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.
The Blessed Damozel
Tangerine Dream Lyrics
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And turn away thy powerful eyes
Flatter my willing soul no more,
Love must not hope what Fate denies.
Take, take away thy smiles and kisses
Thy Love wounds deeper then Disdain,
For he that sees the Heaven he misses,
Sustains two Hels, of losse and pain.
I might return thy scorn to thee,
And learn Apostasie of her
Who taught me first Idolatry.
Or in thy unrelenting breast
Should I disdain or coynesse move,
He by thy hate might be realest,
Who now is prisoner to thy love.
Since then unkind Fate will divorce
Those whom Affection long united,
Be thou as cruel as this force,
And I in death shall be delighted.
Thus whilst so many suppliants woe
And beg they may thy pitty prove,
I onely for thy scorn do sue,
'charity here not to love.
Tis
clear that the lyrics of Tangerine Dream's song The Blessed Damozel are about unrequited love, and particularly the pain and suffering that comes with it. The singer of the song is pleading with their beloved to give them back their wounded heart and stop tempting them with false hope. They acknowledge that love must not hope for what fate denies, and that the wounds of love are deeper than disdain. The pain of seeing the heaven one misses can feel like two hells of loss and suffering.
The singer then goes on to contemplate the possibility of their beloved turning their affections towards someone else, and suggests that they could return their scorn if that were to happen. They even mention the idea of apostasy, or renunciation of their beloved in favor of another. However, if their beloved were to reject them altogether, they suggest that death would be a welcome release from the pain of unrequited love. The singer then concludes by saying that, despite the many supplicants begging for their beloved's pity and love, they only ask for charity, or mercy, in not being loved.
Overall, The Blessed Damozel is a melancholic and introspective song that expresses the anguish of unrequited love. It speaks to the universal human experience of longing and loss, and the pain that comes with unfulfilled desires.
Line by Line Meaning
DEAR, back my wounded heart restore,
My beloved, please heal my wounded heart and make me whole again.
And turn away thy powerful eyes
Please don't look at me so intensely, it's overwhelming.
Flatter my willing soul no more,
Don't fill me with false hope and flattery anymore, it's not fair.
Love must not hope what Fate denies.
Love cannot hope for things that destiny has not granted us.
Take, take away thy smiles and kisses
Take away your affection and your physical displays of love, as they hurt me more than your indifference.
Thy Love wounds deeper then Disdain,
Ironically, your love is hurting me more than someone who openly shows disdain towards me would.
For he that sees the Heaven he misses,
Those who have tasted happiness and then lost it are experiencing a double loss – both the pleasure itself and the absence of what once made them happy.
Sustains two Hels, of losse and pain.
This double loss results in twice the amount of agony and grief to endure, which is akin to experiencing the torments of two hells.
Shouldst thou some others suit prefer,
In the event that you prefer someone else over me,
I might return thy scorn to thee,
I may turn my back on you and resent you for the emotional pain you've caused me.
And learn Apostasie of her
I may even start disbelieving in love, just like the person who first introduced me to loving someone so passionately.
Who taught me first Idolatry.
This person is the one who taught me to idolize and magnify the one I love, putting them on a pedestal above all else.
Or in thy unrelenting breast
If you hold on to grudges and linger on the past,
Should I disdain or coynesse move,
If I show signs of disregard or reserve towards you,
He by thy hate might be realest,
Your animosity towards me may end up becoming more real than your romantic feelings towards me currently.
Who now is prisoner to thy love.
I am currently a prisoner to your love, but things may flip and it could be you who becomes a captive of your own animosity.
Since then unkind Fate will divorce
Given that harsh fate is going to separate us anyway,
Those whom Affection long united,
The fate that once brought us together with such affection,
Be thou as cruel as this force,
I ask that you match the cruelty of fate,
And I in death shall be delighted.
Such that I can finally find peace in death from the emotional pain and heartbreak.
Thus whilst so many suppliants woe
While there are many out there who are begging for mercy and compassion,
And beg they may thy pitty prove,
Hoping to receive a shred of compassion or kindness,
I onely for thy scorn do sue,
I am merely asking for your indifference and lack of care.
'charity here not to love.
I don't need your love or your pity, just the simple charitable act of being ignored.
Contributed by Zachary L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.