Tangerine Dream

[zombywoof]

So, I've been on somewhat of a TD binge of late. Rubycon, Phaedera, and now Zeit, and I'm absolutely loving it! Yes, I know there's already a Edgar Froese thread, but I scanned it and it's a lot of 'RIP' stuff. Let's put a positive spin on this and celebrate about the man's life and work.

What was your first TD experience? What are your favorite albums? Ever get the chance to see them live?

[Kcrimso]

First Tangerine Dream album I heard and bought was Phaedra. It took me years to really warm to it. Now of course I love it.

[dropforge]

Earliest purchases included:

(Vinyl) – Encore, Exit, Force Majeure
(Cassette) – Firestarter, Le Parc, Logos
(First TD purchased on CD format) – Tyger (1987)

I missed the opportunity to see them on their tour of the US in '86. In '88, we burned rubber to see them at the California Theater in San Diego. They also played the Wiltern Theater in L.A. the next night, but I wouldn't see them again until '92 at the Wiltern. The California Theater was an even smaller venue than the Wiltern, and there wasn't a bad seat in the house. We were six rows back.

[JKL2000]

My first TD experience was seeing the movie Sorceror in 1977.

[Kai]

First contact: Watching the pilot episode of Streethawk on video in 1986. The theme music stayed with me and actually made the actual series seem better than it was. I heard parts of the Sorcerer score (recorded to tape off the air) two years later and was mesmerised by them as well.

First album heard: Exit in 1992, borrowed from the local library. Loved it then, love it sill.

First album bought: White Eagle in 1993. Liked the title track then and still like it. The rest, not so much.

Favourite album: Haven't got a single favourite, but Zeit, Rubycon, Stratosfear, Force Majeure, Exit and Shy People seem to have stood the test of repeated listens the best.

[progman1975]

First bought Ricochet on CD in '94 on a recommendation from a synth buddie.
Top 5 TD
1. Ricochet
2. Stratosfear
3. Force Majeure
4. Rubycon
5. Encore

[GuitarGeek]

My first TD experience was actually reading about them in a book called Rock Hardware, back in the early 80's (I was probably 8 or 9 at the time). Then I saw a really good sci-fi movie called Wavelength, starring YOUR Cherry Bomb Herself, Cherie Currie. Anyway, TD did the score to the film. After that, I went out and bought (in relatively quick succession) Tangram, Rubycon, Stratosfear, and Encore, all on LP (and Encore had the Roger Dean labels, so it must have been a 70's era pressing). I eventually ended up owning also Alpha Centauri and Atem on LP (double LP twofer reissue of the two albums), plus all the albums from Electronic Meditation up through Poland on CD, as well as numerous bootleg recordings.

[GuitarGeek]

And no, I never got to see them live.

[member]

I've seen them live several times.
They have made over 100 albums, so stating a favourite is not really possible for me.

[dropforge]

My first TD experience was seeing the movie Sorceror in 1977.

Mine was The Keep. The main title immediately left an impression on me. Seeing the words "Music by Tangerine Dream" made me wonder if they're a band I should know more about. Later I met my buddy Dano in high school, and he says into "a band called" TD. That was convenient.

[dropforge]

While searching another pic, I found one of the article from a 1988 issue (I used to have, sniff) of Keyboard, which came out soon after TD's SoCal tour stops.

[walt]

If memory serves, Phaedra was the first TD my friend played for me way way back when,circa 1975.I was well and truly hooked.

Saw TD in 1977 in NYC-Avery Fisher Hall.My two friends were tripping, i wasn't; in hindsight, if there was ever a concert to trip at, that was probably the one.

[Rarebird]

A cheap CD-shop I often visit has a lot of Tangerine Dream on Eastgate. I still wonder how they are, like Tangram 2008.

[vacuumtube1954]

My first Tangerine Dream lp was "Phaedra"bought new. That got me for the rest of my life.

[Tangram]

First contact: I asked a friend i he had any music that sounded like an instrumental version of Pink Floyd. He gave me the Thief album. Hooked.

5 favs albums:
Phaedra, Rubicon, Tangram, Underwater Sunlight, Force Majeure

5 Fav tracks: Mysterious Semblance at the Strands of Nightmares, Hyperborea, Song of The Whale, Rubicon 1, Alchemy of the Heart.

Saw TD only once and it was during the Optical Race tour at Radio City in New York.

Note: 5 favs are always subject to change w/o notice

NP: Rockoon. Hated this when it came out and actually, got off the TD bandwagon for at time because of it. I quite enjoy it now.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Atem and Rubycon remain my faves, but I've got most of their 70s output on vinyl and they're basically ALL pretty good.

I also discovered their music through film, namely The Keep and Risky Business. I sort of "rediscovered" them after turning on to progressive rock music in the second half of the 80s though, first buying Ricochet which intrigued me with its majestic space-improvisations. I was particularly puzzled by their ability to generate warmth and chilling atmospheres seemingly one at a time without having them collide and ruin the total impression.

I'm glad I took to liking the whole krautrock phenomenon before hearing Electronic Meditation, as I'm not sure I'd thought much of it after first hearing the more refined electronics of the post-73 era TD.

What an amazing musical endeavour they made.

[Trane]

What was your first TD experience? What are your favorite albums? Ever get the chance to see them live?

Zeit was my first album of theirs (awesome artwork helping), but what a mistake that was... I just couldn't handle it at age 12... hated it , but didn't get rid of it (as I usually did with other stuff I didn't like)... It was a while before I got into them, when I bought Encore at release time along with Ricochet (seconfd hand)... loved those two albums and started buying more, like Cyclone, Stratosfear, Encore, Centauri (what a kick in the but that one was) and I didn't like Rubycon that much...

Of course the "pink years" and up to Cyclone, I started appreciating later

oddly enough I started losing interest for their new music around Tangram time, so I never got around to see them live, because by the early 80's, I was investigating JR/F



faves?

here goes, in no particular order:
meditations, centauri, ricochet, force majeure, Green Desert




... and Timewind (I always thought that it should've been aTD album)

[Dave (in MA)]

In the late '70s I lent a guy Oxygene and he lent me Stratosfear, that was my first TD exposure. It didn't really click with me, but then sometime in the early '80s I grabbed Rubycon, Ricochet, Stratosfear, Force Majeure, Cyclone and Tangram as cutouts for a total of about $20 at a mall record store and haven't looked back. I managed to see them live on the Ralph Wadephul tour, the first tour with Spa and Perica, and then the most recent US tour.

[Mister Triscuits]

I first heard of Tangerine Dream through reading a review of Rubycon in the school paper. It interested me enough to buy the album, which was their latest release at the time. Shortly afterwards, I found a copy of Phaedra in a used record store for 25¢. I eventually collected the rest of the albums--Zeit became my all-time favorite, followed closely by Phaedra--and followed the band through the '70s. I pretty much loved everything up through Tangram--even the outrageous left turn of Cyclone--but I lost interest with Thief and Exit. I stopped following them after that and have heard little of what they've done since. I did have the Tangents box for a while, and I received a free copy of one of the early saxophone period albums--the one with "Pictures at an Exhibition" on it--which I thought was awful.

[AncientChord]

Phaedra, when I was 20 years old working as a clerk in the long gone Wherehouse record store chain. I found the sounds to be not only mesmerizing, but also overwhelming, and became an instant fan. I remember telling a friend, "Man these guys must smoke lots of weed and drop lots of acid." And I guess I was spot on! Loved the early 70's - mid 80's period, and saw them twice in concert, 1977 and 1983. Now that Edgar's gone, I'm so glad that there is a huge archive of audio from this period of the band. Like Peter Baumann just said, I too believe that Edgar's influence will live on for decades to come.

[NogbadTheBad]

First bought Ricochet on CD in '94 on a recommendation from a synth buddie.
Top 5 TD
1. Ricochet
2. Stratosfear
3. Force Majeure
4. Rubycon
5. Encore

Move Rubycon up to second and move the timing back a decade and that's pretty much me.

[mogrooves]

Picked up Zeit when it was first released, went back for the first two, and continued up to and including Stratosphere and then lost interest. Acquired Encore a couple of years ago.

Top 5:

Zeit
Electronic Meditation
Alpha Centauri
Phaedra
Rubycon

[Casey]

Purchased Phaedra on vinyl in 1975 based solely upon an advert I saw in Melody Maker. I was into Pink Floyd's spacier tunes & the advert had the title "music that melts." Never heard anything like it. It scratched an itch I never knew I had. My next purchase was a decent set of headphones! No need for any mind-altering substances; the dark quiet of my room & that music was enough to send me out into space.

Still have the vinyl.

[battema]

I came a bit late to the party with TD...my first exposure was the score to Legend and the first purchase was Optical Race in, ummm, 1990 I think. It was the right sound for me at the time, and I went happily exploring as much as I could find. Some of the earlier stuff was very unexpected (hearing Electronic Meditation on cassette for the first time on a school bus trip, not sure if I'd gotten the wrong album or what). But overall, it mostly stuck with me. I got a bit weary of them once they started releasing tangentized versions of the older albums, but came back around in the last couple of years.

I saw them twice; once in '92 on the Rockoon tour, and a few years ago on what I think was the Electric Mandarin tour. I would've liked to have seen an earlier lineup, but no such luck.

Hard to pick favorites, to be honest...the ones I revisit most often would be:

Poland
Tangram
Cyclone
Underwater Sunlight
Jeanne D'Arc
and lately, Mala Kunia.

Their 80's soundtrack work with the Froese/Franke/Schmoelling lineup usually is my favorite stuff, like Legend, Wavelength, Thief, bits of Risky Business, and the like. And for me personally, the early 80's live work was the most interesting. I appreciate the spacier stuff from the 70's but the odd electronic rock sound that they had with Schmoelling always resonated best with me.

Lotta good memories in all those past albums.

[battema]

Oh, and for whatever its worth...the two ex-members I've enjoyed most are Johannes Schmoelling and Conrad Schnitzler. Was just spinning 'Conrad & Sohn' this morning, in fact. There was always something wonderfully irreverent and exciting about Schnitzler...even at his low points he was still interesting and unpredictable.