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Alpha Centmtri,Zeit, F\ Our Conas Sola. But the music
became almost claustrophobic with its dark, introsp€ctive
-bounding
textures and tape echo
off the gTooves,
magnifying those eerie, exotiq $ounds. The two-record Zeit
combined synthecieers with a string quartel in a hauntingly
desolate, yet ef{ecttve landspape. They spoke of space, but
tley were still living in {eqt Berlin. -
They don't have the brave new world disco-chic of fellow
countrymen Kratiwerk, nor do their,irave the new music
credentials of Philip Glass or Steve Reich. Yet over thi
course of 20 LPs in the last 16 years, and dozens of
.
srru nd t rac
k recordi
n
gs*includin
g R ts hy B u.siness, Thiaf , afrd
Leg,erd*Tangerine Dreiam evolved a.style that's eq*ally
unique, and equallv rooted in the philosophies and
rcchnology of the late 20th century.
Their detrhctors regard them as techr-ro knob-turners and
cornputer dtones,. wired into machines creating mtrsic that's
all mood and rro substance. 'fo put it another way, the
-swirling layers-and geometric rhythms of Thngerine Dream
are anathema to those who revel in the populism of Bruce
Springsteen or the techno-funk of Herbie H'ancock.
With their hi-tech computers and aloof stage demeanor,
it's sometimes difficult to believe that Tangerine Dream was
created during the same period of youth countercullure that
spawned the Grareful Dead, Pink Floyd, and Jimi Hendrix,
although the name shoald be a dead giveaway, "My parents
Iilled the house with all that classical stuff," recalls Christoph
Sranke, "but in my room I turned on the more progressiv-e
musir:. The realiy hot stuff came when Hendrix and Cream
and all this so-called underground,.grusic was really
established, 'l'he Doorsand all those other things were wild,
it. rvas free, it was infirrenced by qlher cultures. AIso, it was
'not just wallpaper music for entertainment, but fbrced people to think."
E<Igar Froese was initially a guitarist, playing acid rocl
with groups like'fhe Ones in 1966 and performing at
exhibitions by the surrealist artist Salvador Dali, "l don't
want to overstale that," says Froese. "We met a couple of
timcs and spent some weeks during the summers of 1965,
'66, ancl 'ti? in the north of Spain, We did produce about 60
minutes of music for his cxhibirions, and we talked with
each other."
F'roese dowrplays the influence, but it was part of the
psychedelic nratrix of the late 1960s. Berlin itself was a
hotbecl of creativity, with countles$ groups emerging with
names like Ash Ra Tempel, Agitarion Free, Psi Free, and
Kluster, and'psychedelic.iam sessions like The Cosmic Jokers
and Galactic Supermarket, itetns that Froese now regards
disparagingly. "It was less than a gimmick," he sighs.
But casting back to those days at the mid-point of his 42
years, Froese remembers what a tumultuous time it was.
i'()n the one hand, there was a high potitical consciousness,"
Froqse recalls. "On the other hand, we wer€ quite heavfly
influenced by the West Coast rock & roll feeling,
"The other thing is, that over in Germany,,we have no
roots in rock & roll. Herc [in the U.S.] pu have pure rock &
roll and bands that know how to play rock & roll music. As a
rrlck band, we could not compare our taleni with American
musicians, So what we had to do was step a\4'ay from that
and move through the back door into different ways of
expressing ourselves through musicl'
w
ffi
,, "itt hot a jail situ"ationlbit
it's something close to ir,"
rfflects Froese somberly. "You h_ave tb drive l6Qt miles just ro
refch the other part of West Geimany, throdgh the
Autobahn corridor, ThC'city of Berlin, ),r:u can,rgo ffom one
end to the:otlier'in 45*minutes, and that's it. That's why the
whol: situariott. g.* .fJittl.. craiy somi:rime s. I t's sometfi in gc.
,
that lies as a subconscious influence." ..
And Thngerine Dream was doing nothing, if not
exploring the rsalms of the subconscious. The personnel
stabilized aruund Froese, Franke, and Peter Baumann,.iust
in time for a record contrdct with the British label Virgin
Recordr. With a new l6-rack studio and Moog synthesizers
as part of their.*dvance, they created Phaedra in 1973. Its
ethereal, Iiquid textures wefe rooted to the relentlessly
thudding seguencer rhythrtrs that would be a Dream
trademark.
Plwedra actually entered the British Top 10, making
Thngerine Dream the pre-eminent synthesizer ensemble
almost by def,auh. They played in planetariums and
darkened cathedrals all over Europe, mesmerizing SRO
audiences with exotic sound colors, fluid yet precise
sequencer rhythms, and long, floating arrangements. lt was
music devoid of conventional signposts like rnelody, solos, or
drums. Over the course of dozens of albums, Tangerine
Dream evolved to includi the memorable melodies of
Snansfear and the propulsive rhythmic drive of lorce
Maieure.
They found a limited success outside of their cult
following with soundtracks for Hollywood films beginning
with \&'illiam Friedkin's Tlw Su'cerer Their film credits now
#
hey didn't slip through the back door. They destroyed
it. The first Dream album, Electru.ic Meditation in 1970,
was a dissonant pillaging of the conventions of rock &
roll. 'I-his
.-his was music, as Stockhausen would say, for the
"post-apocalypsel' Froese's guitar was a menacing cyclone of
distortion. Drummer Klaus Schulze was venting his last bit
of percussive angrt before switching to synthesizers. Conrad
Schnitzlerls chain-saw cello and violin added just the right
hint of Oologne-school modern classicism.
Over the course ol'the next three albums, the Dream
personnel shi{ie<l around Froese. The music was
aggressively experimerrtal, sharing more with Ligeti,
Stockhausen, antl o*rer European composers than any rock
mrrsic. 'I'he ritles evoked science fiction and space themes:
OCTOBEB
1388 DOWN BEAT 17
:
-*:
.t
include Firesta,rl*, Risfu Swinesg Tht Keep, Vision {lwst, the
Streethazuk tv series, and Wauelmgth, which surprisinglv, is still
their only science fiction credit co date, (The iword-lndsorcery of Legend doesn't count.)
Following the departure of Baumann sh<lrtly after their
first American tour (he now runs the Privare Music label in
New York), Franke and Froese became the nucle us of
Thngerine Dteam. After a brief fling with a rock rhythnr
se ction and vocalist an Cgilone, rhey fi.lled Baumann s void
wit! Johannes Schmoeiling in 19S0. He was recenrly
replaced by Paul Haslinger on their latest tour and album,
Undmmter Sunlight.
At 24, Hasiinger was only eight years old when the first
Dream album was released. I atked him if he was a fan of
Tangerine Dream befbre he joined and he responded, "No,
not rcally. I became a fan two months ago when they hired
nre ." Besides a degree of keyboard proficiency, Haslinger
gives the Dream youthful good looks, especially nexr to the
budy froese and Franke.
s
ffi
#
III
I .[T f
I n ItFF
hile Taneerine Dream's current music is almost
completelv computer controlled, irnpr<ivisatiorr
has been a key to their sound. Theii eariy
{oilc€rts were entirely improvisecl. As late as 1977, w[ren
they first came to America, Froeee claimed that there was
only about eight minutes of composed music in their set.
I
different now," he admits. "Itt more like 40
percent improvised. And the improvised palt$ are in a fixed
'rime-slot since all t}te drums and bass patterns are
preprogrammed into drum computers-and this is realiy a
'1lt's very
limitl'
-lechnology
has made thingr a lot easier since 1977, when
their equipment sprawled acro$$ the stage. With digital
technology and MIDI controllers, their set-up has becn
reduced to three large ca;es, filled with modules, and rwo or
three keyboards apiece.
"Actually, the instruments look smaller, but there's much
more in tlrere,'i says Franke. "A synthesizer doesn't
necesrarily have to have a keyboard anymore. You.just have
a universal computer buss and pru couple all the
synthesizets lo a master keyboard. There are programmers,
and by a touch of a button you can get all the programs and
sounds track that you've created. Thir makes pieces much
more colorFul,"
If Tangerine Dream records provitle a surreal listening
experience, their concerts break all the conventions of any
music packaged as rock, not to mention -jazz and classical.
Except for the odd piano interlude or Froese guitar solo, irs
inrpossible to tell who is playing what, especially since what's
playing is often a digital sequencer or compurer. The sounds
s€em to fmerge from the speakers wirh their own'internai
guidance. The three immobile figures on stage are like
electronic priesrs, administering their alrar of equipnlenr as
if tuning in a mystical transmi$ion from beyrnd. [t does not
appear as a frenzy ofspontaneity.
, Despite their computer.tecbnology and synthesizers,
inrprovisation remains a significant factor in their
conrposidonal pnrcess. "It's such a direct way of producing
and composing music," explains Franke. "Somehow it',q
more honest."
Freed of sequencers thar lock one into infinite repet^itions
of the same phrase, computers have helped the Dream
reveal a talent for composing tight, concise nuggets of
sound, like those on the 1985 recordin g Le Parc. "This is also
the result of the ease r>f using comput€rs," says Franke. "We
can irnprovise into our computers, then piay them back and
add things in. You can even see the notation on (he screen,
take the b€$t pafi. and develop it from there. If irl already
on tape, it'r nruch harder to develop. Now we can risk more,
to compose frorn improvisations, ana in tire end ir is a
t8 tr0wN aEAT
composition."
Although they've never fallen to classical rock cliches or
Rachmaninoff antl Sach licks, Thngerine Dream has always
striven for the rich timbres of an oichestra. The rnellotron
and string sounds that marked their Phaedra and Rubycon
period have been replaced by digital samplers like the
Enrrrlator II, the Synclavier, the Akai $900, and a new
synthesizer prcltotipe called Wave- Frame. "'Ihe instruments
are so developed that a synthesizer doesn't necessarily have
to sound cold, artificial, and unpleasant,n'exudes Franke.
"We mix sampled sc;unds-that meffrl$ acogstic souncls*
and we mix them wirh digital sounds, And people cannot
really tell, you know, if it is electronic or acoustic.
"Like on our latest studio record, Undnwater Sunlight," he
continues, "people from the record company said, 'I like rhe
acouslic guitar. It sounds great. What did you do to it?' lt
wasn't an acoustic guitar. lt was just digital wave {'orms,
$yntheliiz€rs. lt sounds lile a guitar, but sonrehow new and
differenc. We don't want to imitate acoustic instruments, we
want to invcnt new ones."
Sampling is more than a Memorex guessing game ftrr
'fangerine Dream. "You can interface the acoustic side and
the digital side of sounds," says Froese. "lf pu put a
difi'erent envelope curve on an acoustic sound than on a
digital sound, the interface between both curves and
frequencies gives you a lot o{'interesting patterns."
"There are people like Brian Eno," says Franke
indignantly, "who say samples are boring, for idiots, because
UED oN
mae 59
OCTOBER 1S86
:'-.
INTRODUCES
THE NEW "BOLY'
TANGENWE I'REAM
HIGH BAFFTE
continued trom page 18
itl just like
a tape recorder. [From sampling] you can get
some very interesling recordings. There is a koto group
i:i:,;;,
{:i::'
t,:::;:
L{::.:
lta.:,li.l
lililr.'
l::.,
r :.i,.
lil
E
Fiil'j
from Japan with amazing Srercussion instruments. I
recorded them and can play them on $tage. But sampling is
just an interlude to a new technique called re-synthesis."
With re-synthesis, the recording of an acoustic sound is
convened into wave forms in the computer, which can then
be manipulated through computer control. This gives rhe
performer the richness and complexity of acoustic timbres
as the fabric to create completely new sounds. "You again
become a synthesist," agrees Franke, "but pu have a model
of an acoustic sound."
After 15 years of recording, pu'd think that technophobia
would no longer be an issue, but controversy reared
its head again this year, when Thngerine Dream did the
soundtrack for Legend, The problem was that the film had
been released in Europe with an orchestral score byJerry
Goldsmith, but when it came time to release it in the U.S.,
Universal Studios commissioned a new, synthesized score
from the Dream.
Froese tried to put a diplomatic face on it. "It's the worst
thing that can happen to a compos€r, what happened to
Jerry Cloldsmith," he comnriserated. "The reason why he
was replaced has nothing to do with the music, but just the
opinion the srudio came up with. The Feason why they
chose us in the end is they were looking for something more
contemporary more new in sound. T'hat's what they said t<>
.
SARI "BOLD"
PrOvt/ER
Listpricefl|0oo
Avoiloblc in the lollorirg oponingr.
85 lm ]05 r r0 l'15 l2q
ssssss
Bari Accocidcr, Inc.
788 N.E. 4oth Court, Ft. loudcrdqle, FL 33334
Tcl. 3{15-561-2733
Scnd for Frte Brcchure
lVhen pressed, Franke admitted that there was more oi a
contrc,versy than that. "Many people said that all these
young guys fooling around with synthesizers should be
thrown out of Hoilywood. This was very natural because
some people say orchestral scoring is an art, then there are
people who press a button on a computer and this is not an.
This doesn't penain ouly to film music, but for serious and
electronic pop music in the whole world." It should be noted
that Goldsmith has himself composed many electronic film
scores, including Runtnta,y, and uses synthesizers cn most of
his r:rchestral work.
Edgar Frocse can still be found slinging an electric guitar,
played with overdriven fuzz-tone and sustain, rhough he
rejects guitar synthesizers out of hand. "A guitar is a very
sfecial ihing to me. It would be like changing my wife into a
robot. Sti-ll, Dreanr connossieurs may be shocked to hear
Froese cite Eddie Van Halen as his current favorite. "I don't
know if I should say this," laughs Froese. "People might
think 'My God, he's into that blocdy trash,' but I like his
guitar playing. I think he's the best guitar player. Not
because he's very fast, but because he's the only guitar player,
in my opinion, who knows how to transform the dynamics
of classical music into guitar playing,"
Despite Froese's nostalgia for the guitaa it's the excitement
of living in the electro-computer age that gives Tangerine
Dream much of their allure. Unlike Laurie Anderson, who
uses technology as a vehicle for her love/hate relationship
wirh the modern world, Thngerine Dream uses technology
to allow the band's feelings and expressions to stand
ransparently on their own, uncolored by how much the
musicians $weat, how histrionic they can get on a $olo, or
how clever they make their imagery. "That means your brain
is fiee of associations with other music sryles or visualizing
musicians playing," says Franke. "They shouldn't even know
db
if yru blow an instrument, hit it, or pluck a keyi'
OCTOBEB
1986 DDWN BEAT E9