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.
Man
Tangerine Dream Lyrics
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That none doth build a stately habitation,
But he that means to dwell therein.
What house more stately hath there been,
Or can be, then is Man? to whose creation
All things are in decay.
For Man is ev'ry thing
A beast, yet is, or should be more:
Reason and speech we onely bring.
Parrats may thank us, if they are not mute,
They go upon the score.
Man is all symmetrie,
Full of proportions, one limbe to another,
And all to all the world besides:
Each part may call the farthest, brother:
And head with foot hath private amitie,
And both with moons and tides.
Nothing hath got so farre,
But Man hath caught and kept it, as his prey.
His eyes dismount the highest starre:
He is in little all the sphere.
Herbs gladly cure our flesh; because that they
Finde their acquaintance there.
For us the windes do blow,
The earth doth rest, heav'n move, and fountains flow.
Nothing we see, but means our good,
As our delight, or as our treasure:
The whole is, either our cupboard of food,
Or cabinet of pleasure.
The starres have us to bed;
Night draws the curtain, which the sunne withdraws;
Musick and light attend our head.
All things unto our flesh are kinde
In their descent and being; to our minde
In their ascent and cause.
Each thing is full of dutie:
Waters united are our navigation;
Distinguished, our habitation;
13
Below, our drink; above, our meat;
Both are our cleanlinesse. Hath one such beautie?
Then how are all things neat?
More servants wait on Man,
Then he'l take notice of: in ev'ry path
He treads down that which doth befriend him,
When sicknesse makes him pale and wan.
Oh mightie love! Man is one world, and hath
Another to attend him.
Since then, my God, thou hast
So brave a Palace built; O dwell in it,
That it may dwell with thee at last!
Till then, afford us so much wit;
That, as the world serves us, we may serve thee,
And both thy servants be.
The lyrics of Tangerine Dream's song "Man in 2-3" are inspired by a poem written by the English poet George Herbert called "The Pulley". The poem reflects on the idea that God created man as an all-encompassing, symmetrical being who is at the center of all things, yet never fully satisfied. The opening lines, "My God, I heard this day, That none doth build a stately habitation, But he that means to dwell therein", convey the message that only someone who truly intends to live in a house will put the effort into making it majestic. The same goes for man, who is built to live in this world but never truly fulfills himself.
The poem relates man to many other things in nature, including a tree that bears no fruit, a beast that should strive to be more than just an animal, and a creature with speech that sets him apart from others. It suggests that everything in the world serves a purpose for man and that everything is in proportion, with each part in harmony with every other part. The lines, "And head with foot hath private amitie, And both with moons and tides", suggest that man is in tune with the natural world and all its cycles.
The final lines of the poem urge God to take up residence in the "stately habitation" of man's being so that man can serve him better. The poem ends with the plea, "Till then, afford us so much wit; That, as the world serves us, we may serve thee, And both thy servants be". This line emphasizes that man has a duty to serve not only himself but also a higher power.
Overall, Tangerine Dream's song "Man in 2-3" is a meditation on the nature of man and his relationship with the world around him. The lyrics suggest that man is a unique and important creature, one that should strive to be more than just an animal. The poem's intertwining of man with nature suggests that everything in the world serves a purpose for him, and that he has a duty to serve a higher power.
Line by Line Meaning
My God, I heard this day,
Today I learned, oh my God,
That none doth build a stately habitation,
That no one builds a grand house,
But he that means to dwell therein.
Except him who intends to live there.
What house more stately hath there been,
Is there a more majestic abode?
Or can be, then is Man? to whose creation
Than the creation of Man?
All things are in decay.
All things are in decline.
For Man is ev'ry thing
For Man is everything
And more: He is a tree, yet bears no fruit;
And more: he is a tree, but doesn't bear fruit;
A beast, yet is, or should be more:
A beast, yet supposed to be more than that:
Reason and speech we onely bring.
We bring only reason and speech.
Parrats may thank us, if they are not mute,
Parrots ought to be grateful if they can talk,
They go upon the score.
For we taught them.
Man is all symmetrie,
Man is perfectly balanced,
Full of proportions, one limbe to another,
Harmonious in every limb,
And all to all the world besides:
And everything is connected to the rest of the universe:
Each part may call the farthest, brother:
Every part can call the furthest its sibling,
And head with foot hath private amitie,
The head and foot are discreet friends,
And both with moons and tides.
And both are associated with the movements of the moon and tides.
Nothing hath got so farre,
Nothing has gone so far,
But Man hath caught and kept it, as his prey.
But Man has captured and kept it as his own.
His eyes dismount the highest starre:
His eyes dismantle the highest star:
He is in little all the sphere.
He is in the smallest part of the universe.
Herbs gladly cure our flesh; because that they
Herbs willingly heal our bodies, because they
Finde their acquaintance there.
Are familiar with them.
For us the windes do blow,
The winds blow for us,
The earth doth rest, heav'n move, and fountains flow.
The earth rests, the heavens move, and fountains flow for us.
Nothing we see, but means our good,
Everything we see is for our benefit,
As our delight, or as our treasure:
As our pleasure, or our wealth:
The whole is, either our cupboard of food,
The whole world is either our pantry,
Or cabinet of pleasure.
Or a storage of pleasure.
The starres have us to bed;
The stars put us to bed;
Night draws the curtain, which the sunne withdraws;
Night draws the curtain that the sun has raised;
Musick and light attend our head.
Music and light surround our head.
All things unto our flesh are kinde
All things are friendly to our flesh,
In their descent and being; to our minde
In their origin and essence, to our mind.
In their ascent and cause.
In their growth and origin.
Each thing is full of dutie:
Everything has a purpose:
Waters united are our navigation;
Water helps us navigate;
Distinguished, our habitation;
And highlights our living space;
Below, our drink; above, our meat;
Below, our drink; above, our meat.
Both are our cleanlinesse. Hath one such beautie?
Both of them are cleanliness. Is there any other beauty like this?
Then how are all things neat?
Then how are all things tidy?
More servants wait on Man,
More servants attend to Man,
Then he'l take notice of: in ev'ry path
More than he will acknowledge: on every path
He treads down that which doth befriend him,
He steps on those that are friendly to him,
When sicknesse makes him pale and wan.
When illness makes him weak and pale.
Oh mightie love! Man is one world, and hath
Oh great love! Man is one world and has
Another to attend him.
Another world to care for him.
Since then, my God, thou hast
Therefore, oh God,
So brave a Palace built; O dwell in it,
Since you have built such a magnificent palace, please live in it.
That it may dwell with thee at last!
So that it may live with you at the end!
Till then, afford us so much wit;
Until then, give us just enough wisdom,
That, as the world serves us, we may serve thee,
So we can serve you as the world serves us,
And both thy servants be.
And both be your servants.
Contributed by Anna N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.