If the term "Citizens of Berlin School"
is used in the music scene, a musical style is being referred to, which
has influenced electronic music up to the present day. Apart from Klaus
Schulze, Tangerine Dream were above all those who coined this term with
their very experimental sound at the beginning of the 70's. Tangerine Dream
is strongly associated with the name Edgar Froese. If the band created by
Edgar in 1967 consisted of several musicians for more than 20 years, who
were likewise involved in the composition of the tracks, then since the
start of the 90's Tangerine Dream has become a purely family project, into
which Edgar and Jerome Froese bring only guest musicians to support them.
But let's start at the beginning. Edgar Froese was born on 06.06.1944 in
Tilsit. In his early childhood years he had already learned to play the
piano. He studied drawing and painting at the 'Citizens of Berlin' academy
of the arts for four years. There he also created his first group in 1962,
in which he played guitar. However he never intended to deny his
living costs with music. Later his artistic training helped him with the
design of the record covers, with his wife by his side. On many older records
Edgar illustrated his son Jerome figuratively (usually very much hidden)
on the record cover.
As for his interest in the arts, he was fascinated by the work of Salvadore
Dali as well as the works of Picasso and the French surrealists of the 20's.
Writers such as Henry Miller and Walt Whitman likewise inspired him. Edgar
became acquainted with Salvadore Dali personally and in 1967 accepted an
invitation to give several private concerts in Dali's mansion. A few artists
of the London and Paris subculture met at "happening afternoons"
in the Spanish port of Lligat. The presentations, which were a mixture of
music, literature and painting, might be called an early form of Multimedia
presentation. Highlights of these meetings were Dali's attempts to play
Satie on a piano which was set up in the huefthohen sea water; or
the ballet dancers, who danced to the music of Debussy on enormous egg shells
floating on the water. In July 1967 he composed the music for the inauguration
of Dali's Christ statue, a figure made of plastic from regentonnen,
bicycles and metal girders. The musicians who worked with Edgar on this
project nevertheless misunderstood the sense of the implied messages and
Edgar did not follow this path again. Back to Berlin. There in 1967 he tried
to find musicians who were as interested as he was in making music which
did not consist of set pieces, not to play hits or the American Top 40 charts.
However most musicians found the concept of transferring visual arts into
music uninteresting. In the Zodiac café they played their "night
concerts" as they called them at that time. They were above all loud.
At the time Edgar Froese had the nickname "the Viking", due to
his Nordic appearance. With the band called 'The Ones', which he had already
created in 1965, he released a single with the title 'Lady Greengrass' in
1967. On this track the lyrics say: " The trees turn tangerine, the
sky is suddenly green....". The band played Rhythm & Blues and
Rock 'n Roll tracks.
Edgar, the multi-instrumentalist, was a fan of Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd.
He formed Tangerine Dream in September 1967. Tangerine is the name of a
reddish-yellow sort of Mandarine grown in Florida. Whether the band's name
is from a line of the single 'Lady Greengrass' or from some other source
has, and probably will, remain a mystery. Edgar searched for quite a while
for appropriate musicians and tried out different band formations, only
resulting in frustration for him, since the opinions of the musicians were
nevertheless too far apart. One of first official line-ups was: Volker Hombach
(saxophone, flute, violin), Lanse Hapshash (schlagzeug), Kurt Herkenberg
(bass) and Edgar Froese (guitar). The singer Charlie Prince was also temporarily
in the band. The first concert of "'Underground Music' as it was called
at the time" (Froese), was given by Tangerine Dream in January 1968
in the refectory of the Technical University of Berlin. A further concert
took place in the 'Creamcheese' club in Dusseldorf, which "under
the exotic designation Tangerine Dream played the Rheini post office with
the words it modern Popmusik, called Psychedelic pieces" commentated.
During this concert learned Edgar & Co. a musician, who replaced
the regular bassist, who had left for reasons of illness. He joined them
without knowing anything about their music. Since those did not have
band any longer enough time to instruct him into the pieces they played
with him, without knowing his playing style. In 26.09.1968 Tangerine Dream
as well as Amon Dueuel and Guru Guru on a piece meeting, those played the
slogan: " Germany awakes. Pop music from Germany landing " carried.
Three days later they appeared in the " International Essener Song
days " in the Grugahalle, with also Frank Zappa on the stage. In the
spring of 1969 Edgar dissolved the band and played occasionally for about
6 months in session bands.
In 1969 Edgar met Klaus Schulze, who played schlagzeug at this time
with the band Psy Free. Klaus had the idea to compose experimental music
with his schlagzeug. Edgar and Klaus looked a further musician up,
whom they found in Conrad Schnitzler, a student of the object and internal
message artist Joseph Beuys at the time. Conrad was likewise on a rather
unorthodox journey in the arts. With this line-up some music developed during
a session in a private private studio, which came out in the year 1970 under
the title 'Electronic Meditation'. The material was not originally intended
for release. The sound technician who had helped them with the accommodation
went to the Meisel publishing house with the tapes (the Ohr label, managed
by Rolf Ulrich and Peter Meisel). The band was amazed that the stuff was
accepted and a recording contract was offered to them. The record was then
released with some Nach synchronisation - Edgar played some guitar
parts and also parts with the organ afterwards. No electronic keyboard instruments
were used in the production apart from a Farfisa organ. In 1970 Klaus Schulze
and Conrad Schnitzler had already left the band. Klaus went to Ash Ra Temple
(with Manuel Goettsching and Hartmut Enke) and began a solo career in 1971,
which made him world-famous. Conrad formed the bands 'The Eruption' and
'Cluster'. Christopher Franke, with whom Edgar became acquainted in Berlin
and who had already been interested in electronic music for a long time,
came to Tangerine Dream from Agitation Free at the age of 17. Christopher,
who was born in 06.04.1953 in Berlin, studied classical music and composition
at the Berlin conservatoire. He was influenced just like Edgar by composers
such as John Cage and Karl-Heinz Stockhausen as well as the painter Salvatore
Dali. Christopher built a studio together with Swiss avant-garde musician
and composer Thomas Kessler in the 'Citizens of Berlin' school of music.
Christopher brought new life into the band's music. The new Trio was completed
by the organist Steve Schroyder.
Tangerine Dream gave one of their most unusual concerts in October 1970
in the Austrian Kapfenberg. They appeared on stage with six pinball machines,
which they had attached to amplifiers. They headed for the devices provided
with individual microphones and improvised in addition their meditative
music. The concert was broadcast on Austrian television at the time.
Their first single entitled 'Ultima Thule' appeared in 1971 on the Ohr label.
On it are the tracks Ultima Thule part 1 and Ultima Thule part 2. This record
is today a very sought-after collectors item. Part 1 of the single appeared
on the album 'Antique Dreams' in the year 2000 on CD. The lineup Froese
/ Franke / Schroyder recorded the LP Alpha Centauri in 1971, whose title
is taken from a single star in the Alpha Centauri system, which is approximately
4.3 light-years away from Earth (and is the closest star to the sun incidentally).
Apart from the three regular musicians, the following made contributions:
Udo Dennebourg on flute and Roland Paulyck (their Road Manager at that time)
on Synthesizer. The latter two were only guest musicians however. In contrast
to the debut LP, only three short tracks appeared, two of which are only
barely longer than 10 minutes, Alpha Centauri begins its slope too much
long titles on alpha. The b-side consisted of the 22 minute title track
only. Alpha Centauri developed after listening to various works by an electronic
composer Gyoergy Ligeti. At the time the term 'cosmos' emerged in
connection with their music, which would later become the synonym 'cosmic
music'. The record company latched onto this cliché and used it from
then on for other groups on the label. The term "cosmic couriers"
was also coined at the time. Alpha Centauri introduced Tangerine Dream into
America, France and Japan. In the pop polls of the magazine 'Sounds' in
1971/72 Alpha Centauri was voted as the "long playing record of the
year". Steve Schroyder left the group in 1971 due to personal problems
and was replaced by the 'Citizen of Berlin' student Peter Baumann (born
29/1/1953), who began his musical career in 1968 as an organist with the
amateur band Burning Touch. With this addition the first stable line-up
was formed. It would exist for approx. six years. Edgar mentioned later
that Tangerine Dream probably developed the most musically after Peter's
entrance. In June 1971 the jazz pianist Friedrich Gulda invited Tangerine
Dream as only " group of tracks" to the Ossiach world music
Festival in Austria. Here they performed a legendary concert. In the same
year they wrote the film music for the WDR television production Vampira.
The group moved away from its completely traditional equipment, in order
not to be tempted to use it further. With small devices from the measuring
technique, like for example a sine-wave generator, they began to develop
sounds. They wanted to question things in music and klanglich, therefore
they used these electronic devices and customised them to create sounds.
The tone positions selected by them were more highly registered than
a violin and deeper than a bass. It probably didn't sound pleasant. Up to
then no-one had tried to make music with these devices, which was not composed
but was experimental and improvised. With this work nothing was foreseeable.
When financial success began, they defined also als"bestbezahlteste
themselves exercise tape of the world ". With the concerts they
were paid practically for the fact that the spectators were allowed to watch
them practicing and experimenting! While on the first two albums Tangerine
Dream used conventional instruments and electronic effects, now they used
a synthesizer, which they had bought one year before, which appeared intensively
for the first time on the 1972 double LP 'Zeit'. The majority of their instruments
were paid for with royalties. Besides Edgar, Christopher and Peter Florian
Fricke (of Popol Vuh) on synthesizer, Steve Schroyder participated on the
organ as well as Christian Vallbracht, Yokes Grumbcow, Hans Joachim Bruene
and Johannes Lücke on the cello as guest musicians. The long tracks
which started on 'Alpha Centauri' continued on 'Zeit'. The double LP consisted
of a Largo in four movements or documents. On each side of the LP
there is a track whose length is between 18 and 20 minutes. The newspaper
'the world' analysed the record at that time with the predicate:
" insignificant continuous cosmic samples", while the fans voted
for the band's record in the Pop poll of the magazine 'Sounds' as the "long
playing record of the year".
In October 1972 Tangerine Dream broke the record by playing the shortest
concert of their career. It lasted only 15 minutes. In occupation
Froese, Franke, Baumann performed in Beirut (known for its festivals). They
had to experiment even begun with "built electronic toys",
instead of playing with their normal instruments - guitar, bass, schlagzeug
-. They had been hired as vorgruppe of a Bluesband. Shortly after
they began their performance, juice doses, apples and other articles
landed on the stage. After approximately 15 minutes the noise the audience
was making was louder than the music of Tangerine Dream. The group had to
thereupon leave the stage. Another concert represented a high point, which
was in l'Ouest on 15 February 1973 in the Theatre de Parisien in Paris along
with Ashra Tempel and Klaus Schulze. The success was tremendous. 500 visitors
had to be sent home, since the hall was totally sold out. Due to the overcrowded
hall the fire-brigade tried to abort the Tangerine Dream concert, which
began this event, according to 'Sounds' "with a fantastically seeming
sounding picture world your sounds flowed calmly there, interspersed
here and there with atmospheric disturbances such as simulated thunderstorm
and rain". They decided to continue the Festival nevertheless. They
released their 4th LP 'Atem' in 1973, which they brought in too third.
New listener living hoererlebnisse were created on this record, which
made a changed sound of the instruments possible by a quadrophonic accommodation.
While the German press did not react favourably to this record, it found
wider acceptance in Britain. This was due above all to the English DJ John
Peel - a living legend at that time in the radio world -, who made the record
his "record of the year" on his BBC playlist. Thereafter Richard
Branson came along, who had created the label Virgin on Tangerine Dream
attentively. Due to differences with the Ohr label, which appeared
in court, and the fact that they received more attention abroad than
in Germany - here times again the proverb of the Prophets, which does
not count in the own country, meets too -, they signed a recording contract
with Virgin in December 1973. Rolling Stone wrote in addition in 1996: "
beforehand Mick Jagger had to sell however a devil thing, which he
wasn't interested in: a Moog Synthesizer". "Peter Meisel, with
whom we were before court, bought this Ungetuem from the Stones'
management ", said Edgar Froese. "a heap of cables and scrap iron.
No-one knew how to use the thing. But Chris had a soft spot for it. When
the first sounds emerged, we are totally amazed. Meisel said: Is this how
to produce hits? And we said: Nee, you is to sell that to us. Thus
we got hold of our first Moog. " Edgar said music in the express
about this time: " as we bought the first synth, we first of
all learned to decode the technical terms, there was no translation. We
had to detect at all only once functional operational sequence. "
In the year 1973 Peter Baumann left the group for short time. Edgar and
Christopher went with new material to 'Citizens of Berlin' into Skyline
studio. However the results of this work didn't appear until 1986 on the
album 'Green Desert'.
The first release on the Virgin label was Phaedra in 1974. The LP title
comes from Greek mythology. Concerning the tragic story of the daughter
of Minos and sister of Ariadne some plays developed in the run the time.
The disk went into the British Top 20, which was to due also to the appropriate
PR work of the label. On it the synthesizer, contrary to the previous releases,
takes more workstation. Rolling Stone mentioned in addition: "it
is an amazing record with the most effective results with the synthesizer
and Mellotron today; it could become the most unusual record of the year".
With this record Tangerine Dream broke away completely from structures reminiscent
of Pink Floyd. The sound samples build themselves up slowly and nest
themselves into one another. Another term for their music made the rounds.
They spoke of "acoustic LSD". your music let the thoughts of
the listeners entschweben and for fantasies made itself broad, which
was perhaps possible at the time with the consumption of LSD. Whether those
who created the term meant that they could only stand the music under the
influence of drugs is unknown, positively seen make their music however
addicted.
The first concert in an English-speaking country took place on 16.06.1974
at London's Victoria Palace. Music Week compared their music to "a
constantly flowing river, which indicates here and there an easy bend".
In the middle of the year Edgar Froese's first Solo LP 'Aqua' appeared on
the German rock label Brain. The accommodations developed Günther
Brunschen's artificial head system with DO Berlin.
For the Chichester Festival Theatre took over it due to a contact,
which Keith Mitchell manufactured, the musical Untermalung
for " Oedipus Tyrannus ". The New Musical Express reported however
that "the combination of classical tragedy and timeless Krautrock did
not work". In the year 2000 a 5 and a half minute version of the Overture
to this play appeared on the CD 'Antique Dreams'. A dreiwoechige
tour followed in Great Britain in the autumn of 1974, on which their music
was visually supported for the first time by a so-called "video Synthesizer".
The press called their concerts 'fascinating experiences' and the pop poll
of the Melody Maker ranked them among "the most promising bands in
the world". The distinguishing feature of their concerts at the time
was that they mainly consisted of improvisations. They had set themselves
the standard to never play the same piece twice. In December 1974 they appeared
in Riems Cathedral. Both the music and the cathedral, which offered a suitable
backdrop with its Gothic architecture to the flowing, floating sequences,
made this concert an incomparable event. Tangerine Dream appeared thereafter
further marks in churches, without identifying itself however with the conservative
church structures. Briefly before a tour, which took the band to Australia
and New Zealand in the spring of 1975 and brought along with it their first
gold record, Michael Hoenig (born 04.01.1952) filled in for Peter Baumann.
Peter had left the band in January 1975 over night, in order to go trekking
by himself in Asia. Michael was well-known to the band, since he was, like
Christopher Franke, a pupil at 'Citizen of Berlin' of the avant-garde composer
Thomas Kessler. He studied sociology, journalism and theatrical science.
At the end of of 1971 he became a member of the progressive 'citizens of
Berlin' rock band Agitation Free, in which Christopher had already played.
He also worked with Klaus Schulze.
At the end of the tour and following a concert on 02.04.1975 in London's
Royal Albert Hall in front of 6000 people, Michael left the band again.
A strange thing at the edge: Tangerine Dream had to pay a 2000 Pound
fine for this concert to the British musician's union in compensation to
three chamber orchestras, which they had allegedly made 'redundant' with
their Mellotron! The mid 70's was probably Tangerine Dream's most creative
time. As well as the reason is surely in occupation constant during a
longer period the band, meanwhile adjusted one on the other and brought
in to the control of the Synthesizer to attribute. Edgar used the guitar
less and sat likewise behind the Synthesizer. Peter was reaccepted into
the band by Edgar and Christopher in Berlin after the return from his trip.
In 1975 the album Rubycon was released, again with the line-up Froese /
Franke / Baumann. Also on this album the spirit separated. While as unmelodioes
classified the factory, other " so far undiscovered worlds " detected
in their music. Edgar's second solo work 'Epsilon in Malaysian Pale'
developed under the influence of an Asian trip. The record appeared likewise
in 1975. " It is as if one steps from the eternal darkness of the jungle
into the strong sunlight of a beach - from the dreams of the night into
the reality of day ", the record was described by Melody Maker. As
a consequence Tangerine Dream performed several concerts, which them
continued to bring upward on their way. Particularly of note was the
appearance before 14000 people at the 'Orange Festival' '75 in a Roman Amphitheater
and their appearance at the "Fête de l'Humanité"
in France before 30000 listeners as well as the concert in England in York
Minster (during its 16-venue British tour in October 1975), which according
to Melody Maker ranked among "the concert high-points of the year 1975".
In the same year they played at the German museum in Munich. This concert
received more attention from the German critics. The German newspaper 'South'
ranked them among the " trendsetters of future music ". The Music
Express wrote for execution of its concerts: " for concerts
Tangerine Dream found an public-effective, mystische form. The three
musicians came into the crowded hall or church being silent on the stage,
sat down behind several square meters of large banks of synthesizers decorated
with chains of control lights, flicked a few switches, turned a few knobs
and dismiss first sounding Rome into space. At the end they turned
back the knobs, flicked the switches in the opposite direction and left
the stage. " Live TD music could be heard for the first time on the
album Ricochet at the end of 1975. On the record are the tracks Ricochet
part one and Ricochet part two, which were recorded during their '75 tour
in France and England. While the record again did not meet with the appropriate
approval of the press in Germany, it was praised abroad. New Musical Express
called it " one of the most beautiful albums of the year ". The
year 1976 began again with concerts in France and the first appearances
in Spain. In the summer they also bereisten again in Britain. Edgar
Froese brought his third Solo LP onto the market under the title 'Macula
Transfer'. The titles of the individual pieces seem very self-willed,
since they are named after flight numbers such as Quantas 611 or OS 452.
In 1976 Christopher Franke built himself his own recording studio in what
had originally been a ballroom in 1902. The building had also been used
as a cinema, a discotheque and a warehouse before Christopher acquired it.
It offered a workplace for all the band's equipment as well as for an approximately
50-piece orchestra. Several Tangerine Dream albums and soundtracks developed
in this studio in subsequent years. Tour sets were likewise composed or
rehearsed there. The next LP from Tangerine Dream appeared in 1976. It was
called Stratosfear. The pieces will re-clamp again more briefly and no
more a complete side of the plate, but would have a maximum length of
barely over 11 minutes. The first signs that Tangerine Dream was becoming
more rhythmic are to be found in the tracks on this album. On the subsequent
European tour from 20 October to 01 December 1976 in Germany, Spain, France,
Switzerland and England they presented their latest work with 31 live concerts.
However during these concerts they offered however only small light shows
to the audience. they sat almost immobile before the superstructures of
their enormous instruments. Edgar: " with our music the identification
does not take place necessarily with that, which releases it, a feedback,
everyone with itself has. " The listeners could give free rein
to their own thoughts. On 29.03.1977 started TD their first, 16-concerts
globally, USA tour. Also in the luggage they had for the first time the
" Laserium Light Show", which would offer spectacular lighting
effects for the time. The laser was very reliable, however it required constant
water cooling due to heat build-up. The expense was very high, since in
the USA a large number of safety regulations had to be fulfilled.
In 1977 Tangerine Dream attracted the attention of an American director
William Friedkin, who had already become world-famous with films such as
the French Connection with Gene Hackman and the Exorcist. For his remake
of the classic film Sorcerer (German title: Lohn der Angst bzw. Atemlos
vor Angst), in which a small group of men have to transport highly explosive
material by truck through difficult jungle conditions, the band was assigned
to compose the soundtrack. Their first Hollywood production was also the
most unusual. Tangerine Dream got the script to Sorcerer dispatched directly
from America and composed the music, before the first scene was filmed.
Six weeks after receipt of the script they met Friedkin in a Paris hotel.
They procured themselves two loudspeakers and a tape player and played Friedkin
the demo compositions. He was suitably inspired and has later some sections
of the film after that already manufactures music cut, which was unusual
for the film industry. Unfortunately the film was not very successful. That
was also because of the fact that one week before its premiere the box office
hit 'Star Wars' by George Lucas came out in the cinemas. A further reason
is surely the fact that the film was cut several times. This was
certainly not in the sense that band, since they had accompanied the
film from the beginning. Friedkin, which did not agree likewise with the
final product, stepped out approx. three weeks before termination of the
project and dissociated himself from the film. Tangerine Dream traveled
to the world premiere on 24.07.1977 in Hollywood. With their soundtrack
they could platzieren themselves again in the Top 20 the British
Charts. After a USA tour in August 1977 Tangerine Dream released the double
LP Encore. It contains references to the spring tour in North America. This
album does not make that they never played a piece twice, with Stratosfear
or Sorcerer has in common these accommodations anything clear. The 'cash
box' dubbed the record the "classical author in its category".
The titles Coldwater Canyon and Cherokee Lane are taken from road names
in California, which Tangerine Dream had used in 1977 while in Hollywood
Hills. At the end of of 1977 a further split in the band's history took
place. Peter Baumann left the group after approximately six and a half years
due to artistic differences of opinion as well as personal problems. He
dedicated himself from then on to his solo projects. It and a commentated
its door. " on the one hand it is almost impossible that
each group member goes through the same development for six years. On the
other hand everyone is an egotist to the extent that he would like to carry
out his own ideas."
His first solo album appeared in 1977 under the title 'Romance '76', which
got a good reaction from the critics (Melody Maker: "excellent solo
debut"). He created Paragon Studios himself in Berlin, in which he
also produced among other things records by Cluster, Joachim Roedelius and
Conrad Schnitzler. Afterwards in 1979 he brought out the LP 'Trans Harmonic
Nights', moved to New York, "to start again from the beginning".
In 1980 Peter sold his 'citizen of Berlin' studio, moved to the USA and
formed his Private Music label, on which 5 Tangerine Dream 80s albums appeared.
In 1983 he released his last solo album. Peter Baumann sold his Private
Music label to the IC (Innovative Communication) label in 1994, on which
other artists besides Tangerine Dream such as Suzanne Ciani, Yanni and Eddie
Jobson also brought out their releases. Since then it is no longer active
in the music industry. The remaining Froese and Franke were received
with next production a daring experiment. They recruited the English
multi-instrumentalist Steve Joliffe (vocals, flute, piano, synthesizer),
who had previously played with the Blues/Rock band Steamhammer. As a further
member the 'citizen of Berlin' schlagzeuger and percussionist Klaus
Krieger was accepted into the band. At first the quartet worked confidently
and wanted to bring more variety into its music through its compositions.
From this co-operation developed the album Cyclone in 1978, which is unusual
for Tangerine Dream. The a-side consists of probably earliest described
of two tracks, thereby can " Tangerine Dream meets herb rock".
Particularly by the singing as well as the guitar and application is
the factory, that anyone hearing the record for the first time would
hardly attribute it to Tangerine Dream. The second side consists of a longer,
over 20 minute track, which still contains well-known elements, however
with the use of flute and other sounds it is unusual for Tangerine Dream.
To give to its sound of soundsound produced by Synthesizer a new surrounding
field Edgar defines the attempt years later than " Ausrut ". "that
was the absolute mistake into the miracle bag of all possibilities".
The audience for the extended tour in the autumn of 1978 did not find
the desired resonance due to the unusual instrumentation for Tangerine
Dream and the vocals. Steve Joliffe therefore left the group. Also in 1978
Edgar's fourth solo album 'Ages' appeared. The line-up was again reduced
to the duo Froese / Franke formation those begins itself to deliberate
the group beforehand constituted and in 1979 brought an outstanding album
Force Majeure out on the market upon its strengths. With this LP they
had success again. The name Klaus Krieger still appears on the cover, however
he only had the status of a session musician, who this time used his schlagzeug
more dezenter and more suitably. Another guest musicians Edvard Meyer
could be heard on the cello. The highlight of this album is the over 18
minute dragging along and varied title track. Between 17.03. and
10,04,1979 they went on a German tour, on which they give altogether eight
concerts (NOT TRUE!! ALL THESE CONCERTS WERE CANCELLED!!). In the
same year Edgar's fifth solo work 'Stuntman' appeared.
Froese and Franke wanted to work again with the successful three-keybord
line-up. So they started looking for someone who had a different musical
background to them and was a trained pianist. They found him in the organist
Johannes Schmoelling, born in 1950. Johannes had already started piano lessons
at the age of eight and began to play the church organ at the age of twelve.
At 14 he was already the organist in a catholic church in Delmenhorst. He
- after the Abitur - began in 1972 with a sound master study at the
university of the arts in Berlin. After his studies finished in 1978 he
began to concern himself with electronics. With his first job as a theatre
sound technician on the Halle bank in Berlin he learned among other things
with sounds, noises, to go around environments and light. Into the
70s Johannes played in some 'citizens of Berlin' groups. A sound engineer
recommended him. Edgar turned up at the theatre and asked if Johannes wanted
to join Tangerine Dream. Johannes, who did not know what Tangerine Dream
was and with the music originally much begin could, because he came from
another musical bacground, did not assure. The supply came to the right
time, because it intended to become too abandoned over full-time the theatre
musicians. With the new Trio Froese / Franke / Schmoelling a more constant
line-up was again formed. On 31.01.1980 Tangerine Dream appeared in East
Germany as one of the first German " rock bands " at the time.
Their appearance in the palace of the republic, broadcast by GDR
radio, was however for long time only available in the west as an import
LP under the title 'Quichotte' or as the bootleg 'Staatsgrenze West'.
Virgin then brought out this album officially in 1986 as 'Pergamon'.
The GDR trade paper 'Melody & Rhythm' described the music that Tangerine
Dream played at the appearance as "endlessly tiring, improvised
churned out compositional sketches". The audience were inspired
however.
The end of of 1979 saw the trio's first compositions in Christopher's studio.
This work appeared in 1980 under the title 'Tangram'. The album did not
receive good reviews. The magazine New Musical Express spoke of " Synthesizer
junk " and the music express was of the opinion that "the sound
samples are gradually being exhausted". Johannes described the work
at the time in an interview with the magazine 'Planet E' in 1994 as follows:
" in the first few years it was absolute teamwork. We compiled and
too third composed Tangram rule quite too third. But because Christoph
came with the schlagzeug, it was suited to rhythms, thus the rhythmic
patterns fitted in with the sound quality moderately well. That was certainly
clear to Christoph, but it made quite similar for Edgar. He operated
perhaps beforehand rather more melodically and I took over a type of
part or the like . But a so-called division of power was unsatisfactory.
Each of us when we had an idea presented it to the others or made other
suggestions, how was to be trained. If several plan, who want to
be in a team and somehow compose together, the work can be only fruitful,
if all are more or less different. I believe the secret as to why we made
quite good stuff for six or seven years was perhaps exactly that, which
we always completed ourselves, because everyone had his own area but nevertheless
fitted well together. We had always a creative exchange with Tangerine Dream
and in this way everyone learned from everyone else. One could say that
our music was a constructional compromise. " With the live concerts
on their extensive European tour from 11.10. to 15,11,1980, with altogether
26 appearances, 5 of which were in Germany, the new musician Schmoelling
was examined under a magnifying glass by the audience. He was received well
by the spectators because he did not sit behind huge banks of instuments,
but rather as a piano player on the stage. At the time Tangerine Dream operated
at Liveauftritten with pre-programmed sequences and Harmonieschemen.
There were also tracks in which the pre-programmed sequence stopped and
which the musicians had agreed upon to play in the direct link further
five minutes at Soundcollagen. Live much workstation for improvisation
was left. The at the end of of 1980 they released a 4-LP-Box ' 70 -
' 80, which supplied a compilation of their twelve albums to date, whose
music is remarked in the Express with the words " proof of ten years
of continuously flowing creativity by the group ".
At the beginning of of 1981 appeared their second soundtrack, for the film
'Thief' (in German Der Einzelgänger) with Michael Mann as Director
and James Caan in the leading role. The work with the soundtracks looked
in such a way that they picked themselves out the scenes, which were appropriate
for them. Each compiled then independently in its studio sequences for the
film. Sometimes those was already merged tape in the stage of the Vorproduktion.
The negotiations mostly began only if the raw cuts were already finished.
Subsequently, they got a tape, on which beside that dialog-purely also the
track for the audio track was. They positioned themselves then a concept
and determined, where topic was required, where illustration music and where
a song should be used. Took usually two or three weeks such a thing then
flew the director and the Music wordprocessor, in order to sight the material.
" Probably best album they have ever made " according to Melody
Maker appeared in the autumn of 1981 under the title 'Exit'. On this album
are six shorter pieces with one spieldauer of max. nine minutes.
The Director James Glickenhaus tried to create a tougher counterpart to
James Bond with the film 'Codename: The Soldier', which came out
in 1982 under the title of 'Der Söldner' in German cinemas. Tangerine
Dream supplied the soundtrack to this film. The soundtrack has never been
released on album. The film, in which the leading actor Ken Wahl played
alongside Klaus Kinski, failed at the box office.
From 20.01. to 12,02,1981 Tangerine Dream completed a European tour with
17 appearances, of which nine took place in Germany. Besides this they went
on a British tour from 15.10. to 29,10,1981, on which they gave 17 concerts.
However the most notable live high-point in 1981 was particularly the open
air concert on 29.08.1981, which they gave realm day before approx.
70,000 spectators at Berlin's Reichstag building. On 09.12.1981 they took
part in the "Rock-Klassik-Nacht" in the Münich Crown Circus
(Münchner Zirkus Krone), which was produced by Eberhard Schoener.
At the beginning of of 1982 Tangerine Dream toured Australia. The title
song (to the German crime series 'Tatort' with Schimanski in the leading
role) 'Das Mädchen auf der Treppe' ('The Girl on the Stairs'), which
came out as a single in the the same year, represents their to success
kommerziellsten today (represents their biggest commercial success to date?).
- similarly in later years the combination of Henry Maske ('Boxer') and
Vangelis with 'Conquest of Paradise' - the popularity of the Schimanski
crime series brought "traditional" electronic music to a larger
audience.
Tangerine Dream never wanted to be commercial, therefore this hit, which
went into the Top 20, was regarded by them as an industrial accident. The
Music Express wrote in addition: " Tangerine Dream actually throw
away these hit impulses or build them at best into their ten to twenty minutes
flowing sound stream. " " the case of sin of in the summer
of '82 was an unexpected industrial accident, no reason for a radical course
change", said Edgar Froese. "We finished this television single
in three hours. It does not have anything to do with our musical ambitions."
The album 'White Eagle' appeared in 1982. The first side of this LP in taken
up by the 20 minute track 'Mojave Plan', which describes a drive through
the Mojave Desert. While the press in Europe judged the work rather negatively
as " a vacuum " (New Musical Express), they schwaermte
on the other side of the Atlantic of a " music, those mentally,
sinnlich and is emotionally provocative " (Down Beat).
In this year Edgar Froese wrote the soundtrack to the Wolf Gremm film 'Kamikaze
1989' and released it under his own name on Virgin. The German film, in
which the German Director Rainer Werner Fassbinder could be seen in the
leading role for the first time, was taken from the novel 'Murder' in 31.
Stick of the Swedish writer by Wahloeoe. In June 1982 Fassbinder
died suddenly, so this film represented his last cinematic work at the same
time. The concerts which Tangerine Dream gave during their European tour
in Germany, was the last time for the next 14 years the German fans could
see them in their own country (with the exception of a few one-off appearances).
On this tour Tangerine Dream played in London's Dominion Theatre on 06.11.1982.
This appearance is along-cut and appeared in 1983 on the LP 'Logos
Live'.
A further solo work by Edgar was released in 1983. The record 'Pinnacles'
was described by the music scene as a production, " itself not by
Voluminoesitaet, but distinguished by the intensity of the tendencies
and atmospheres ".
The next record Tangerine Dream released was the album 'Hyperborea'. On
11 June 1983 Tangerine Dream in the context of the meeting "Fassbinder
Hommage " gave a 30 minute concert in memory of the innovative Director
Rainer Werner Fassbinder in Frankfurt's Alte Oper.
Between 23.06. and 28,06,1983 gas animals it in four Japanese cities.
Tangerine Dream composed the title tune for a further Schimanski-Tatort
episode. The result is called 'Miriam', which was music brought out as a
single with the title 'Daydream'. The soundtrack to the science fiction
film 'Wavelength' (unknown in Germany), Directed by Mike Gray, appeared
in the year 1983. The record contains 16 tracks with a total length of barely
39 minutes. Another film they wrote the music for was 'The Keep', which
appeared in Germany as a video premiere under the title 'Die unheimliche
Macht'. One of the leading actors is the German Juergen Prochnow. The track
'Gloria' is a Tangerine Dream re-recording of an approximately 250 year
old composition by Thomas Tallis, who was banished by the church medal
carriers at the time, because he went against their guidelines.
The soundtrack appeared in 1999 as a limited edition on the TDI label. A
second version was likewise brought out with the Millennium booster as a
limited edition and a different cover by TDI at the end of 1999.
In the winter of 1983 Tangerine Dream started a tour, which led them again
into the GDR at the time and to Poland. The Polish tour will probably always
be remembered by all those that were involved in it as an adventurous "
jungle expedition " . Apart from power failures and LKW breakdowns
Tangerine Dream also had to combat icy temperatures. In the Warsaw ice-skating
stadium where the concerts took place, it was minus 5 degrees Celsius. Edgar,
Christopher and Johannes played the concert in woolen gloves with cut-off
fingertips, in order to feel the keys. The electronic instruments played
in cold weather moved and did not always give the desired results.
The Roadies ran around with cans filled with hot water, so the musicians
could briefly warm up their hands. The concert was interrupted 5 times by
power failures in the stadium. A 2 metre layer of snow layer covered the
glass roof, which threatened to collapse. Nobody would ever forget this
gig. On the basis of the very much relaxed musical atmosphere nobody could
guess that the conditions were so catastrophic. The 10.12.1983 concert which
took place in Warsaw was brought out as double LP in 1984 with the title
'Poland'. This album represented their first production on the Jive Electro
label, to which they changed on the cessation of their Virgin contract.
Tangerine Dream reduced the number of live appearance and increased their
activity in the area of film music. Thus several soundtracks developed in
the future. In 1983 the soundtrack appeared to the teenage comedy 'Risky
Business' (German title 'Lockere Geschäfte', literally 'Loose Business')
By Director Paul Brickman, who made the leading actor Tom Cruise world famous.
It does not contain a purely Tangerine Dream soundtrack, since they contributed
only five tracks. Apart from their music there are tracks by Phil Collins,
Journey, Prince, Jeff Beck, Bob Seger and Muddy Waters on the record.
A further soundtrack appeared in 1984, the film music to the Stephen King
film Firestarter (German title: 'Der Feuerteufel', literally 'The Fire Devil').
In this horror film shot by Director Mark L Lester the young Drew Barrymore
plays the leading role, after her world success in E.T. They also composed
the music for the film 'Flashpoint' (German title: 'Die Grenzwölfe',
literally 'The Border Wolves') with Kris Kristofferson and Treat Williams.
The record appeared in 1984 both as a normal vinyl record and also as a
picture disc. The tracks on the record are played by Tangerine Dream with
the exception of the title track 'Flashpoint', sung by a group called 'The
Gems'. Two more soundtracks appeared in 1985. The first for Bobby Roth's
film 'Heartbreakers' with Peter Coyote and Nick Mancuso, the other Tangerine
Dream supplied the soundtrack music for the fantasy film Legend, Directed
by Ridley Scott (Bladerunner, Alien). Tom Cruise appeared in the leading
role. Two songs appear on the record alongside the other instrumental tracks,
the first being 'Is the Your Love Strong Enough' by Bryan Ferry (Roxy Music),
the other 'Loved By The Sun' by Jon Anderson (Yes). For this reason the
disk was also in demand by collectors of these musicians. Out of print for
a long time, the CD finally came out in 1995. Originally music by the well-known
composer Jerry Goldsmith was used in the film. Since the Producers thought
it was not modern enough however, they approached Tangerine Dream. Edgar
flew to London and watched the film version with the music of Jerry Goldsmith.
In an interview Froese said about it: " I was absolutely inspired by
the soundtrack. At the time for us the one was hardest breaking into
at all. The fact that someone's music which we like very much, someone
we look up to and respect would be replaced by someone else which would
toppen Goldsmith's music, was very heavy. That was a very hard and
instructive experience. " Since the target audience of the film was
teenagers anvisierte, the people responsible wanted " peppige
" music. Ridley Scott did not see this in such a way however. He
placed higher requirements against the filming and wanted therefore also
its conceptions carried out to see. Also due to the opposing views between
Producers and Director was putting one of the lengthiest film works of Tangerine
Dream. They worked on the music for almost 6 weeks in the studio. In the
long run Ridley Scott was happy with the result.
Next they released the album 'Le Parc', on which they dedicated the individual
tracks to the most beautiful parks in the world. Accordingly the nine titles
also carry the names of these parks, among them the zoo in Berlin, New York's
Central Park and Hyde park in London. The track titled 'Le Parc' subtitled
'L. A. Streethawk' served as the theme tune for the American action series
'Streethawk' and was also brought out as a single under this title. On the
last track on the record, Yellowstone Park, background vocals can be heard.
They were contributed by Clare Torry, who had already recorded the vocals
on 'The Great Gig in The Sky' from the legendary '73 album 'Dark Side of
The Moon' by Pink Floyd. October 1985 brought about a major change in Tangerine
Dream. They had written a lot of film music lately besides the frequent
live appearances, since they were very much in demand in the film business.
Resulting problems to clear-come with the whole work led to the fact
that Johannes Schmoelling suffered under the time pressure. He decided
to insert only once a break and left the group. After his departure
Johannes dedicated himself to his own projects. His first much acclaimed
solo album appeared at the end of of 1986 / at the beginning of of 1987
on the German label Erdenklang with the title 'Wuivend Riet'. The title
is Dutch and means "wehendes Schilf" in German ('wind-blown reeds').
On 25.04.1987 Johannes Schmoelling gave his first and at the same time last
live concert in his era after Tangerine Dream in the Cologne college of
music. The concert was organized by Winfrid Trenkler, who the weekly
cult endings rock in and oscillations in the West German broadcast moderated
at that time in co-operation with the WDR under the slogan " million
bit in Concert ". With this concert the artists Schmoelling, Kristian
Schultze (Passport, Snowball, Cusco) stepped, Matthias Thurow (Eulenspygel)
as well as the Austrian duo Bognermayer / Zuschrader (Eela Craig, Blue Chip
Orchestra), which were all under contract with the Erdenklang label. They
presented their music, the musicians supported each other mutually on the
stage.
Johannes worked again for the theatre ('Mother and Sons' by Javier Tomeo,
'Sanftwut und der Ohrenmaschinist' ('gentle rage and the ear machinist')
by Gerd Jonke and 'Kunst' ('art') by Jasmina Reza) and composed the music
to some television productions such as for the Second Channel of German
Television series 'a strong team'. From October 1985 to the beginning of
1986 Tangerine Dream were a duo again. Edgar and Christopher composed some
tracks during this time. Four of them are contained on CD No. 5 of 'The
Dream Roots Collection', which came out in 1996. The new man with Tangerine
Dream was called Paul Haslinger and came from Austria. He studied among
other things classical music at academies in Salzburg and Vienna. He laid
the foundations of his career as a professional studio and live musician
in various Austrian bands such as Hypersax, Mo, and Eela Craig. For the
'86 tour Tangerine Dream got Paul to support them on stage. Since his co-operation
worked well during the live concerts, they decided to accept Paul as a permanent
member in the band. In March 1986 they toured in Europe, where they give
21 concerts. The only appearance on German soil took place on 29.03.1986
in the context of 'night music' in Cologne Sendesaal (literally 'transmission
hall') of the WDR.
As its first work the newly-formed trio developed the LP Underwater
Sunlight in 1986, to which Paul contributed however still little composing.
The very melodic music provided with its warm sounds makes this record one
of the most beautiful Tangerine Dream has brought out. According to press
text the music sounds " as will one in clear, warm waters duempeln,
around dimensions of light and space, completely new under water, to discover".
Between 30.05. and 29,06,1986 bereisen Tangerine Dream toured North
America again, where they gave 25 appearances. Whereas earlier concerts
consisted of pure improvisations and ungehoertem material, they now
played released tracks, however in a modified form. The tracks are selected
in such a way that they run smoothly into one another or 'bridges' were
put between the tracks so that again longer up to in-hour set develops.
Tangerine Dream become genuine Cosmopolitans. From then on they divided
the music production between Berlin, Vienna and Los Angeles. In 1987 some
soundtracks appeared again. On the album to the film Three O'Clock High
(German titles: Faustrecht - Terror an der Highschool ('Law of the Jungle
- Terror in Highschool')) are not however all tracks by Tangerine Dream.
Of the 22 very short pieces (between 0:25 and 6:00 minutes) only 15 were
by Tangerine Dream, of which the longest track lasts 3:03 minutes.
With the likewise appearing soundtrack to Andrei Konchalovsky's Familienepos
Shy People, as before with Firestarter, they co-operated with an orchestral
group. On the CD are under and rem three tracks, which are sung by
Jaquie Virgil or Diamond Ross. The music and the texts come however from
Tangerine Dream. Particularly the title 'Dancing on A White Moon', which
was brought out also as single, has the feeling of a big hit. With the production
'Tyger' Tangerine Dream again dared to experiment. As with the LP Cyclone
ten years before, replace it singing on this album. The American
Soul singer Jocelyn B. Smith living in Berlin took over the singing parts
on some of the tracks. The text to the songs come from the English poet
and painter William Blake (1757-1827). The vocals and instrument harmonies
were outstanding. On the track 'London' Jocelyn's spoken lyrics are reminiscent
of Multimedia kuenstlerin productions and the singer Laurie Anderson.
Tangerine Dream composed the film music to a horror film; Kathryn Bigelow's
'Near Dark'. The work with the Kathryn with difficulty valid in film
sets worked well, since Tangerine Dream had the luck to offer it with the
first start which wanted it. Edgar: " wanted you no category
film to actually make and tried therefore also from the music such courses
to avoid. It wanted to have somewhat Kontrapunkti, what in addition, should
be not necessarily electronic. There the people make themselves a false
picture with us at all. Those think are always here only 120 computers at
the wall and it any Knoepfchen are turned. In reality this is only one
third of the whole production process. The remainder uses quite normal acoustic
equipment."
On the record is the track 'Caleb's Blues', which for Tangerine Dream is
nevertheless very unusual. Kathryn Bigelow floated herself originally
for these scenes already a Bluesstueck forwards, was not not quite safe
however. It was the view it could too kitschig work. But not everything
worked well according to Edgar. Likewise in the year 1987 for instance
a 40 minute video film with breath-taking nature scenes was developed, to
which Tangerine Dream contributed the musical Untermalung. Under
the title 'Canyon Dreams' both a video and a CD appeared on the American
label Miramar. So far unseen aerial photos, which were taken by airplane
among other things with the flight over and by the Grand Canyon were up
(while the flight moves the camera of a horizontal into senkrechten a view
- direct on the soil of the Canyon) in connection with the music, allowed
this video to become an audiovisual feast. On this CD the name Jerome
Froese as a composer emerged for the first time with the track 'Colorado
Dawn'. The music brought them their first Grammy nomination.
The material, which Tangerine Dream took up during its concerts in
1987, appeared in 1988 on the Live album 'Livemiles' which was the last
production on the Jive electro label. The well over 30 minute part One was
recorded during the concert in Albuquerque in new Mexico and part Two (over
27 minutes long) in an open air Festival in the context of the 750th anniversary
of the city of Berlin. The appearance at Platz der Republik ('Republic Square')
in west Berlin (under the slogan " Rock Salute ") remains for
many fans probably one of the best concerts that Tangerine Dream gave in
their career, it also unfortunately represented the last appearance of Christopher
Franke. The WDR later broadcast the entire concert in the context of
the transmission oscillations on the radio. With the exception of Livemiles
part Two it has only been available as a bootleg so far. To the accommodation
it is to be said however that it in contrast the bootleg does not correspond
to the original concert in Berlin. For legal reasons Tangerine Dream the
whole concert could not release to rausschneiden, but had sections
and join again. As Edgar explained in a 1989 interview: " during
the Live concerts not only unpublished material was played. As we often
do, things were also played which appeared as parts of official releases.
The music, which is situated partially in the safes of the film production
companies, partially on records, which are heavy to wars. For the
publication of Livemiles we had to adhere to certain sequences and sections,
which were legally available to us. We had to die also there again compromises.
In this case we were particularly sad about it because there was so much
atmosphere here, which we would have gladly caught. But we had to cut bits
out, change sequences around and do remixes in order to remain within the
legal framework."
Christopher, Edgar's musical collaborator for many years, left Tangerine
Dream the day after the concert in Berlin, on 2 August 1987. He separated
from Tangerine Dream in 1987, because he wanted to regain his non-existant
private life and new musical forces due to constant work. He was completely
burned out due to the partial 12 to 15-Stunden-Tage and had to force
himself already to make music. Christopher went goennen only once
to Spain around itself an earned ruhepause. " a few weeks holiday
wasn't enough for me. After three weeks I had only relaxed physically to
a certain extent. Psychologically I needed much longer. It was clear to
me that this creative break had to last at least one year. I planned to
take it during the period which one normally needs in order to obtain a
work permit in America. I planned my solo career." Christopher showed
his first musical sign of life on a Sampler, which was published for the
ten-year existence of the Stichting KLEM in a limited edition of 1000 copies
on the 89 KLEMDag CD. This Dutch fan club originally developed from a
Klaus school CPU and a Tangerine Dream Fan club. The CD contains nine
tracks by various electronic music artists. It begins with the track 'Vermillion
Sands' by Christopher Franke, composed for this sampler. Track four is 'the
Unikat' composed by the former Tangerine Dream member and " electronics
pioneer " Klaus Schulze for this Sampler. The CD ends with the title
'Lost Tale' by Tangerine Dream, likewise unreleased on any official album.
In November 1990 Christopher Franke obtained his green card and built himself
a second studio in Los Angeles, since he already had a lot of contacts in
the Hollywood film business. He created the Berlin Symphonic Film Orchestra
(BSFO) in January 1991 to carry out around his musical conceptions of
an equivalent connection of electronic and acoustic items. After his
break he was fresh again and making music did not exert him. On the
contrary, the more he made music, the better he felt. This clarified
also the music on his first solo production 'Pacific Coast Highway'.
The production Optical Race, which appeared in September 1988 in the USA
and in January 1989 in Germany was composed and brought in by Froese
and Haslinger, separated the spirit of the fans. Many, who had followed
the band faithfully for years, could not begin and long anything with
the style itself for the 70'ern back. For them the record sounded too
computerised, and it failed commercially. The title track, which came out
as single, sounds very simplistic and commercial in my judgement, however
there are some real gems such as Mothers of Rain, Cat Scan, The Midnight
Trail or Ghazal on these CD Tangerine Dream however - all critics to
the defiance - always made music, which they considered to be correct.
They were never influenced - at least not consciously - by any trends. On
the album Ralph Wadephul can be heard for the first time. The track 'Sun
Gate' is by Ralph, Edgar and Paul. The CD was the first production out of
a total of four (plus a best of album), which appeared on Peter Baumann's
label Private Music. Tangerine Dream co-operated with Peter again, since
his way of working pleased them and the label was already successful.
The title of the CD is a play on words from Tangerine Dream. It represents
a side blow on the total Veraeusserlichung of all things. Race running,
but cannot meant only be translated also as race or generation. The
term " Optical Race " defines the end of the 80's and also the
generation of western mankind. On the 26-concert North American tour, which
Tangerine Dream deny in August and September 1988, they were accompanied
by Ralph Wadephul. Ralph completed a longer tone master study in
Berlin. With his work in a recording studio he produced some music for Commercials.
Besides this he played in various bands and appeared live in clubs. The
marriage between Tangerine Dream and Wadephul did not last for long however.
Nothing more was to be seen or heard of him after the tour.
They wrote the music to the film 'Miracle Mile' ('Nacht der Entscheidung',
literally 'night of decision'), which describes the night before a possible
nuclear disaster. The CD of the same name appeared in 1989. In the same
year they released a soundtrack, which they made for the film 'Destination
Berlin'. Here it concerns itself - as the name suggests - around a film
about the city of Berlin. The music was composed specially in panoramic
sound for the Imagine 360 video system.
The title Alexander Square, which is on this album, also appeared as a single.
The next piece of work was called 'Lily on The Beach'. Beside Edgar and
Paul, Hubert Waldner on saxophone and flute as well as Jerome Froese participated
for the first time as guest musicians on this production. Jerome played
lead guitar on the track 'Radio City'. After the music of the album was
already finished, Edgar and Paul were of the opinion that a certain touch
was missing from the production. They wanted to add real drums or wind instruments.
Paul suggested his old friend Hubert Waldner. Edgar, who already found favour
for years with the sound of the saxophone agreed to the suggestion. 1990
began solvently with the release of the soundtrack to the sports
film 'Dead Solid Perfect' (a film about golf) by Bobby Roth, who also directed
the film 'Heartbreakers'. Randy Quaid was in the leading role. The soundtrack
consisted of 22 very short tracks.
To make the sound TRACK publications approved by Tangerine Dream partly
again brought in over from the Klangfetzen audible Songs. Tangerine Dream
are to productions of labels, which avoided their music simply from the
master tapes on disk, very reserved opposite. Edgar in addition in an
interview in 1994: "soundtracks are composed for a film or for a television
programme and do not necessarily belong on a record. That has also completely
determined reasons. That is evenly illustration music with sequences of
20 seconds, 1 minute 30, 1 minute of 10. Which recovers to humans is now
30.00 DM to output, in order to clean-tighten oneself these chips - we hold
for weak intimate. Therefore that is not anything for the disk and the people,
which acquired such rights, which one can test, not find has the tone carriers
in this type then published and that we easily justifiablely behind our
back. Thus we had ourselves to strike the last year of the legal point of
view more with the prevention of such products, than with the possibility
of a publication. " At the beginning of 1990 Edgar Froese looked
up a saxophonist, since he wanted to introduce new things into the music.
Friends in Vienna recommended Linda Spa. to it with the only Germany
concert on 20.02.1990 in the citizens of Berlin Werner Fassbinder hall,
appeared them for the first time beside the saxophonists Hubert Waldner
with Tangerine Dream before approx. 6,000 spectators. Linda was born
in 04.09.1968 in Vienna. Already at the age of six she had taken up classical
piano lessons. The piano, which was located in the parental schneiderei,
was used by her for her daily exercises. Her audience consisted at the time
of her parents' customers. At the age of 15 she began to study fashion design.
At the same time she discovered her interest in the saxophone. Since her
parents were not taken by the instrument, it was " not very feminine
" in their view, she started playing the clarinet. However when she
was 17 she nevertheless bought a saxaphone and found that she had a real
talent for the instrument. When she was 19 Linda left the modelling business
behind her and began to study music at the Viennese school of music. When
Edgar spoke to her, she had begun in the meantime a second career as a model
for perfume and cosmetic products. Linda accompanied the band in numerous
future concerts and was involved in seven studio and live recordings.
This concert in the Werner Fassbinder Hall was also the first for Jerome
with Tangerine Dream. To start with he only played a few guitar parts. In
the course of the samples in addition, some key board passages were then
added. At this time the entrance was not yet planned by Jerome. Edgar
wanted to leave it to his son to come into the band. From the duo Froese
/ Haslinger at short notice again became a Trio, since Jerome Froese had
become a permanent member of the group. Jerome, that only learned to play
schlagzeug - he got his first drumset at the age of 17 - changed
to the guitar and came finally to the keyboard. The first CD of this formation
is Melrose. Jerome brings fresh wind into the music to the band, which did
not meet with all the fans' approval. His influence is not to be heard so
clearly on this disk yet, it became recognizable however later on the following
albums Rockoon and Tyranny of Beauty. A video was produced for the title
track 'Melrose' (already time is been for dreaming the video sender ONYX
to see) in the transmission, which begins with Edgar, Jerome and Paul
on bicycles in the desert radeln, then it changes to Edgar and Jerome
in silent movie scenes, in which Linda Spa appears. With these accommodations
in the desert also the Cover photo was developed for the CD.
About the relation father/son and musician said Edgar in an interview 1997:
" one must draw a clear separation between this biological and the
purely musical, compositional things. From my view I did not take son to
mine also into the group. I would have also never done that, because it
does not interest me in this moment that it is my son. It is me as humans
very much value - natural - and we did also everything, in order to give
it a good start to the life. It can decide naturally freely on its life.
From me an obligation never proceeded to accept it to the group only because
he is my son or because it sells itself well to make one on ' family '.
If it had convinced me not in music and had not brought the performances,
it would have been completely uninteresting for Tangerine Dream. It is with
Tangerine Dream, because it brought finally the performance, because that
is it, which counts in a group finally. " From 25.10. to 04,11,1990
Tangerine Dream went on tour in Britain, which took them to eleven cities
altogether. At the end of of 1990 Paul Haslinger left the group and returned
to its homeland Austria. At first Paul created himself his own recording
studio due to the technical experience acquired with Tangerine Dream. It
called it The Assembly Room. After his exit Paul Haslinger as well as Peter
Baumann had a band project. The material was however never published.
Starting in 1994 Paul concerned himself more with his solo career and released
his first solo album entitled 'Future Primitive'. Nothing about the music
is reminiscent of his work with Tangerine Dream. He tried rather completely
new ways to go, in that he experimented with different sounds and music
styles. It combines Ethnostile with Vokalsamples and ungehoerte musical
structures with Pop rhythms. The music to the film 'The Park Is Mine',
already released in 1985 (German title: Herrscher des Central Parks, literally
'Ruler of Central Park') with Tommy Lee Jones in the starring role (on the
escape, Vulcano). The soundtrack of the same name appeared in 1991. However
the music to this film had already been composed by Tangerine Dream in 1984,
being based on parts of the Poland tour, which were found on the album 'Poland'.
Another soundtrack appeared in 1991. It was the music to one of Guenter
Wallraff's filmed books. The title reads 'The Man Inside' or 'L'Affaire
Wallraff'. Directed by Bobby Roth, Peter Coyote and Juergen Prochnow are
in the starring roles. German television asked Tangerine Dream to write
some title music to the Schimanski-Tatort crime series again. The resulting
track was called 'Bis zum Hals im Dreck' ('Up to your neck in dirt'). The
result, which Edgar and Jerome composed, is the Chi Coltrane single 'I Just
Want to Rule My Own Life Without You'. The single, on which Tangerine Dream
are called only in the interior, contains three tracks. The title
track is sung by Chi Coltrane and is also in an instrumental version. With
the instrumental version the Saxophonist Linda Spa appears on CD for the
first time. The third title on the single is called One Night in Medina.
In 1991 the fairy tale CD Rumpelstiltskin appeared, to which Tangerine Dream
wrote the music. Kathleen Turner, admits from various feature films
(the hunt for the green diamond, War of the Roses), tells the Rumpelstiltskin
story supported with music. The approx. 22 minute narration forms track
one, the CD is only available as an import. Then follow seven instrumental
tracks by Tangerine Dream, which served as mood music for the story. For
film connoisseurs, who know only the dubbed German voice of Kathleen, track
one already takes some getting used to. In 1992 for the termination the
of co-operation between Peter Baumann's label and Tangerine Dream appeared
the best of CD 'The private Music of Tangerine Dream'. Besides ten tracks
from the albums Optical Race, Miracle Mile, Lily on The Beach and Melrose,
published on the label, the unreleased tracks Beaver Town and Roaring OF
The Bliss are on this CD.
Then the next CD Rockoon appeared, on which Jerome left his influence clearly
on the tracks. The tracks became harder and faster. Also the electric guitar
is played harder. Edgar called the music times " a type sound of
town center, thus electronics including guitar and saxophone parts.
" As guest musicians Zlatko Perica (Lead guitar) worked, Richi Wester
(saxophone) as well as Enrico Fernandez (Macubaha) also. Linda Spa was not
involved in the accommodations, since she was not in Europe during
this time. Additionally Jayney Klimek added background vocals on the instrumental
tracks. Edgar: " no lyrics are to be heard on the acoustic section,
but there is more or less being correct experiments. We made also certain
loans into musical trips, so for example into the South Seas, but very surrealistic.
It was great fun for us" The album was nominated for a Grammy in 1992
in the category 'best new age album'. The title track appeared as a special
edition single. On the CD, besides Rockoon, the track 'Oriental Haze', again
contained with Linda Spa on the saxophone and a 14 minute interview, in
which Joanne Davenport interviewed Edgar Froese. The label Silva Screen
publishe the soundtrack to the American television film 'Deadly Care'. The
Erstausstrahlung took place in March 1987.
For the members of the Tangerine Dream International Fan Club they brought
out the CD Quinoa. The CD contains the 28 minute title track, which was
taken up to the citizens of Berlin Cave. The CD was a limited edition
of 1000 copies and made available exclusively to the members of the club
free of charge. The cover is white with black and red symbols and is subtitled
" A Tangerine Dream Fan Club release for members only". The remaining
copies were sold during the '97 tour. Tangerine Dream also brought out an
official CD with the title Quinoa, with two extra tracks, in 1998. In 1993
another Live aufnahmen appeared an album by Tangerine Dream, it was
entitled 220 Volt Live and was taken from the '92 North American tour in
Seattle, New York and Washington. Edgar and Jerome appeared on stage with
Zlatko Perica (guitar) and Linda Spa (saxophone and keyboard) supporting.
Linda and Zlatko were not permanent, but as Edgar said once " associated
" members of Tangerine Dream. One reason for this was that Linda in
lived in Vienna and Zlatko in Zurich. They were integrated into the group
on a project-related basis. Originally the schlagzeuger and Percussionist
Klaus Krieger, who had already been involved with 'Cyclone' and 'Force Majeure',
was to have participated in the '92 tour. But during several weeks the
persisting samples (rumours?) one came to the conclusion to complete the
tour nevertheless better without him.
"Strong and dynamic with sharp guitars and driving saxophone Solos
" (The new Times) guaranteed them " a celebration for designers
of the digital sound " (The Boston Phoenix). Tangerine Dream had never
been heard as hard as on this tour before. On this CD is only new material.
It was at first only available as US import, however it came out approx.
six months later as an official German record. With the album they obtained
a Grammy nomination for the third time. On the album is a remake of the
Jimi Hendrix track Purple Haze, which they played on the tour as an encore.
The title was not purely a homage to Hendrix. Edgar: " for which
were we thereby were actually what is behind the musician, behind this humans
Hendrix, which was actually always for me deeply pitying humans and is still,
because which it ruebergebracht in music, was actually visible beyond all
star airs. The piece Purple Haze by us was also chosen by us, because
it was quite well suited to this type of instrumental interpretation."
The single Dreamtime was taken from the album. It contains the title track
in a sung and instrumental version. The singer Jayney Klimek, who formed
the band 'The Other Ones' together with her brothers Alf (singer on the
first Spliff LP 'Spliff Radio Show', took over the singing part with Dreamtime)
and Johnny Klimek as well as three other musicians. The band had a hit in
1986 with the track 'Holiday'. The co-operation with Jayney Klimek can be
traced back to an Austrian vacation, where Tangerine Dream met the friendly
singer by accident. Tangerine Dream were even thereby employed to
make some radio audits . Jayney wrote the lyrics to Dreamtime in
a few minutes and after 1 1/2 hours production was already finished. From
the CD '220 Volt Live' Miramar released the video 'Three Phase-Past, Present,
Future' which was produced by Michael Boydstun. It is not a matter of one
single edited concert however. As well as five tracks, which were along-cut
from the concert on 25.10.1992 in the Paramount Theatre in Seattle,
also video clips and older material are on the video, such as Phaedra or
Logos in remove. The video clips consisted partially of old black/white
scenes from the 20's and 30's as well as private film documentaries, which
were filmed on journeys and during concerts. The idea for the video came
from the American label Miramar. They had to process the group for
a few months before Tangerine Dream agreed to the project.
Edgar in addition in the ORB: " the concept of the group is actually
not this video rail and also not the absolute for the position of our person,
that is actually secondary. " In 1994 the soundtrack to the Stephen
Sommers film 'Catch Me If You Can' appeared. The studio album in 1994 is
called 'Turn of the Tides'. Jerome's influence becomes even clearer on this
album, On which the guitarist Zlatko Perica and the Saxophonist Linda Spa
were brought in. With this album the pieces or collect the ideas they
compose on the 92'er North America tour had already begun. Edgar in
addition in the ORB: "That was actually the longest time we had ever
spent making a record. With a few short breaks of two or three weeks we
worked on it for nine months, then we did the chief work here in
Vienna and in Berlin. " Tangerine Dream has rarely sounded so aggressive
and open to different styles. The magazine Billboard judged: " an album
rich with exotic sounds and vibrating rhythms." Without neglecting
the cosmic items, " they have again dedicated themselves to more
strongly the Emphase to traditional rock music " (STEREO). 'Turn
of the Tides' was also nominated for a Grammy in 1994 in the category 'Best
New Age album'.
In the booklet of this CD is an extract from the kurzgeschichte 'The
Coachman's Tales'. Edgar, who also studied philosophy for a few years, wrote
the story. Not the study, but the fact that it placed itself to questions
again and again, on which responses does not give it, and questioned, leads
everything to it, everything with a simple philosophical view to see. It
is also gladly ironical thereby and may turn and say above all also the
writers, who pusten something " interesting into the world, briefly
with the eye zwinkern,: Nothing for bad! ". Edgar stresses however
that he is not interested in publishing a book! A CD single of 'Turn of
the Tides' appeared, which contains an unreleased track called 'Story of
the Brave' as well as four tracks from the album partially in shortened
versions. Likewise in 1994 Virgin published a box with five CDs with the
title 'Tangents 1973 - 1983'. On the first four CDs are tracks from the
Virgin decade, which Edgar remixed and remastered for this release. CD No.
5 consists of ten so far unreleased tracks with a playing time between 3:18
and 12:50 minutes. A very complex hochformatiges booklet is contained
in the box. Besides very beautiful computer graphics it also contains information
about the band in English.
Edgar Froese brought out the double CD 'Beyond The Storm'. On it are 13
remastered older tracks as well as 15 new ones.
In 1995 the critics commented on 'Tyranny of Beauty' by saying "Synthi-Themen
von ausgesprochener Belanglosigkeit" (music express),. On this
CD is a new 5 minute version of Stratosfear with the title 'Stratosfear
1995'. The album finishes with the track 'Largo', a composition by the German
composer George Friedrich Haendel (1685-1759). With this album they obtained
their fifth Grammy nomination as a result However a Grammy has been denied
to them so far. The CD 'Tyranny of Beauty' represents a Glosse on
the fashion industry and the Rummel, to that around the Models is made,
which the title of the track 'Catwalk' refers to. With the entire
project they wanted on it attentively to make that it is unnormal to make
such a theatre around humans only because it " with two pretty ears
into the world came ". Originally they had planned to picture a
Barbie doll on the CD cover. That was not possible however for legal reasons.
For this reason an Egyptian cover design was used instead. By invitation
they played at a fashion show in Los Angeles. As Gag Linda the saxophonist
came down the catwalk in a wedding dress. The band had a lot of fun at this
rather turned off event. The organizer that correctly which cost
let himself. Tangerine Dream had flown to L A. for their 30 minute appearance
with all their equipment!
The CD 'The Dream Mixes' came out in 1995 on the Virgin label. On this CD
Edgar and Jerome remixed six tracks from their albums Rockoon, 'Turn of
the Tides' and 'Tyranny of Beauty' as harder, more modern versions with
techno rhythms. The CD contains four further new pieces as well as the remixes
and has a total duration of 67 minutes. A further version of the CD appeared
on their own label TDI as a double CD with a different cover and a running
time of 108 minutes. Here the contents of the first CD are identical to
the Virgin version. CD no. 2 brings four new remixes and the new tracks
'Iowa' and 'Sojus'. Tangerine Dream were against remixing their tracks at
the time. In addition Jerome: " we have many supplies to remixen
Dance hits or Tangerine Dream Songs of DJ's remixen to leave. " And
Edgar: " that is like Tangerine Dream with Aldi, like a disk with branch,
there is lost everything, which is important at the music." In
addition to the CD a 60 minute video appeared in 1996 with the title 'The
Video Dream Mixes'. It contained nine tracks from the TDI version altogether.
The total of eight video clips (the ninth song is played during the credits),
show Edgar, Jerome and Linda. Some clips work like vacation scenes, which
were verfremdet by different effects. With the track 'Changes of
the Gods' computer animations are to be seen, which were dargeboten
to a larger extent in their shows on the '97 European tour.
The soundtrack 'Zoning' from the video film of the same name came out only
in Germany in 1996. A further box with five CDs appeared on the label Castle
Communications under the title 'The Dream Roots Collection'. This time on
CDs 1 to 4 tracks from the years 1970-1973 and 1983-1987 were re-released
as re-mastered versions. CD No. 5 consists again of new material (four tracks
between 9 and 15 minutes). The enclosed booklet contains 95 very beautiful
photos apart from some comments tabout the band's history from the time
between 1967 (first band line-up) and 1990. On their '96 European tour a
CD Single came out, which was limited to 2000 copies. The CD entitled 'Shepherds
Bush' contains the tracks 'Thief Yang and The Tangram Seal' as well as a
remake of the old Beatles classic 'Eleanor Rigby'. They had already been
playing remakes of rock and pop classics in their live concerts for a number
of years (e.g. Eleanor Rigby, House of the Rising Sun, Purple Haze)
The album from the year 1996 was called Goblins Club. On this record which
also represented Linda's last production with Tangerine Dream at the same
time, they co-operated with the Viennese Boys choir, which is not to be
mistaken singer boys with the Viennese. In the Booklet of this CD
is printed a text by the German writer Christian Morgenstern (1871-1914).
Some the tunes Tangerine Dream have composed in the course of their existence
were based on works by the writing guild. The kurzgeschichte
which is printed in the booklet, fell into their hands. Since they liked
the text written with a sharp tongue, it was used.
Linda separated from Edgar and Jerome at the beginning of of 1997. Tangerine
Dream decided to initiate again a turn. Edgar said in an interview
in 1997: " with it also again a section Tangerine Dreams is final,
i.e. the section that, says we times, sinfonischen work, even if the term
naturally limps. In addition certain solo instruments belong such as for
example saxophone. So she will never play saxophone with us again, and also
different things will disappear. Many new items will be added. Therefore
we separated at the right time. They are now pursuing their own musical
careers and we must now move elsewhere." On in the year 1996 the
Australian version appeared on the TDI label. On this CD the eleventh track
'Elf June and The Midnight Patrol' was replaced by 'Fort Worth Runway One',
which was co-written by Linda. Linda's name is neither mentioned, nor she
is to be seen in the photos (partial smaller screen window of the same
photos) in the booklet. Edgar always held the opinion that musical co-operation
with other musicians represented only one thing during a certain period.
The musicians, those with him co-operated knew also.
Edgar: "We have worked with people for between 6 months and 6 years.
I worked with Christopher Franke for 16 years. There are always time
intervals, where one notices, now must within this korpus Tangerine Dream
somewhat occur. We must down of the large road, down of the motorway, as
we say it always in such a way. Now again on the dirt road. We want again
schnuppern, such a little at the roots of the things that that does not
flatten everything in such a way. We are not primarily a commercial group,
forget many, us that to always attach want. " in 1997 Tangerine
Dream went on an extended world tour, which led them also again after approximately
14 years abstinence - with exception of few single concerts - to Germany.
This abstinence resulted also from the complicated work with the German
organizers. Tangerine Dream appeared among other places in Berlin, Bonn,
Hanover, Hamburg and Frankfurt. The program of the European section of the
tour was divided into two sets. The first section covers tracks in the old
style, in it titles from the albums 'Thief', 'Poland', 'Exit', 'Underwater
Sunlight' and 'Le Parc'. Set two consisted of tracks from the newer albums
'Turn of the Tides', 'Dream Mixes', 'Rockoon' and 'Goblins Club'. Edgar
and Jerome were again accompanied on this tour by Zlatko Perica on guitar.
To enrich the acoustics and visual aspects they took on the Percussionist
Emil Hachfeld. He was on centre stage, his drums and basins structured
in the set and whirls on them like a savage the-wipes around. In 18.04.1997
they gave a concert in Frankfurt, which was broadcast world-wide via Real
Audio on the Internet (SURELY IT DIDN'T WORK?!!). For me, that
the concert one week beforehand to 11.04. in Bonn, was this had seen a very
welcome review. For optical support in certain distances Livebilder were
merged into the transfer. The time between the pictures (approx. 5 minutes)
was rather long and the selection of the pictures not very earth-shattering,
however it was an interesting experience. As Gag one could enter oneself
on the Internet page of Tangerine Dream still into a guest book, in order
to deliver direct reactions to the transfer. Of it many fans in the whole
world made use. On this tour they sold the CD Single Limited World Tour
Edition 1997, limited to 5.000 copies. It contains 2 new remixes of the
track 'Das Mädchen auf der Treppe' (the girl on the stairs) as well
as the track 'Order of the Ginger Gild'.
To the approx. 45 minute landscape film 'Oasis' appeared the album of the
same name on TDI as well as the video film on Camera One. The video shows
- similarly as already with Canyon Dreams - wonderful landscape scenes to
which Tangerine Dream wrote 'tenderful' music.
The track 'Towards The Evening Star' from the album 'Goblins Club' came
out as a remix by the well-known Techno / Trance band 'The Orb' on a CD
Single. The CD contains the original album track as well as the over 8 minute
'Madarine Cream Mix'. For the purpose of the Remixes Tangerine Dream gave
them the multi-track tapes by hand. Edgar and Jerome were however disappointed
with the result. According to its predicates it was nothing like
Tangerine Dream's music. Originally it gave beside club-mixes also a
Radioedit of The Orb, which represented a short version of the Mixes. While
club-mix by Tangerine Dream one abgesegnet, they forbade the publication
of the Radioedits. Tangerine Dream had met The Orb and had not never been
themselves with them over the Remix not maintained, also because of it it
that the Remix did not take place in its sense.
The second set of the '97 world tour was published on the Live CD 'Tournado'.
The Mitschnitt originated in with the concert on 23.04.1997 in cathedrals
the Muziki i Tanca in the Polish Zabrze.
A very unusual CD appeared under the title 'Ambient Monkeys'. It contained
a 48 minute track, which consisted of 13 sections. Apart from new compositions
sections of the work are by George Friedrich Haendels, Johann Sebastian
Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart into the complete work eingewoben.
The music is supported all the way through from the first minute to the
end by jungle noises (ape shouting, bird voices, racing drivers, etc.).
The music was composed as the interlude (intermission? pre-concert background
music?) to the '97 European tour and was heard at some of the appearances.
On 01.02.1998 Jerome Froese guested on Radio Eins in the programme Electrobeats
with the presenter Olaf Zimmermann and had some rare tracks in his bag.
Among other things during the evening alternative and live versions of 'Warsaw
in The Sun', 'Ride on the Ray' and 'Girl on the Stairs' were played. Also
one track was to be heard for the first time here, a 20 minute (NOT TRUE!
ONLY 4.49!) extract from a 1990 Japanese NHK-TV film with the name 'Mandala'
which Tangerine Dream composed the music for. The music has not been released
to date. Another Schmankerl on this programme/broadcast represented
the track 'Unicorn Theme' from the film 'Legend'. It was sung by Susanne
Pawlitzki (Insisters) (the well known singer Jon Anderson sang the song
in the film version). Due to accent problems the singing part was not taken
by the film studio Universal. At the very end the track 'Electrofog' from
the 1980 live concert at the Dresden Hygienemuseum, was transmitted. Those
who were not lucky enough to be able to receive the broadcast had to resort
to a bootleg.
The year 1998 saw a whole set of releases on the TDI label. The CD 'Dream
Encores' contained live material from the years 1986 to 1997, which they
played on North American and European tours as encores. 'Quinoa' appeared
on the CD of the same name and as well as the title track the tracks 'Voxel
Ux' and 'Lhasa' are on the CD. With Voxel Ux concerns it a piece, which
was already composed in 1996 and output-praised in the context of a drawing
by lots on the official homepage von Tangerine Dream. There was only a single
with this title, which the winner got at that time.
The second part of the Dream Mixes came out under the title 'TimeSquare'.
Apart from the track 'Towards The Evening Star', which can be found as the
'Blue Gravity Mix', he CD contained six new tracks.
The video Luminous Visions was only available as an import , which came
out on Sony Music Entertainment and TDI in the series 'Odyssey The Mind's
Eye Presents'. Since it was produced for the American market, it was available
only in the video format NTSC (and DVD!). The video consists of computer
animations by the computer artist Yoichiro Kawaguchi, who created very
fantasyful, abstract pictures. Tangerine Dream supplied the soundtrack
to the animations . The songs are not new however up to 'Midwinter Night',
but come from the albums 'The Dream Mixes' and 'Oasis'. A " free "
CD with the individual tracks is enclosed with the limited edition. While
the video indicates a running time of only 43 minutes, the CD is approx.
75 minutes long.
Since with music composed for films there is very often material left over
which was not used by the Producers and Directors, Tangerine Dream accumulated
some unused material. The best tracks appeared in 1998 on the two CDs 'Hollywood
Years volumes I and II'. Which films the individual titles were originally
composed for is not mentioned in the booklets. Among the altogether 30 tracks
is the song 'Rose of Babylon', which is sung by Vicky McClure.
Tangerine Dream wrote the film music for a documentary about the Russian
Sibarian Express. This music appears under the title Transsibiria on CD.
The CD Valentine Wheels represented another Live aufnahme and contained
the first set of the '97 tour. Mitgeschnitten became this accommodation
on 06.11.1997 with the concert in the London's Shepherds Bush Empire. Originally
this CD had come out in a set ('Holiday Season Booster') in Christmas of
1998 including this CD, a t-Shirt, a Sticker as well as a postcard autographed
by Edgar and Jerome. The CD then came out in 1999 as a separate item.
On 12.06.1999 the only Tangerine Dream concert of the year took place in
the context of the Klang-Art-Festival in Osnabrueck. Edgar welcomed visitors
from the whole world, who had travelled to this unique concert. A fan from
the USA had come the furthest. With this appearance for years again completely
new material live was specified for the first time. Under the slogan 'Mars
Polaris' was transferred in music the NASA Mars polar Lander missions. The
Percussionist Emil Hachfeld, who had already appeared on the '97 tour, provided
also the appropriate rhythms for this concert. As well as these the
band was also supported by the guitarist Gerald Gradwohl. The backdrop behind
the musicians consisted of an enormous canvas, on which a film was shown
during the concert, which likewise represented the Mars mission. Beside
original shots of rocket launches and space travel projects also numerous
computer animations were to be seen. After the concert Jerome on the
party of type of sound, which was called also Tangerine Dream after Show
party, in the Osnabruecker storage hall still worked as DJ.
On the same day a 71 minute CD appeared entitled 'Mars Polaris' with the
music of the concert as accommodation. Those who saw the concert
will acknowledge that the Live version was still more printingful
by Emil and Gerald's contributions, than is heard on the CD music. The music
the disk evaluates express: " the ten new compositions sound meanwhile
only rarely cosmic, but rather good and trust. Some music on 'Mars Polaris'
is reminiscent of '80s Tangerine Dream from albums such as 'Poland', 'Le
Parc' or 'Logos'. If one hears oneself correctly into the new album in,
then one will tighten that the music is not only extremely carefully produced
by Tangerine Dream, but also very complex, multilayered and filigran to
sound can. "
Also sold on the day of the concert the new CD Sohoman, appearing on
the TDI label. On it is contained a 43 minute extract of the live concert
on 22.02.1982 in Sydney's Regent Theatre. The CD represented the first release
in the 'Tangerine Dream Classic Edition' series. Further accommodations
of older concerts are to follow. The album What a Blast (subtitled: Architecture
in Motion) represented a soundtrack to a film about collapsing multistorey
buildings. The film appeared on video in the USA entitled 'What A Blast!
Architecture in Motion'.
Tangerine Dream created the soundtrack to a film about the Great Wall of
China. The music appears on the CD 'Great Wall of China'. In the new Millennium
the albums 'Soundmill Navigator' and 'Antique Dreams' will appear as new
releases.
A further release is the CD 'The Seven Letters From Tibet'. On it calmly
floating sphere sounds are to be heard. Tangerine Dream can be called
the wegbereiter of today's music scene. By their slope to new ways
and experiments with new techniques they became beside Klaus Schulze and
Kraftwerk the main influence for musical directions such as Techno, Trance,
Ambient etc. The Tangerine continues to dream, and none can foresee at present,
how long these dreams will continue. Jerome trained himself in such a way
that he could also resume this project, if Edgar wants to only put the
hands with dreaming into the lap.
Note: The Discography 'Voices in The Dunes' by Rolf sonnemann, Peter Stoeferle
and Matt Hargreaves from the year 1991 offers an extensive list of world-wide
releases. Also the homepage by Rainer Rutka offers an abundance of information
with cover scans (also a lot of rare material). The following sources were
consulted for this Story: * Article of the magazines * music express * Rolling
Stone * Sounds * Rock dictionaries * the article between Berlin and Hollywood
* the book Voices in The Dunes * texts from the Plattencovern * the
Internet pages of the musicians * as well as various interviews (radio,
fan magazines).
Further information can be obtained also from the following Internet pages:
Tangerine Dream: Http://www.tdi music mall.de/mainmenu.html information
about the new or republications here one can listen to audio extracts of
individual tracks http://www.tangerinedream.de / Christopher Franke: http://www.sonicimages.com
Paul Haslinger: http://www.haslinger.com / Johannes Schmoelling: http://members.tripod.de/Theta/html/index.htm
Stephan clip (pages to the electronic music and to rough cut): http://www.stephan
schelle.de photos: Out mentioned above sources, Monique Froese, Jim Rakete,
Rita Mitzkatis, as well as the German Rock e.V. To file/collection Wolfgang
Pokall Tangerine Dream look on one more than 30jaehrige to tape career back.
In the context of these Story it is to be shown therefore only possible
the history of this group only ansatzweise. The text was passed on to
Edgar Froese. The substantial points were checked by him personally for
correctness. I would like to thank you here quite cordially! In addition,
my thanks go to Kurt Mitzkatis, which supported me with the creation of
thise story energetically, to Martin Kasprzak of TDI Music, as well as Torsten
Moeller, who supplied me with information.