Tangerine Dream

Tangerine Dream

Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music group from Berlin, formed in 1967 by Edgar Froese and active to the present day. The project has passed through many line-up changes, with Froese the only constant member until his death in 2015. It is associated with ambient, Berlin school, electronic, krautrock, new age and progressive electronic music.

Origins and early development

Froese moves to West Berlin in the mid-1960s to study art, and before forming Tangerine Dream he plays in the psychedelic rock group The Ones, which releases a single before splitting up. He then experiments with different musicians and ideas, often performing at the Zodiak Free Arts Lab. These performances sometimes combine music with literature, painting and multimedia. His work with tape loops, custom-built instruments and recorded sounds helps anticipate later sequencer-based electronic music.

The band’s name comes from a mishearing of the phrase “tangerine trees and marmalade skies” from the Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”.

Early albums and the development of the sound

Tangerine Dream’s debut album, Electronic Meditation (1970), appears on the Ohr label and features Froese alongside Klaus Schulze and Conrad Schnitzler. Its sound combines krautrock and tape-collage experimentation rather than the synthesizer-led style that later becomes characteristic. This period is later known as the “Pink Years”, after the Ohr logo.

Subsequent albums, beginning with Alpha Centauri, place greater emphasis on electronic instruments. In the early 1970s, the group’s sound features organ work by Steve Schroyder and later Peter Baumann, guitar from Froese, drums from Christopher Franke, and the Mellotron as a major element.

The 1973 album Atem draws attention after John Peel selects it as one of his records of the year, helping the band secure a deal with Virgin Records.

Virgin Records years and international recognition

During the Virgin Records period, Tangerine Dream releases albums including Phaedra (1974) and Rubycon (1975). Both make extensive use of synthesizers and sequencers and achieve commercial success in the United Kingdom. Phaedra reaches number 15 on the UK Albums Chart and becomes one of Virgin’s early successes. The group’s mid-1970s line-up of Froese, Franke and Baumann is among the best known, and Johannes Schmoelling replaces Baumann in 1979, remaining with the group until 1985.

The band’s early live performances are visually sparse, often with the musicians seated among electronic equipment under limited lighting. Some concerts take place in near darkness, including a performance at York Minster on 20 October 1975. As concert technology develops, the group’s shows add lighting effects, lasers, pyrotechnics and projected visuals; by 1977, its North American tour includes Laserium effects.

Tangerine Dream tours widely through the 1970s and 1980s, and concerts often include improvised and unreleased material, leading to many bootleg recordings. Several official live albums document this work, and some concert material later becomes the basis for studio compositions.

Soundtracks and broader output

The group becomes known for film and television work, composing music for more than 60 film soundtracks. Among its better-known soundtrack credits are Sorcerer, Thief, Legend, Risky Business, The Keep, Firestarter, Flashpoint, Heartbreakers, Shy People and Near Dark. It also composes for the television series Street Hawk and later contributes music stems for the video game Grand Theft Auto V.

Most Tangerine Dream recordings are instrumental, though albums such as Cyclone (1978) and Tyger (1987) prominently feature vocals. Additional vocal tracks appear on songs such as “Kiew Mission” from Exit and “The Harbor” from Shy People. The group later uses vocals more fully in projects based on Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, followed by Madcap’s Flaming Duty (2007) and Under Cover - Chapter One (2010).

Later labels, personnel and recording phases

Over its career, Tangerine Dream is associated with labels including Ohr, Virgin, Jive Electro, Private Music, Miramar, TDI, Eastgate and Kscope. The band’s releases are often grouped into informal phases, including the “Blue Years”, which begin with the live album Poland after the group moves to Jive Electro in the early 1980s.

In the 1980s, the group adopts digital synthesizer technology alongside artists such as Jean-Michel Jarre and Vangelis. Froese later collaborates with Jarre on Electronica 1: The Time Machine in 2015. During this period and beyond, Tangerine Dream also issues themed series such as Dream Mixes, the Dante-inspired Divine Comedy series, Five Atomic Seasons, Eastgate Sonic Poems and the “CupDiscs”.

Jerome Froese works with the group in the 1990s, before leaving in 2006 to pursue a solo career; he also records solo material under the names TDJ Rome and Jerome Froese. In 2011, he forms Loom with former Tangerine Dream member Johannes Schmoelling and keyboardist Robert Waters.

Continuing line-up and later years

Following Edgar Froese’s death in January 2015, the group continues under Thorsten Quaeschning, who joins in 2005 and is designated by Froese as his successor. Quaeschning works with violinist Hoshiko Yamane, a member since 2011, and Paul Frick, who joins in 2020. Ulrich Schnauss also performs live with the group during this later period, though he later stops performing with it.

Tangerine Dream releases Quantum Gate in 2017, developed from Froese’s sketches and ideas, and later issues Recurring Dreams and Raum on Kscope. The group continues to tour across Europe and North America, and its long career includes a performance in East Berlin in 1980, making it one of the first major Western bands to perform in a communist country. It also performs at the Royal Albert Hall in 2010, 35 years after an earlier concert there, and releases that performance as Zeitgeist.

The group receives Grammy Award nominations for several albums released in the 1990s. Its output from the 1970s onward remains widely associated with influential electronic music, and its mid-1970s work is often cited as important to later new-age music and electronic dance music.