later, other musicians as well), and occasionally also other instruments. Of these, drums from Christopher Franke
Christopher Franke
Christopher Franke is a German musician and composer. From 1971 to 1988 he was a member of the electronic group Tangerine Dream. Initially a drummer with The Agitation, later renamed Agitation Free, his primary focus eventually shifted to keyboards and synthesizers as the group moved away from its...
and organ from Steve Schroyder (on Alpha Centauri) or Peter Baumann
Peter Baumann
Peter Baumann formed the core line-up of the German electronic group Tangerine Dream with Edgar Froese and Christopher Franke in 1971. While touring with the band, Baumann composed his first solo album in 1976...
(on subsequent releases) feature prominently in the band's music during the early 70s. They also started their heavy usage of the Mellotron
Mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...
during this period.
Rise to fame: The Virgin years
The band's 1973 album AtemAtem (album)
- Musicians :* Edgar Froese – mellotron, organ, guitar, voice* Christopher Franke – VCS3, drums, percussion, organ, voice* Peter Baumann – organ, piano, VCS3...
was named as Album of the Year by British DJ John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
, and this attention helped Tangerine Dream to sign to the fledgling Virgin Records
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...
in the same year. Soon afterward they released the album Phaedra
Phaedra (album)
-Personnel:* Edgar Froese – producer, Mellotron, guitar, bass, VCS 3 synthesizer, organ* Christopher Franke – Moog synthesizer, VCS 3 synthesizer* Peter Baumann – Organ, electric piano, VCS 3 synthesizer, flute-Chart performance:-References:*...
, an eerie soundscape that unexpectedly reached #15 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
album charts and became one of Virgin's first bona-fide hits. Phaedra was one of the first commercial albums to feature sequencers and came to define much more than just the band's own sound. The creation of the album's title track was something of an accident; the band was experimenting in the studio with a recently acquired Moog synthesizer
Moog synthesizer
Moog synthesizer may refer to any number of analog synthesizers designed by Dr. Robert Moog or manufactured by Moog Music, and is commonly used as a generic term for older-generation analog music synthesizers. The Moog company pioneered the commercial manufacture of modular voltage-controlled...
, and the tape happened to be rolling at the time. They kept the results and later added flute, bass-guitar and Mellotron
Mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...
performances. The cantankerous Moog, like many other early synthesizers, was so sensitive to changes in temperature that its oscillators would drift badly in tuning as the equipment warmed up, and this drift can easily be heard on the final recording. This album marked the beginning of the period known as the Virgin Years.
In the 1980s, along with other electronic music pioneers such as Jean Michel Jarre
Jean Michel Jarre
Jean Michel André Jarre is a French composer, performer and music producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and New Age genres, and known as an organiser of outdoor spectacles of his music featuring lights, laser displays, and fireworks.Jarre was raised in Lyon by his mother and...
and Vangelis
Vangelis
Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou is a Greek composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, pop rock and orchestral music, under the artist name Vangelis...
, the band were early adopters of the new digital
Digital
A digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...
technology which revolutionized the sound of the synthesiser, although the group had been using digital equipment (in some shape or form) as early as the mid-seventies. Their technical competence and extensive experience in their early years with self-made instruments and unusual means of creating sounds meant that they were able to exploit this new technology to make music quite unlike anything heard before. To the modern listener, their albums of that period may not seem so exceptional, but only because the technology they adopted at that time is now used almost universally.
Tangerine Dream live
Tangerine Dream's earliest concerts were visually simple by modern standards, with three men sitting motionless for hours alongside massive electronic boxes festooned with patch cords and a few flashing lights. Some concerts were even performed in complete darkness as happened during the performance at York Minster, 20 October 1975. As time went on and technology advanced, the concerts became much more elaborate, with visual effects, lighting, lasers, pyrotechnics, and projected images. By 1977 their North American tour featured full-scale Laserium effects.Through the 1970s and 1980s the band toured extensively. The concerts generally included large amounts of unreleased and improvised material, and were consequently widely bootlegged
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
. They were notorious for playing extremely loudly (reaching 134db in 1976) and for a long time. The band released recordings of a fair number of their concerts, and on some of these the band worked out material which would later form the backbone of their studio recordings (for example, Pergamon, which documents a concert given in East Berlin shortly after Johannes Schmoelling joined the group, contains themes that would appear later on Tangram
Tangram (album)
-Personnel:Musical* Edgar Froese — keyboards, guitar* Christopher Franke — keyboards, electronic percussions* Johannes Schmoelling - keyboardsTechnical* Eduard Meyer - mixing engineer, Hansa Studios Berlin...
). An excellent introduction is the seminal Ricochet album; this was recorded during a tour which included European cathedrals, with some later overdubbing.
Forays into vocals
Most of Tangerine Dream's albums are entirely instrumental—two albums that prominently featured lyrics, Cyclone (1978) and Tyger (1987) were met with disapproval from some fans. While there have occasionally been a few vocals on the band's other releases, such as the track "Kiew Mission" from 1981's ExitExit (Tangerine Dream album)
Exit is an electronic music album released in 1981 by the German group Tangerine Dream. The first track features an uncredited female voice chanting, in Russian, the names of the continents of the world and pleading to end the threat of "limited" nuclear war, which was a potential danger facing the...
and "The Harbor" from 1987's Shy People
Shy People
Shy People is a critically acclaimed 1987 American drama about two branches of a family that reunite with tragic results, starring Barbara Hershey, Jill Clayburgh, and Martha Plimpton. It was directed by Andrei Konchalovsky, written by Konchalovsky, Marjorie David and Gerard Brach, and features...
, the group only recently returned to featuring vocals in a musical trilogy based on Dante
Dante Alighieri
Durante degli Alighieri, mononymously referred to as Dante , was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia ...
's Divine Comedy and their 2007 album Madcap's Flaming Duty
Madcap's Flaming Duty
Madcap's Flaming Duty is a 2007 album by Tangerine Dream. Along with Cyclone it is one of the few Tangerine Dream releases to feature vocals...
.
After their 1980 East Berlin
East Berlin
East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
gig, when they became one of the first major Western bands to perform in a Communist country, Tangerine Dream became very popular behind the Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
. They were one of the most popular bands in Poland in the early 1980s and even released a double live album of one of their performances there called Poland
Poland (album)
The four tracks consist of 3-4 distinct sections each. The last two of the four sections of "Tangent" are titled "Polish Dance" and "Rare Bird" respectively, and the second section of "Barbakane" is titled "Warsaw in the Sun"...
, recorded during their tour in the winter at the end of 1983. Because of the abstract nature of the music—and, arguably, the lack of lyrics—they did not attract censorship from the authorities, unlike many other Western bands. With Poland, the band moved to the Jive Electro label, marking the beginning of the Blue Years.
Soundtracks
Throughout the 1980s Tangerine Dream composed scores for more than twenty films. This had been an interest of Froese's since the late 1960s, when he scored an obscure Polish film, as well as appearing as an actor in several German underground films. He made the score for the experimental film "Never shoot the bathroom man", directed by Jürgen Polland. Many of the group's soundtracks were composed at least partially of reworked material from the band's studio albums or work that was in progress for upcoming albums; see, for example, the resemblance between the track "Igneous" on their soundtrack for Thief and the track "Thru Metamorphic Rocks" on their studio release Force Majeure. Their first exposure on U.S. television came when a track for the then in-progress album Le ParcLe Parc (album)
-Personnel:* Christopher Franke* Edgar Froese* Johannes Schmoelling* Clare Torry– vocals on "Yellowstone Park"* Katja Brauneis– vocals on "Zen Garden"* Robert Kastler– trumpets on "Bois de Boulogne"* Christian Gstettner– computer programming...
was used as the theme for the television program Street Hawk
Street Hawk
Street Hawk is an American television series that aired for 13 episodes on ABC in 1985. The series was a Limekiln and Templar Production in association with Universal Television. Its central characters were created by Paul M. Belous and Robert "Bob" Wolterstorff, and its core format was developed...
. Some of the more famous soundtracks have been Sorcerer, The Keep, Risky Business
Risky Business (soundtrack)
Risky Business is a soundtrack album by the German band Tangerine Dream for the film Risky Business, starring Tom Cruise. It includes songs by Bob Seger, Muddy Waters, Jeff Beck, Prince, Journey and Phil Collins. The Tangerine Dream songs were chiefly previously-released compositions, shortened and...
, Firestarter
Firestarter (soundtrack)
-Personnel:* Edgar Froese– keyboards, electronic equipment, guitar* Christopher Franke– synthesizers, electronic equipment, electronic percussion* Johannes Schmoelling– keyboards, electronic equipment...
, Near Dark
Near Dark
Near Dark is an American vampire/Western horror film, written by Eric Red and Kathryn Bigelow, and directed by Bigelow. The story follows a young man in a small midwestern town who becomes involved with a family of nomadic American vampires...
, Shy People
Shy People
Shy People is a critically acclaimed 1987 American drama about two branches of a family that reunite with tragic results, starring Barbara Hershey, Jill Clayburgh, and Martha Plimpton. It was directed by Andrei Konchalovsky, written by Konchalovsky, Marjorie David and Gerard Brach, and features...
, and Legend
Legend (Tangerine Dream soundtrack)
-Personnel:* Edgar Froese* Christopher Franke* Johannes Schmoelling* Bryan Ferry— "Is Your Love Strong Enough?"* Jon Anderson— vocal version of "Loved by the Sun"...
. At their best, the soundtracks have been as musically successful as the regular studio albums, and many fans discovered them through their film or television work. A track from Phaedra
Phaedra (album)
-Personnel:* Edgar Froese – producer, Mellotron, guitar, bass, VCS 3 synthesizer, organ* Christopher Franke – Moog synthesizer, VCS 3 synthesizer* Peter Baumann – Organ, electric piano, VCS 3 synthesizer, flute-Chart performance:-References:*...
was used in the Godfrey Ho
Godfrey Ho
Godfrey Ho is a former Hong Kong-based prolific film director and screenwriter, sometimes considered the Ed Wood of Hong Kong cinema. Ho is believed to having directed more than one hundred films, including over 80 movies from 1980 to 1990, but only one film since 1995, apparently retiring from...
film, "Thunder Ninja Kids: The Hunt for Devil Boxer."
Recent times: Going independent
The group has had recording contracts with Ohr, Virgin, Jive ElectroJive Electro
Jive Electro was a sublabel of the Zomba Group's Jive Records noted for releasing albums by Groove Armada, Hardknox, and Tangerine Dream as well as few remixes for the Madchester band The Stone Roses.The label was largely active between 1984 and 1987...
, Private Music, and Miramar, and many of the minor soundtracks were released on Varese Sarabande. In 1996, the band founded their own record label, TDI, and more recently, Eastgate. Subsequent albums are today generally not available in normal retail channels but are sold by mail-order. The same applies to their Miramar releases, the rights to which the band has bought back. Meanwhile, their Ohr and Jive Electro catalogs (known as the "Pink" and "Blue" Years) are currently owned by Esoteric Recordings
Esoteric Recordings
Established in 2007, Esoteric Recordings is a UK independent record label specialising in 70s progressive rock, folk, psychedelic and jazz-rock reissues as part of the Cherry Red Records umbrella of imprints...
.
Edgar Froese also released a number of solo recordings which are similar in style to Tangerine Dream's work. Jerome Froese released a number of singles as TDJ Rome, that are similar to his work within the Dream Mixes series; in 2005 he released his first solo album Neptunes. Jerome is presently on hiatus from Tangerine Dream to concentrate on his solo career. He has recently finished his second solo album Shiver Me Timbers which was released on October 29, 2007.
To celebrate their 40th anniversary (1967–2007), Tangerine Dream announced their only UK concert at London Astoria on April 20, 2007. Tangerine Dream also played a totally free open air concert in Eberswalde
Eberswalde
Eberswalde is a major town and the administrative seat of the district Barnim in the German Federal State of Brandenburg, about 50 km northeast of Berlin. Population 42144 , geographical location . The town is often called Waldstadt , because of the large forests around it, including the...
on July 1, 2007 and at the Alte Oper
Alte Oper
The Alte Oper is a major concert hall and former opera house in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The building was inaugurated in 1880. Many important works have been premiered at the Alte Oper, including Carl Orff's Carmina Burana in 1937....
in Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
on Main on October 7, 2007. 2008 saw the band in Eindhoven Holland playing at E-Day (an electronic music festival) together with Ron Boots; later in the year they also played the Night of the Prog Festival in Loreley, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, as well as concerts at the Kentish Town Forum, in London on November 1, at the Picture House, Edinburgh on November 2, and their first live concert in the USA for over a decade, at the UCLA Royce Hall
Royce Hall
Royce Hall is a building on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles . Designed by the Los Angeles firm of Allison & Allison in the Italian Romanesque Revival style and completed in 1929, it is one of the four original buildings on UCLA's Westwood campus and has come to be the...
, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
on November 7. Recent announcements (2009) have been made of upcoming shows in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
In 2009 the group announced that they would play a concert at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
in London, on April 1, 2010, titled the Zeitgeist concert, 35 years after their milestone concert there on April 2, 1975. The entire concert was released as a 3-CD live album on 7 July 2010.
Influences
Tangerine Dream began as a surreal rock band, each of the members contributed different things. Edgar Froese's guitar style was inspired by Jimi HendrixJimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
, while Chris Franke contributed the more avant garde elements of Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
and Terry Riley
Terry Riley
Terrence Mitchell Riley, is an American composer intrinsically associated with the minimalist school of Western classical music and was a pioneer of the movement...
. Yes
Yes (band)
Yes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...
-like influence was brought in by Steve Joliffe on Cyclone. The sample-based sound collages of Johannes Schmoelling drew their inspiration from a number of sources; one instance is Steve Reich
Steve Reich
Stephen Michael "Steve" Reich is an American composer who together with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass is a pioneering composer of minimal music...
's Music for 18 Musicians
Music for 18 Musicians
Music for 18 Musicians is a work of musical minimalism composed by Steve Reich during 1974-1976. Its world premiere was on April 24, 1976 at Town Hall, New York. Following this, a recording of the piece was released by ECM New Series...
on, for example, parts of Logos Live
Logos Live
Logos Live is an album of electronic music released by Tangerine Dream in 1982. It is a live album from the concert at the Dominion Theatre in London, England...
, and the track Love on a Real Train from the Risky Business
Risky Business
Risky Business is a 1983 American teen comedy-drama film written by Paul Brickman in his directorial debut. It stars Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay. The hit film launched Cruise to stardom.-Plot:...
soundtrack.
Classical music has had some influence on the sound of Tangerine Dream over the years. György Ligeti
György Ligeti
György Sándor Ligeti was a composer of contemporary classical music. Born in a Hungarian Jewish family in Transylvania, Romania, he briefly lived in Hungary before becoming an Austrian citizen.-Early life:...
, Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
, Maurice Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
, and Arcangelo Corelli
Arcangelo Corelli
Arcangelo Corelli was an Italian violinist and composer of Baroque music.-Biography:Corelli was born at Fusignano, in the current-day province of Ravenna, although at the time it was in the province of Ferrara. Little is known about his early life...
are clearly visible as dominant influences in the early albums. A Baroque sensibility sometimes informs the more coordinated sequencer patterns, which has its most direct expression in the La Follia section that comes at the very end of the title track of Force Majeure. In live performances, the piano solos often directly quoted from Romantic classical works for piano, such as the Beethoven and Mozart snippets in much of the late '70s- early '80s stage shows. In the bootleg recording of the Mannheim
Mannheim
Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....
Mozartsaal concert of 1976 (Tangerine Tree
Tangerine Tree
Tangerine Tree was a project from 2002 through 2006 that was dedicated to the collection, preservation and distribution of unreleased concerts and other audio material by the band Tangerine Dream. The creators of the Tangerine Tree project received permission from Tangerine Dream to release the...
volume 13), the first part of the first piece also clearly quotes from Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
's Totentanz. The first phrase is played on a harpsichord synthesizer patch, and is answered by the second half of the phrase in a flute voicing on a Mellotron
Mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...
. During the 90s, many releases included recordings of classical compositions: Pictures at an Exhibition
Pictures at an Exhibition
Pictures at an Exhibition is a suite in ten movements composed for piano by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky in 1874.The suite is Mussorgsky's most famous piano composition, and has become a showpiece for virtuoso pianists...
(on Turn of the Tides
Turn of the Tides
Turn of the Tides is a studio album by the band Tangerine Dream.-Background:Furthering the development of their music, Tangerine Dream continued their musical approach that they had presented on their previous Miramar releases. Besides electronic equipment, TD was using guitar, saxophone and...
), Largo (from Xerxes)
Ombra mai fu
"Ombra mai fu" is the opening aria from the 1738 opera Serse by George Frideric Handel.-Context:The opera was a commercial failure, lasting only five performances in London after its premiere. In the 19th century, however, the aria was rediscovered and became one of Handel's best-known pieces...
(on Tyranny of Beauty
Tyranny of Beauty
- Track listing :# "Catwalk" – 7:19# "Birdwatchers Dream" – 6:52# "Little Blonde in the Park of Attractions" – 6:57# "Living in a Fountain Pen" – 6:59# "Stratosfear 1995" – 5:08# "Bride in Cold Tears" – 4:53...
), Symphony in A Minor (by J. S. Bach), and Concerto in A Major / Adagio (by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
) (both on Ambient Monkeys).
Since the 90s, Tangerine Dream have also recorded cover versions of Jimi Hendrix' Purple Haze
Purple Haze
"Purple Haze" is a song written in 1966 and recorded in 1967 by The Jimi Hendrix Experience and released as a single in both the United Kingdom and the United States. It appeared on their 1967 album Are You Experienced...
(first on 220 Volt Live
220 Volt Live
220 Volt Live is a live album by Tangerine Dream, recorded live in the USA in 1992. It is the last of the band's many live albums consisting of original material not released previously. This may be considered some of the band's most rock oriented music so far, with Zlatko's guitar playing being...
) and The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' Eleanor Rigby
Eleanor Rigby
"Eleanor Rigby" is a song by The Beatles, simultaneously released on the 1966 album Revolver and on a 45 rpm single. The song was written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney...
, Back in the U.S.S.R., Tomorrow Never Knows
Tomorrow Never Knows
"Tomorrow Never Knows" is the final track of The Beatles' 1966 studio album Revolver but the first to be recorded. Credited as a Lennon–McCartney song, it was written primarily by John Lennon...
, and "Norwegian Wood
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
"Norwegian Wood " is a song by The Beatles, first released on the 1965 album Rubber Soul....
".
An infrequently recurring non-musical influence on Tangerine Dream, and Edgar Froese in particular, have been 12th-19th century poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
s. This was first evident on the 1981 album Exit
Exit (Tangerine Dream album)
Exit is an electronic music album released in 1981 by the German group Tangerine Dream. The first track features an uncredited female voice chanting, in Russian, the names of the continents of the world and pleading to end the threat of "limited" nuclear war, which was a potential danger facing the...
, the track title "Pilots of the Purple Twilight" being a quote from Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem Locksley Hall
Locksley Hall
"Locksley Hall" is a poem written by Alfred Tennyson in 1835 and published in his 1842 volume of Poems. Though one of his masterworks, it is less well-known than his other literature...
. Six years later, the album Tyger
Tyger (album)
1992 release-Personnel:* Edgar Froese* Christopher Franke* Paul Haslinger* Jocelyn Bernadette Smith – vocals on "Tyger", "London" and "Smile"...
featured poems from William Blake
William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
set to music; and around the turn of the millennium, Edgar Froese started working on a musical trilogy based on Dante Alighieri
Dante Alighieri
Durante degli Alighieri, mononymously referred to as Dante , was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia ...
's Divine Comedy, completed in 2006. Most recently, the 2007 album Madcap's Flaming Duty features more poems set to music, some again from Blake but also e.g. Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman
Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
.
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
were also an influence on Edgar Froese and Tangerine Dream, the band in its very early psychedelic rock band phase playing improvisations based on Pink Floyd's Interstellar Overdrive
Interstellar Overdrive
"Interstellar Overdrive" is a psychedelic composition written by Pink Floyd in 1966, which appears on their 1967 debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn at almost ten minutes in length. An earlier, longer recording, 16:52, can be heard on the soundtrack to the film Tonite Let's All Make Love in...
. Madcap's Flaming Duty is dedicated to the memory of the late Syd Barrett
Syd Barrett
Syd Barrett , born Roger Keith Barrett, was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and painter, best remembered as a founding member of the band Pink Floyd. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter during the band's psychedelic years, providing major musical and stylistic...
. The title refers to Barrett's solo release, "The Madcap Laughs
The Madcap Laughs
The Madcap Laughs is an album by British singer/songwriter Syd Barrett, released on 3 January 1970. It was his first solo album after being replaced in the band Pink Floyd by his old school friend David Gilmour.- History :...
".
The band's influence can be felt in ambient artists such as Deepspace, The Future Sound of London
The Future Sound of London
The Future Sound of London is a prolific British electronic music band composed of Garry Cobain and Brian Dougans. The duo are often credited with pushing the boundaries of electronic music experimentation and of pioneering a new era of dance music...
, David Kristian
David Kristian
David Kristian is a Canadian musician and film score composer and sound designer.David Kristian has been involved in audio for media since the early 1980s, when he first started work as an animation and experimental filmmaker at a New-Brunswick, Canada TV station...
, and Global Communication
Global Communication
Global Communication is an electronic music act, composed of Tom Middleton and Mark Pritchard. Their debut LP, 76:14 is one of the most acclaimed albums from the ambient music genre and from 1990s electronic music in general....
, as well as rock, pop, and dance artists such as Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
, Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree is a progressive rock band formed by Steven Wilson in 1987 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. Their music is difficult to categorise, being associated with both psychedelic rock and progressive rock, yet having been influenced by trance, krautrock and ambient due to Steven...
, M83
M83 (band)
M83 is a musical act by French musician Anthony Gonzalez. It is named after a spiral galaxy, Messier 83. The band was founded in 2001 by Gonzalez and former member Nicolas Fromageau in Antibes, France...
, DJ Shadow
DJ Shadow
Joshua Paul Davis better known as DJ Shadow is an American music producer, DJ and songwriter. He is considered a prominent figure in the development of instrumental hip hop and first gained notice with the release of his highly acclaimed debut album Endtroducing....., which was constructed...
, Ulrich Schnauss
Ulrich Schnauss
-Biography:Ulrich Schnauss was born in the northern German seaport of Kiel in 1977. He became interested in a range of music: My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Tangerine Dream, Chapterhouse, and early bleep & breakbeat tracks...
, Cut Copy
Cut Copy
Cut Copy are an Australian electronic band formed in 2001 by Dan Whitford on vocals, keyboard and guitar. Other members are Tim Hoey on guitar and sampler, Ben Browning on bass guitar and Mitchell Scott on drums. Their second album, In Ghost Colours peaked at number-one on the ARIA Albums Chart in...
, and Kasabian. The band also clearly influenced 1990s and 2000s Trance music
Trance music
Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s.:251 It is generally characterized by a tempo of between 125 and 150 bpm,:252 repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and breaks down throughout a track...
, where lush soundscapes and synth pads are used along with repetitive synth sequences, much like in their 1975 releases Rubycon
Rubycon (album)
Rubycon is an album released in 1975 by German electronic music group Tangerine Dream. It is widely regarded as one of their best albums. Rubycon further develops the Berlin School sequencer-based sound they ushered in with the title track from Phaedra.Although not quite matching the sales figures...
and Ricochet, as well as some of their music from the early 1980s. The group have also been sampled countless times, more recently by Recoil
Recoil (band)
Recoil is a musical project created by former Depeche Mode member Alan Wilder. Essentially a solo venture, Recoil began whilst Wilder was still in Depeche Mode as an outlet for his experimental, less pop-oriented compositions...
on the album SubHuman
SubHuman
- CD/DVD: Mute / LCD STUMM 279 :* includes CD album as above plus a DVD featuring:*High-quality 24-bit and 48 kHz recording of subHuman*5.1 DTS and AC3 Surround Sound versions of subHuman...
and on several Houzan Suzuki albums.
In popular culture
- Steven WilsonSteven WilsonSteven John Wilson is an English musician, best known as the founder, lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of progressive rock band Porcupine Tree...
, of Porcupine TreePorcupine TreePorcupine Tree is a progressive rock band formed by Steven Wilson in 1987 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. Their music is difficult to categorise, being associated with both psychedelic rock and progressive rock, yet having been influenced by trance, krautrock and ambient due to Steven...
, stated that Tangerine Dream was one of his influences to make his music, and often cites ZeitZeitZeit is the third album by the German electronic music group Tangerine Dream. A double LP, it was the first release featuring Peter Baumann, who joined Chris Franke and Edgar Froese.-Overview:...
as his all-time favorite album. - Japanese electronic musician Susumu HirasawaSusumu Hirasawais a Japanese electropop artist and composer.In 1972, he enrolled at . From 1972 to 1978, he performed in his first band Mandrake, a progressive rock group influenced by King Crimson and Yes. In 1979 he formed a New Wave synth-rock & techno-pop band called P-Model, along with two former members of...
dedicated his song "Island Door (Paranesian Circle)" to Tangerine Dream. At 13 minutes, it is Hirasawa's longest composition. - In science fiction author Alastair ReynoldsAlastair ReynoldsAlastair Preston Reynolds is a British science fiction author. He specialises in dark hard science fiction and space opera. He spent his early years in Cornwall, moved back to Wales before going to Newcastle, where he read physics and astronomy. Afterwards, he earned a PhD from St Andrews, Scotland...
's Revelation Space universe, one of the gas giant planets in the Epsilon EridaniEpsilon EridaniEpsilon Eridani is a star in the southern constellation Eridanus, along a declination 9.46° south of the celestial equator. This allows the star to be viewed from most of the Earth's surface. At a distance of 10.5 light years , it has an apparent magnitude of 3.73...
system is named Tangerine Dream. - The Japanese band Do As InfinityDo As InfinityDo As Infinity is a Japanese pop and rock band that formed in 1999 with three members: vocalist Tomiko Van, guitarist Ryo Owatari, and guitarist and composer Dai Nagao. The band's name is sometimes abbreviated as D.A.I., alluding to the fact that Do As Infinity was named after Dai Nagao...
's debut single "Tangerine Dream" was named after the band. - Till LindemannTill LindemannTill Lindemann is a German musician, actor and poet who is the frontman for the German Neue Deutsche Härte band Rammstein.-Biography:...
, vocalist of RammsteinRammsteinRammstein is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band from Berlin, formed in 1994. The band consists of members Till Lindemann , Richard Z. Kruspe , Paul H. Landers , Oliver "Ollie" Riedel , Christoph "Doom" Schneider and Christian "Flake" Lorenz...
, stated that Tangerine Dream was one of his influences to make his music. - In an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger ForceAqua Teen Hunger ForceAqua Teen Hunger Force , retitled Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1 in 2011, is an American animated television series on Cartoon Network late night programing block, Adult Swim, as well as Teletoon's Teletoon at Night block and later G4 Canada's ADd block in Canada...
a character named Romulox mentions the band Tangerine Dream. - At the end of Tenacious DTenacious DTenacious D is an American rock band that was formed in Los Angeles, California in 1994. Composed of lead vocalist and guitarist Jack Black and lead guitarist and vocalist Kyle Gass, the band has released two albums – Tenacious D and The Pick of Destiny...
's track "City Hall," lead singer Jack BlackJack BlackJack Black , is an American actor and musician, notably of Tenacious D.Jack Black may also refer to:* Jack Black , late 19th - early 20th Century author and hobo* Jack Black , drummer for 1970s UK punk band The Boys...
references the group ("Malibu nights, tangerine dreams"). - British rock and roll band, Kasabian recently paid tribute to Tangerine Dream describing them as one of their "spiritual influences".
- In the 1983 movie Valley GirlValley Girl (film)Valley Girl is a 1983 romantic comedy film, starring Nicolas Cage, Deborah Foreman, Elizabeth Daily, Cameron Dye, and Joyce Heiser. The film was the directorial debut of Martha Coolidge, and was the first film in which Nicolas Coppola was billed as Nicolas Cage.The American release of Valley Girl...
, the character of Randy (played by Nicolas CageNicolas CageNicolas Cage is an American actor, producer and director, having appeared in over 60 films including Raising Arizona , The Rock , Face/Off , Gone in 60 Seconds , Adaptation , National Treasure , Ghost Rider , Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans , and...
) can be seen wearing a Tangerine Dream concert shirt during the "I Melt With YouI Melt With You"I Melt with You" is a song by the British post-punk and New Wave band Modern English. The song, produced by Hugh Jones, was a single from the 1982 album After the Snow, and is about a couple making love as nuclear bombs fall. It reached #7 on Billboard's Top Tracks chart and #78 on the Billboard...
" montage scene when sitting in the mall food court with Julie (Deborah ForemanDeborah ForemanDeborah Lynn Foreman is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her starring role in the 1983 movie Valley Girl, as "Julie Richman" acting opposite Nicolas Cage as "Randy".-Early life:...
). - A Cannabis CupCannabis CupThe High Times Cannabis Cup is the world’s preeminent Cannabis festival. Founded in 1987 by Steven Hager, the High Times Cannabis Cup takes place each November in Amsterdam. The event allows judges from around the world to sample and vote for their favorite marijuana strains...
winning Cannabis strain was named Tangerine Dream for its potency and citrus-like aroma and flavour. - In Rob ReinerRob ReinerRobert "Rob" Reiner is an American actor, director, producer, writer, and political activist.As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence as Archie and Edith Bunker's son-in-law, Michael "Meathead" Stivic, on All in the Family. That role earned him two Emmy Awards during the 1970s...
's 1984 mockumentaryMockumentaryA mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
This Is Spinal TapThis Is Spinal TapThis Is Spinal Tap is an American 1984 rock musical mockumentary directed by Rob Reiner about the fictional heavy metal band Spinal Tap...
, several copies of Tangerine Dream's 1980 album TangramTangram (album)-Personnel:Musical* Edgar Froese — keyboards, guitar* Christopher Franke — keyboards, electronic percussions* Johannes Schmoelling - keyboardsTechnical* Eduard Meyer - mixing engineer, Hansa Studios Berlin...
can briefly be seen in the record store in which members of Spinal Tap make an ill-fated signing appearance.
Discography
Tangerine Dream has released over one hundred albums (not counting singles, compilations and fan releases) over the last four decades. A project to collect and release fan concert recordings was active from 2002 to 2006, known as the Tangerine TreeTangerine Tree
Tangerine Tree was a project from 2002 through 2006 that was dedicated to the collection, preservation and distribution of unreleased concerts and other audio material by the band Tangerine Dream. The creators of the Tangerine Tree project received permission from Tangerine Dream to release the...
.