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.
Shape My Sin
Tangerine Dream Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Your beauty burned my blood
Beneath the seventh seas
My darling settles down...
There's no one like you, in perfect shape, my sin
There's no one like you, convince the storms, my sin
Describes a fairy tale
Until these thoughts are gone
I've lost you my love
No crying here at all
The heart surrounds
Makes me feel at ease
For a moment of peace
There's no one like you, in perfect shape, my sin
Until these thoughts are fading
Ain't got no way, complaining
There's no one like you, convince the storms, my sin
Until these thoughts are fading
Ain't got no way, complaining
Now I'll set my sail inside of me
If only I fell these arms again and
Will I'll be missing it all
Darkness ain't here at all
I can't describe the fear inside
Towards insanity you
Are the one that I want
These seamless words they are gone
There's no one like you, in perfect shape, my sin
Until these thoughts are fading
Ain't got no way, complaining
There's no one like you, convince the storms, my sin
Until these thoughts are fading
Ain't got no way, complaining
"Shape My Sin" by Tangerine Dream seems to be a love song that describes the intense feelings of the singer towards their lover. They describe their lover's beauty as something that "burned my blood" and how their love was settled down beneath the seventh sea. The singer also says that there is no one like their lover who has a perfect shape, but at the same time, they are the cause of their sins.
The lyrics evoke a sense of longing that the singer has for their lover. They describe how they want to touch their lover's lips and how just a moment of peace in their arms can ease their hearts. However, the singer also seems to be struggling with their feelings, as they say that they can't describe the fear inside towards insanity. The singer acknowledges that their thoughts are fading, and they have no way of complaining, implying that they have come to terms with the complexity of their emotions.
Overall, the lyrics of "Shape My Sin" explore the intense and often conflicting emotions that come with love. The song paints a picture of the singer's visceral longing for their lover while simultaneously acknowledging the complexities of their emotions.
Line by Line Meaning
I found my invisible
I discovered someone who is unusual and unique
Your beauty burned my blood
Your physical attractiveness has a strong impact on me emotionally
Beneath the seventh seas
In a place that's hidden and unknown
My darling settles down...
The person I love is calming down and becoming content
There's no one like you, in perfect shape, my sin
You are one of a kind, you have flaws and temptations that are irresistible to me
There's no one like you, convince the storms, my sin
You have a unique ability to calm storms and turbulence within me
Touching your lips,
Being close to your mouth
Describes a fairy tale
Feels like a storybook romance
Until these thoughts are gone
As long as I'm not thinking about something else
I've lost you my love
I've separated from you
No crying here at all
I'm not upset
The heart surrounds
My emotions are all-consuming
Makes me feel at ease
I feel comforted and relaxed
For a moment of peace
A brief respite from the chaos
Until these thoughts are fading
As long as my mind becomes less preoccupied
Ain't got no way, complaining
I have nothing to complain about
Now I'll set my sail inside of me
I will take control of my own emotions
If only I fell these arms again and
If only I could experience this embrace one more time
Will I'll be missing it all
I'll regret everything
Darkness ain't here at all
There are no negative feelings present
I can't describe the fear inside
I can't express how afraid I am
Towards insanity you
You make me feel like I'm becoming unhinged
Are the one that I want
I desire you more than anyone else
These seamless words they are gone
I can't articulate my feelings as smoothly as I'd like
Contributed by London P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@lamontduplessis3552
Chris's voice is beyond compare!! Awesome album!!
@espiritNo1
I Like This TD album!
@kaposeva
Brilliant!!!!
@sandrafontes1571
I love the song!
@lamontduplessis3552
Please forgive me here, but I just could not make a comment. In All due respect to you, you are an incredibly beautiful woman!!