Tangerine Deam in the 1970s: Decades

Long, unfurling tracks; huge stacks of gear; music like that of no other group; trailblazing live gigs based on improvisation. This is the legacy of Tangerine Dream, the legendary German group piloted by Edgar Froese, whose impact on music, and electronic music in particular, has been profound. Formed in the Summer of Love, and at the beginning a group of rock musicians who liked to improvise, they went on to record and release a series of ground-breaking synthesiser albums with their native Ohr Records and with Richard Branson’s fledgling Virgin Records. With the support of underground DJ titan John Peel, their star ascended through the seventies. This book covers that glorious, extraordinary decade, focusing on the music but also telling the group’s tale. Albums recording by the band included the classic Phaedra, it’s hugely popular follow up Rubycon and they ended the decade with the powerful Force Majeure. The book includes new interviews with Steve Jolliffe and also with early member Steve Schroyder, who was there alongside Froese in those very early days.

Stephen Palmer is a genre fiction author of 25 years, whose reputation in the SF and Steampunk fields is well known. The author of numerous novels and short stories, he became a fan of Tangerine Dream at school, and was lucky enough to see the group live in London at the turn of the eighties. Having celebrated the 25th anniversary of his debut Memory Seed, he is currently working in the Steampunk field on a number of projects. He lives and works in Shropshire, UK.