Tangerine Dream are considered a pioneering act in electronica. Their work with the electronic music Ohr label produced albums that had a pivotal role in the development of the German musical scene known as kosmische ("cosmic"). Their "Virgin Years", so called because of their association with Virgin Records, produced albums that further explored synthesizers and sequencers, including the UK top 20 albums Phaedra (1974) and Rubycon (1975). The group also had a successful career composing film soundtracks, creating over 60 scores, which include those for the films Sorcerer, Thief, The Soldier, Risky Business, Flashpoint, The Keep, Firestarter, Legend, Three O'Clock High, Near Dark, Shy People, and Miracle Mile.
From the late 1990s into the 2000s, Tangerine Dream continued to explore other styles of instrumental music as well as electronica. Their recorded output has been prolific, including over one hundred albums. Among other scoring projects, they helped create the soundtrack for the video game Grand Theft Auto V. Their mid-1970s work has been profoundly influential in the development of electronic music styles such as new age (although the band themselves disliked the term) and electronic dance music.
Their most recent album of all-new music, Quantum Gate, was released on 29 September 2017. In December 2019, the band released Recurring Dreams, a compilation of new recordings of some of the band's classic compositions.
The group is currently working on a new album as a four-piece to be released in 2021 via Kscope.
Tangerine Dream began as a surreal rock band, with each of the members contributing different musical influences and styles. Edgar Froese's guitar style was inspired by Jimi Hendrix, while Christopher Franke contributed the more avant garde elements of Karlheinz Stockhausen and Terry Riley. Yes-like progressive rock influence was brought in by Steve Jolliffe on Cyclone. The sample-based sound collages of Johannes Schmoelling drew their inspiration from a number of sources; one instance is Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians on parts of Logos Live, and the track "Love on a Real Train" from the Risky Business soundtrack.
Classical music has had an influence on the sound of Tangerine Dream over the years. György Ligeti, Johann Sebastian Bach, Pierre Boulez, Iannis Xenakis, Maurice Ravel, and Arcangelo Corelli are clearly visible as dominant influences in the early albums. A Baroque sensibility sometimes informs the more coordinated sequencer patterns, which has its most direct expression in the La Folia section that comes at the very end of the title track of Force Majeure. In live performances, the piano solos often directly quoted from Romantic classical works for piano, such as the Beethoven and Mozart snippets in much of the late 1970s – early 1980s stage shows. In the bootleg recording of the Mannheim Mozartsaal concert of 1976 (Tangerine Tree volume 13), the first part of the first piece also clearly quotes from Franz Liszt's Totentanz. The first phrase is played on a harpsichord synthesizer patch and is answered by the second half of the phrase in a flute voicing on a Mellotron. During the 1990s, many releases included recordings of classical compositions: Pictures at an Exhibition (on Turn of the Tides), Largo (from Xerxes) (on Tyranny of Beauty), Symphony in A Minor (by J. S. Bach), and Concerto in A Major / Adagio (by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) (both on Ambient Monkeys).
Since the 1990s, Tangerine Dream have also recorded cover versions of Jimi Hendrix' "Purple Haze" (first on 220 Volt Live) and The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby", "Back in the U.S.S.R.", "Tomorrow Never Knows", and "Norwegian Wood".
An infrequently recurring non-musical influence on Tangerine Dream, and Edgar Froese in particular, have been 12th–19th-century poets. This was first evident on the 1981 album Exit, the track title "Pilots of the Purple Twilight" being a quote from Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem Locksley Hall. Six years later, the album Tyger featured poems from William Blake set to music; and around the turn of the millennium, Edgar Froese started working on a musical trilogy based on Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, completed in 2006. Most recently, the 2007 album Madcap's Flaming Duty features more poems set to music, some again from Blake but also e.g. Walt Whitman.
Pink Floyd were also an influence on Edgar Froese and Tangerine Dream, the band in its very early psychedelic rock band phase playing improvisations based on Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive". Madcap's Flaming Duty is dedicated to the memory of the late Syd Barrett. The title refers to Barrett's solo release "The Madcap Laughs".
The band's influence can be felt in ambient artists such as Deepspace, The Future Sound of London, David Kristian, and Global Communication, as well as rock, pop, and dance artists such as Porcupine Tree, M83, DJ Shadow, Ulrich Schnauss, Cut Copy, and Kasabian. The band also clearly influenced 1990s and 2000s trance music, where lush soundscapes and synth pads are used along with repetitive synth sequences, much like in their 1975 releases Rubycon and Ricochet, as well as some of their music from the early 1980s. The group have also been sampled countless times, more recently by Recoil on the album SubHuman, by Sasha on Involver, and on several Houzan Suzuki albums. Michael Jackson also cited Tangerine Dream as one of his favourite bands, especially their 1977 soundtrack for Sorcerer.
A Lesson Perhaps
Tangerine Dream Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The King of the forest stared vacantly,
Toward the east.
His bloodshot eyes caught no reasoning,
A lazy fly settled on his suit of velvet,
And the king cursed the creation.
Like an unwanted shadow,
The Queen of conscience entered the already broken morning,
The king moved to a coffin corner,
Where another lazy fly contemplated the dust of time.
"Bring me a kingdom and I will eat,"
his voice disturbed the dust and the fly.
"I am without power to bring you power,"
The Queen sighed like an autumn breeze.
"Then I will not eat."
The King moved to his guilty throne,
And seated himself amongst his ancestors.
"My King, if you want a kingdom and power,
If you want money and love, if you want respect and admiration,
then you must go out, and take it."
The King stared vacantly to the east,
And a dozen flies waiting in the dust stared back,
"I am the King, it is not my part to capture and claim,
It is my people's duty."
The Queen cried and the little crystal tears tickled her cheeks.
She brushed them away angrily,
"You have no people, and while you remain the ghost of the past,
you will never have people or a kingdom,"
She ran from the pathetic chamber.
A fly left with her.
The king breathed and thought deeply,
"I will have people," he said nervously to his conscience,
"I will have people."
The King of the forest never rose again from his guilty throne,
And the dust and the lazy flies lived on him,
And the King lived on his dreams,
And died on them.
The song "A Lesson Perhaps" by Tangerine Dream speaks about a King of the Forest who is in a state of despair and ennui. The King is presented as a desolate character who is unable to find meaning or purpose, caught in a cycle of self-pity and self-deception. The King's life is represented by dust, flies and shadows as symbols of his stagnant existence. In the opening lines, the King is awakened to a new day only to find himself still in the same mental and emotional space. When the Queen of conscience appears, she brings a message of hope but the King is reluctant to act on it, insisting that power and a kingdom are not his to claim but rather his people's duty. The ending is melancholic, with the King alone in his thoughts, disillusioned and still stuck in his own dream world.
The lyrics of the song could be interpreted as a commentary on the human condition - how we often find ourselves stuck in cycles of inaction and self-doubt, waiting for others to save us or for circumstances to change. It highlights the importance of taking initiative and making our own destiny rather than waiting for it to happen to us.
Line by Line Meaning
The early morning castle stirred,
In the early morning, the castle woke up and started moving with activity.
The King of the forest stared vacantly,
The forest king looked out without any purpose or emotion in his gaze.
Toward the east.
He looked towards the direction of the east.
His bloodshot eyes caught no reasoning,
His eyes were red and tired, and he couldn't make sense of what he saw.
A lazy fly settled on his suit of velvet,
A fly landed on his soft clothing, without any care or urgency.
And the king cursed the creation.
He cursed everything that was created, expressing his frustration and despair.
Like an unwanted shadow,
The Queen of conscience appeared suddenly, like an annoying and unwelcome presence.
The Queen of conscience entered the already broken morning,
The queen entered the morning, which was already bleak and lacking positivity.
She spoke, "Eat my master".
She told the king to have breakfast.
The king moved to a coffin corner,
The king went to a dark and uncomfortable corner of the room.
Where another lazy fly contemplated the dust of time.
Another fly sat and watched the dust in this part of the room.
"Bring me a kingdom and I will eat,"
The king said that he will only eat if he is given a kingdom.
his voice disturbed the dust and the fly.
His loud voice agitated the dust and the fly in the room.
"I am without power to bring you power,"
The Queen admitted that she lacked the ability to give him the power he needed.
The Queen sighed like an autumn breeze.
The Queen let out a sad sigh, like a wind blowing in the fall season.
"Then I will not eat."
The king decided that he would not eat anything.
The King moved to his guilty throne,
The King moved to his throne, which made him feel guilty and ashamed.
And seated himself amongst his ancestors.
He sat among his past family members, in a position of honor.
"My King, if you want a kingdom and power,
The Queen advised the king that if he wants to rule and have power,
If you want money and love, if you want respect and admiration,
If he desires wealth, love, respect or admiration,
then you must go out, and take it."
The only way to get what he wants is to go out and get it, through his own efforts.
The King stared vacantly to the east,
The King looked aimlessly towards the eastern direction.
And a dozen flies waiting in the dust stared back,
Several flies in the dusty room were watching him, with no purpose or agenda.
"I am the King, it is not my part to capture and claim,
The king believed that it's not his duty to go out and conquer.
It is my people's duty."
He believed it was the obligation of his subjects to do so.
The Queen cried and the little crystal tears tickled her cheeks.
The Queen shed tears that were like small, clear crystals, which ran down her face.
She brushed them away angrily,
She wiped away her tears in a frustrated and irritated manner.
"You have no people, and while you remain the ghost of the past,
The Queen declared that he had no loyal followers, and as long as he continues to dwell in the past,
you will never have people or a kingdom,"
he will never have the people or a kingdom he desires.
She ran from the pathetic chamber.
The Queen left the sad room in a hurry.
A fly left with her.
A fly followed her out of the room.
The king breathed and thought deeply,
The king took a deep breath and rested while contemplating deeply.
"I will have people," he said nervously to his conscience,
He declared that he will gain people, but he was unsure and anxious about how he would accomplish it.
"I will have people."
He repeated his pledge to himself.
The King of the forest never rose again from his guilty throne,
The King remained seated on his shameful throne, and never stood up from it again.
And the dust and the lazy flies lived on him,
The dust and the flies continued to gather and thrive on him while he was still sitting.
And the King lived on his dreams,
The King's dreams were the only thing that kept him alive.
And died on them.
Eventually, he died still with the hope of becoming a great king one day, but without ever taking action on it.
Contributed by Ryan Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.