Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music band founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The group has seen many personnel changes over the years, with Froese having been the only continuous member until his death in January 2015. The best-known lineup of the group was its mid-1970s trio of Froese, Christopher Franke, and Peter Baumann. In 1979, Johannes Schmoelling replaced Baumann. Since Froese's death in 2015, the group has been under the leadership of Thorsten Quaeschning. He was joined by violinist Hoshiko Yamane in 2011, Ulrich Schnauss in 2014 and Paul Frick in 2020.
Christopher Franke is a German musician and composer. From 1971 to 1987 he was a member of the electronic group Tangerine Dream. Initially a drummer with The Agitation, later renamed Agitation Free, his primary focus eventually shifted to keyboards and synthesizers as the group moved away from its psychedelic rock origins. While he was not the first musician to use an analog sequencer, he was probably the first to turn it into a live performance instrument, thus laying the rhythmic foundation for classic Tangerine Dream pieces and indeed for the whole Berlin school sound.
Alpha Centauri is the second major release and second studio album by German electronic music group Tangerine Dream. It was released in March 1971 by record label Ohr.
Zeit is the third major release and third studio album by German electronic music group Tangerine Dream. A double LP, it was released in August 1972, being the first release featuring Peter Baumann, who joined then-current members Christopher Franke and Edgar Froese. Zeit is subtitled Largo in Four Movements.
Atem is the fourth major release and fourth studio album by German electronic music group Tangerine Dream. It was released in March 1973 by record label Ohr.
Phaedra is the fifth major release and fifth studio album by German electronic music group Tangerine Dream. It was recorded during November 1973 at The Manor in Shipton-on-Cherwell, England and released on 20 February 1974 through Virgin Records. This is the first Tangerine Dream album to feature their now classic sequencer-driven sound, which is considered to have greatly influenced the Berlin School genre.
Ricochet is the seventh major release and first live album by German electronic music group Tangerine Dream. It was released, on the Virgin label, in 1975. It consists of two side-long compositions mixed from studio recordings and the UK portion of their August–October 1975 European Tour. The sound of the album is similar to that of the group's other "Virgin Years" releases, relying heavily on synthesizers and sequencers to produce a dense, ambient soundscape, but is much more energetic than their previous works. Ricochet uses more percussion and electric guitar than its predecessors Phaedra and Rubycon, and borders on electronic rock. The main innovation on the album is the use of complex, multi-layered rhythms, foreshadowing the band's own direction in the 1980s and trance music and similar genres of electronic dance music.
Rubycon is the sixth major release and sixth studio album by German electronic music group Tangerine Dream. It was released in 1975. It is widely regarded as one of their best albums. Rubycon further develops the Berlin School sequencer-based sound they ushered in with the title track from Phaedra.
Stratosfear is the eighth major release and seventh studio album by the German group Tangerine Dream.
Encore: Tangerine Dream Live is the tenth major release and second live album by the German group Tangerine Dream. It is mostly assembled from various recordings from the band's very successful 1977 U.S. tour.
The electronic music group Tangerine Dream has released more than three hundred albums, singles, EPs and compilations since the group was formed in 1967.
Sorcerer (1977) is the ninth major release and first soundtrack album by the German band Tangerine Dream. It is the soundtrack for the film Sorcerer. It reached No.25 on the UK Albums Chart in a 7-week run, to become Tangerine Dream's third highest-charting album in the UK.
Ralf Wadephul, born 1958 in Berlin, is a German keyboardist/composer who collaborated with Tangerine Dream in the late 1980s on their first "Melrose Years" album Optical Race (1988). While all the material on this album was composed by Froese and Haslinger prior to him joining the band, Wadephul did contribute the track "Sun Gate", a romantic ballad type number that features an Edgar Froese guitar solo. He also performed with the band on their North American tour later that year. Ralf left the band shortly afterwards following the birth of his son Julian Wadephul. The 2006 Tangerine Dream release "Blue Dawn" consists of material composed by Froese and Wadephul during that same tour in 1988, albeit of a studio nature. Ralf continues to keep busy as a musician and sound engineer to this day.
Paul Haslinger is an Austrian musician and composer. He lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
Optical Race is the thirty-fifth major release and eighteenth studio album by Tangerine Dream. Optical Race is the inaugural album of the Melrose Years era, as it is the first appearance of the band on the Private Music label, founded by former Tangerine Dream member Peter Baumann. It was their first album without Christopher Franke since 1971's Alpha Centauri and the band's first to be programmed largely with a computer, an Atari ST using Steinberg/Jones software. The sleeve of the 12" release and the first release on CD and Compact Cassette features a die-cut outer sleeve with a multicolored inner sleeve.
Green Desert is the twenty-seventh major release and the fifteenth studio album by electronic artists Tangerine Dream. The music was recorded in Berlin in 1973, during a period when Peter Baumann had temporarily left Germany to tour Nepal and India. Though unreleased at the time, it landed Tangerine Dream a record deal when Virgin heard the tapes. A remixed version of the music was released in 1986.
Melrose is the thirty-ninth major release and twentieth studio album by Tangerine Dream. This album was released in 1990 on the Private Music label founded by former Tangerine Dream member, Peter Baumann. The album further developed the instrumental pop style known from the previous two Private Music albums, Optical Race and Lily on the Beach. Edgar Froese's son, Jerome, for the first time appears on a Tangerine Dream album as a full-time member. This was Paul Haslinger's last album with Tangerine Dream.
Johannes Schmoelling is a German musician and keyboard artist. He was a member of the prolific electronic music group Tangerine Dream from 1979 to 1985.
Canyon Dreams is the fortieth major release and it was released as the fourteenth soundtrack album by German band Tangerine Dream. It was recorded in 1986 and released in 1991 on compact disc and compact cassette formats. The music was written as a sound accompaniment for an eponymous scenic video film about the Grand Canyon by Jan Nickman, released by the record label Miramar in 1987 on VHS, Betamax and LaserDisc. The album's tracks are divided into various episodes and related to the titles of the cuts.
Tangerine Dream bootleg recordings are performances by Tangerine Dream that have attained some level of public circulation without being available as a legal release. The term most often refers to audio recordings, but also includes video performances. Bootleg recordings arise from a multitude of sources, including covertly copied live concerts, studio outtakes, broadcast performances. Some bootlegs have included material from official releases.
