When Tangerine Dream's Phaedra outsold Tubular Bells

Sometime in 1974 or '75 I was watching 'The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau' on British TV. They were filming a cave dive. It was beautifully shot and was complemented by the mellotron and early synthesiser sounds of German electronic music pioneers Tangerine Dream. 

I recognised the music as a track from their album Phaedra. It was one of those perfect combinations of music and visuals. I wish I could see it again, but I'm not sure the tapes are still in existence.

Froese, Franke and Baumann - Tangerine Dream

The track was called 'Mysterious Semblance at The Strand of Nightmares' - a beguiling if rather unsettling title, entirely in keeping with the other-worldly atmospheres evoked by Tangerine Dream. 

The Phaedra album became massively popular in the UK in 1974 on the strength of late-night exposure on John Peel's Radio One Top Gear programme.

Peel was the only national radio DJ playing progressive music in the early 1970s, be it Pink Floyd, Soft Machine or so-called 'krautrock' bands like Can, Neu and Faust. 

An advert from the NME in 1974

This new psychedelic synthesiser music was a popular complement for those late night sessions. The advert that appears here, from the New Musical Express in 1974, shows what a phenomenon Tangerine Dream were at the time. 

The ad says, "No airplay, few reviews, yet Phaedra has already hit the top 30 only two weeks after release - faster even than Tubular Bells."

John Peel said, "I have been introducing Top Gear for 6 years and during that time we have had sessions from Cream, The Who and Hendrix. 

"We were the first to broadcast Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Family, the Fairports and King Crimson. 

"Yet we have had more mail about Tangerine Dream than any other group."

For their 1975 UK tour in support of the follow-up album, Rubycon, Tangerine Dream had the inspired idea of playing in some of the UK's most impressive ancient buildings.

The concert at Coventry Cathedral in October 1975

The first show, at the new Coventry Cathedral, built on the site of the bomb-damaged ancient cathedral -  was filmed. A short film made by Tony Palmer was shown on the BBC at the time. The original sound recording was dubbed using recordings from later in the tour, with overdubs added at The Manor, Virgin's Oxfordshire studio. Some of this appeared on the live album Ricochet. The film linked to above is the closest I can find to the original concert.

The musicians often worked spontaneously on stage, improvising around pre-agreed thematic changes. The technology has advanced massively since those early days of monophonic synthesisers and sequencers. But the music created by Tangerine Dream in the 1970s, along with the solo albums by Edgar Froese, Chris Franke and Peter Baumann, have stood the test of time. Tangerine Dream were the progenitors of the ambient and space musicians now featured on streaming services such as Hearts of Space. Highly recommended if you like to use music to be transported to another dimension.

See also on this blog:
Music While You Work From Home - A Guide

A visit to the Annual Nick Drake Gathering

What is Led Zeppelin's best acoustic song?

NickDrake - better programming might have helped