Tangerine Dream: Zeitraffer - Celebrating A 50 Year History

In an interview from 2010 for The Quietus, Froese recalls the impact of this encounter:

After returning to West Berlin, Froese founded Tangerine Dream in the year 1967. Their first albums on the German Ohr label, evolved from experimental noise experiments, percussions to a more electronic based sound.

The letter in which John Peel writes to Edgar Froese how the album Zeit calms him down after a long day of bad music.

The album Phaedra, recorded at Virgin’s Manor Studios, reached 15 in the UK album charts and received gold in several countries. Its significant sound, based on the Moog sequencer but also the British made EMS VCS3 synthesizer, made this record a milestone in electronic music history.

Review from Music Week in 1974:

Electronic Music Studios’ equipment first came to Tangerine Dream’s attention when they used an EMS VCS 3 analog synthesizer on their second studio album Alpha Centauri in 1971. This ground-breaking instrument, produced by Peter Zinovieff in London was added to over the next few years, with the band purchasing several (suitcase) Synthi-A and AKS models, these were used extensively on stage from 1972 onwards. The VCS 3’s unique bubbling modulations can be heard on Edgar’s first solo album Aqua (released 1974) as well as Tangerine Dream’s first two Virgin Records albums Phaedra (1974) and Rubycon (1975).

The Moog IIIP (3-case) modular synthesizer was invented by Bob Moog. It became Tangerine Dream’s signature sound, appearing on the groundbreaking albums Phaedra (1974) and Rubycon.

One month after the UK tour and still promoting Phaedra, the band’s now infamous concert in the 12th century cathedral in the French city of Reims followed. An article from December ’74 states that 6,000 people overcrowded and desecrated the cathedral with a capacity of only 3.000. As a result, Tangerine Dream was banned from further performances in cathedrals by the Catholic Church.

The ban on performing in Roman Catholic cathedrals from the Vatican had little impact on the band, as Tangerine Dream continued to perform at three cathedrals in the UK, in Coventry, York and Liverpool.

This Minimoog analog synthesizer was played by Edgar Froese and Tangerine Dream from the 1975 tour onwards. It can be heard on recordings from the Royal Albert Hall concert to Logos: Live at the Dominion London.

The incredible journey of Tangerine Dream kicked off in 1970s London and high-raised with their scoring work in the US-American film industry by the early 1980s. This timeline illustrates some of the pivotal moments in the band’s history.

After Edgar Froese's death in 2015, Tangerine Dream's line-up now consists of Thorsten Quaeschning (since 2005) as musical director, Hoshiko Yamane (since 2011), Ulrich Schnauss (since 2014) and Paul Frick (since June 2020).