from the LP Phaedra, Virgin Records, 1974Having left behind any connection to pop-songcraft and having almost totally abandoned traditional instruments, the evolution of Tangerine Dream seemed near complete on this, their debut release for Virgin Records; while electronics had always played a role in the group’s sound, it was on this release that the sequencers & synthesizers really took over, and any semblance that their sound previously had to “rock” music dissipated. The classic lineup of Tangerine Dream is fully assembled on this LP (founder Edgar Froese, Peter Baumann & Christopher Franke), and listening to this album I can’t even conceive of what it was like being in the studio with them; I’d imagine a lot of chemicals, but I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if they were totally sober either. The ambient textures these guys shaped and twisted gave birth to the entire New Age music movement in the 1980s; you know, that stuff you were supposed to meditate to, or some crap---back when the Dream made this, it was a soundtrack for psychedelic wanderers.
