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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZTANGERINE DREAMAn electro/techno project led by Edgar Froese (FRO-zee: guitar, bass, organ, mellotron, electronics: b 6 June 1944, Tilsit, East Prussia [now Sovetsk, Russia]; d 20 January 2015, Vienna). It began '70 in West Berlin with a delayed '60s ambience of psychedelic nightmare and developed into meticulous electronic music. Froese was amused by later musicians complaining about users' manuals etc: 'They should have seen us 24 years ago trying to create a ''tone'' with an unknown piece of equipment. Then they'd appreciate how lucky they are ... In those days we couldn't have done without the voltage-controlled filter by Bob Moog, and the Mellotron, developed by two elderly English gentlemen called the Bradley brothers' (interview in Mojo with Jim Irvin). Froese's friendship with Salvador Dali was an influence. The debut album Electronic Meditation delivered free improvisation of feedback, distortion à la Jimi Hendrix, impressions of Stockhausen; Alpha Centauri '71 settled down a bit, using synthesizer played by Christopher Franke; two-disc Zeit '72 allowed still more breathing space, using a cello quartet: the sound solidified around Froese, Franke and Peter Baumann (keyboards, flute, electronics). Atem '73 allowed interplay of droning synths with shimmering backgrounds and glissando effects; you had to snap out of its icy, meditative calm to turn the record over, wrote Julian Cope in the notes to Krautrocksampler, but on CD it takes over the room and permeates the whole house. Green Desert '73 is a side-long track, the LP filled with other bits and not issued until '86 (all these in a six-disc set In The Beginning on Relativity, then on single CDs, then reissued on Castle CDs '96). Subsequent LPs on Virgin: Phaedra '74, Rubycon '75, Ricochet '75, Stratosfear '76, live Encore '77, Cyclone '78, Force Majeure '79, Tangerine Dream '80, Exit '81, Logos: Live At The Dominion (London 1982), White Eagle '82 follow development to Hyperborea '83, which was listed in the Hearts of Space catalogue USA (see Space Music): the angst-ridden feedback of the early years had become middle-aged. Poland '84 was later on Relativity. Film soundtracks included Sorceror '82, Firestarter (later on Varèse Sarabande) and Flashpoint '84 (later on One Way), Legend '85, Miracle Mile '89 (later on Private Music). Optical Race '88 and a compilation of previously unissued material The Private Music Of Tangerine Dream were on Private Music; four more albums were on Relativity; Rockoon '92, 220 Volt Live '93, Turn Of The Tides '94 (with Vienna Horn Ensemble), Tyranny Of Beauty and Canyon Dreams '95 were all on Miramar; The Dream Mixes '96 was a two-CD set of remixes of recent material. |