Phaedra

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Mon Apr 26 2021

5

Phaedra is one of the most important, artistic, and exciting works in the history of electronic music, a brilliant and compelling summation of Tangerine Dream's early avant-space direction balanced with the synthesizer/sequencer technology just beginning to gain a foothold in nonacademic circles. The result is best heard on the 15-minute title track, unparalleled before or since for its depth of sound and vision. Given focus by the arpeggiated trance that drifts in and out of the mix, the track progresses through several passages including a few surprisingly melodic keyboard lines and an assortment of eerie Moog and Mellotron effects, gaseous explosions, and windy sirens. Despite the impending chaos, the track sounds more like a carefully composed classical work than an unrestrained piece of noise. While the title track takes the cake, there are three other excellent tracks on Phaedra. "Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares" is a solo Edgar Froese song that uses some surprisingly emotive and affecting synthesizer washes, and "Movements of a Visionary" is a more experimental piece, using treated voices and whispers to drive its hypnotic arpeggios. Perhaps even more powerful as a musical landmark now than when it was first recorded, Phaedra has proven the test of time.

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Thu Sep 10 2020

2

beep boop music

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Wed Jan 27 2021

5

Very ethereal, not what I was expecting, made the last hour of work enjoyable. And it just went into another full Tangerine Dream Album without me noticing.

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Fri Oct 22 2021

5

When the first track started, I was reading some of the background information on Wikipedia. I saw the reviews and thought, no way. As a classical music lover, this both is and isn't my type of music. However, by the second track, I was hooked. And man, that second track was ethereal and gorgeous and captivating. I would not only work to this, but literally just sit in silence to this. Pleasantly surprised.

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Sun Feb 28 2021

3

Makes me want to do yoga to it or get stoned and watch a lava lamp for hours

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Fri Dec 24 2021

3

Can't dance to this, can you? Disturbing soundscape that pressages a fair amount of dark ambient. I bet this was cool back in the 1970s with a good set of headphones and a certain degree of, ah, refreshment

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Wed Nov 03 2021

5

I'm pretty amazed that this was produced only six weeks after getting a new modular Moog setup. I'd still be trying to get a fucking sine tone out, let alone have mastered the sequencer. Classic precursor to Berlin School electronica, capturing an incredible sense of cloudy space. (With phasing!)

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Wed Dec 29 2021

5

5.0 - Incredible. I feel like I'm strapped to a gurney, being transported to the mental ward of a massive spaceship.

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Fri Nov 19 2021

2

Spotify only had side two, and after listening - that was enough. Ok spacerock mood music. Good for a hospice or similar spot. ⭐️⭐️

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Fri Nov 19 2021

2

I feel anxious listening to this

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Fri Jan 21 2022

1

Hot garbaggio

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Sun Apr 25 2021

5

Probably my favorite Tangerine Dream album. The introduction of the sequencers gives their sound more rhythm to sink your teeth into while still retaining a good amount of ambient atmosphere throughout. Absolutely love headphone rides like this in the dark. Blows my mind that this was top 20 in UK and top 200 in US at the time. Would love to jam in this more abstract way. Shifting in and out of movements. You can see why their sound lent itself to soundtrack work, very cinematic.

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Fri Jan 29 2021

5

that was fantastic - and well ahead of its time. dreamy and ethereal - i loved it

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Thu Mar 24 2022

5

The first time a space rock felt more space than rock, and I loved it.

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Sun Jun 04 2023

5

Young adults in Germany during the late 1960’s and early 70’s were in an incredibly tough spot: They were either born in the shadow of atrocity or at the end of its reign. Their country was split in two and many of the people in positions of power - parents, teachers, judges, etc - had either been silently complicit or willing participants in the horrors wrought by Nazism only two decades earlier. They were looking to escape their past, to create a new identity for themselves, for their country; an identity that didn’t borrow from the new world super powers, something unique to who they were as Germans in a post-World War II world. An identity that would say to the world, “we are not who our parents were.” Something that was new, something radical. When the place you were born is responsible for one of the most despicable acts in human history and the entire world knows it, where do you go to escape? Space. At least, that’s where the Germans went. Kosmische music (“cosmic music”) was the ultimate artistic expression of that desire for a new cultural identity. Using electronic instruments (sometimes in combination with traditional rock instrumentation, sometimes not), bands like Tangerine Dream, Can, Cluster, NEU!, Faust, Kraftwerk and others created a sound like nothing else in the world at the time: It was experimental and uncompromising, pushing the boundaries of what music was and could be. They experimented with noise, repetition, unconventional and extreme sounds to create an otherworldly ambience. It’s safe to say that they probably didn’t know how much they would change the world. They were only looking to forge a new identity for themselves, but they ended up providing a blueprint for the future of music. Phaedra, like many of the Kosmische records of the era, can be measured by the sheer amount of influence it had on the music that would follow it, which continues to this day, but that is not the whole story. This is music that, 50 years on, does not sound dated. In fact, it still sounds ahead of its time somehow, like it’s being beamed to us from the future. The German experimental music scene of the 1970’s is one worth delving into, not only because of its profound influence on modern music, but also as study of artistic expression: It’s not outside the realm of possibility that we will find ourselves in a similar situation to the German youth of the sixties and seventies one day. …and maybe that is why this music sounds as though it comes from a not-too-distant future. (Postscript: There is an excellent BBC documentary, “Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany”, that covers the German experimental music scene in great detail, which ended up being a source of inspiration while writing this review, along with my long time love of German experimental rock. You can find ”Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany” on YouTube.)

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Thu Jul 22 2021

3

Not sure I understand why this is THE Tangerine Dream album. I can't find anything resembling melody, I prefer Cyclone and Stratosphere 2.5 🌟

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Wed Dec 08 2021

1

apologies but this just stressed me outtttt

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Sun Jun 20 2021

5

I really like this music. I‘d love listening to it while on a trip 😉.

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Sun Aug 22 2021

5

Cosmic Rock. Pretty trippy electronic music. I could listen to this on repeat forever.

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Sun Feb 27 2022

5

Still a fantastic album, I do not care too much about the albums before Phaedra (probably a mistake) but everything they made between 74-83 is great (just like the Edgar Froese solo albums from that period). Needs to be played loud and on a good hi-fi system.

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Mon May 09 2022

5

This. All day.

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Wed May 25 2022

5

Truly marvellous groundbreaking electronic music

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Thu Jul 14 2022

5

Proto electronica! Whew the men in the comments on YouTube def paint a picture of the impact of this album. 4.5 stars for innovation/creativity/protean influence, rounding up because it’s not 60-70s rock!!

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Thu Oct 13 2022

5

Hypnotisant au possible, j’adore et je vais m’enfiler leur discographie.

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Fri Dec 30 2022

5

This is pretty wonderful. I searched for a copy on vinyl when I got this, but couldn't find one. The hunt will continue.

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Mon Jan 02 2023

5

Layers and layers of mesmerizing sounds from legendary pioneers. Very much of its time, when everything about electronic music still needed to be discovered. And yet also nothing like what came after in that overall genre or umbrella style. Plus, one can still potentially trip or chill out to this today, just as hippies did in 1974. Tangerine Dream's early output is a little like good wine. It ages well. In a way, the retro-sci-fi mood *Phaedra* can trigger in you is even more impactful today, because it is now infused with the sort of "future nostalgia" very rare acts have been able to reach since (I'm talking about Boards Of Canada here, *not* about Dua Lipa, obviously 😉). The two other gems Tangerine Dream released after this one (*Rubycon* and *Stratosfear*) were admittedly lmore melodic and less "abstract", comparatively speaking. But none had *Phaedra*'s sheer conceptual power and unique atmosphere. Hence its direct inclusion in my own list. Number of albums left to review: 689 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 152 (including this one) Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 71 Albums from the list I will certainly *not* include in mine (many others are more important): 87

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Thu Feb 02 2023

5

meh

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Mon Apr 24 2023

5

The link in Apple Music took me to Phaedra Revisited which was re-recorded by Tangerine Dream in 2005. Be sure to seek out the original 1974 release - it's much better!

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Sat May 06 2023

5

When I first started listening to this album, I didn’t notice that it came out in 1974. I was blown away when I saw that this album wasn’t from the 90s and later. My god is this album ahead of its time. The sequencer driven spacey progressive ambient music has been incredibly influential. Elements of this music can be heard in just about every genre now, from rock to hip hop. The music is just so expansive, yet it is all encompassing and fills the space well.

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Wed May 31 2023

5

One of my favorite albums to chill to.

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Thu Jun 22 2023

5

This is a proper bit of me me this

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Thu Jul 06 2023

5

Although there are other TD albums I prefer to this one, Phaedra is still awesome. I’ll happily have this on in the background while at work or chilling at home.

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Wed Jul 19 2023

5

Soooooo fuckin good, good to study or vibe to

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Fri Jul 21 2023

5

Perfect soundscape album. It took me ages to discover it but when I did was the perfect time. It is really hard to describe the effect this album had on me. After it was suggest led by a friend, I found myself playing it on repeat, lost in a world of sound. Best of all it shut out all the noise from the world and I was able to win back some focus I had lost.

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Thu Aug 03 2023

5

It suprises me how many people dislike this or find it boring. Horses for courses I guess. I like this genre and find it very relaxing and meditative but then I'm not a young gad fly flitting about on shiny new things.

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Fri Sep 08 2023

5

On Phaedra Tangerine Dream call on all the wonders of the cosmos and the myths of old to create a truly breathtaking piece of electronic music history.

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Wed Jul 07 2021

4

This is like the perfect intersecting point of music for people who love the golden age of science fiction, and fucking stoners. Either way, you put this on your headphones and before you know it you'll be in another dimension, haha. Honestly, fuckin cool album. I like a bit of modern synthwave etc and you can see the start of that here I guess. It's not the sort of thing I could listen to day in day out, or even for more than an hour in one go really, but thankfully it only goes for 38min anyway. Or more to the point, it's not something I'd actively listen to - but I'd be more than happy for it to play in the background while I was working, gaming, etc. 4/5.

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Wed Sep 30 2020

4

Not typically my type of music (70s German electronic!) but found myself more interested than I thought I'd be. Synthesisers at that time de-tuned themselves quickly as you played, and so they wrote this into the first song (Phaedra). The second was completed by the frontman (Edgar Froese) on his own one night with his wife recording and no other members. FFs: Soundtrack to Bandersnatch (Black Mirror); Froese and Bowie lived together for a spell and influenced each other.

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Thu Jan 21 2021

4

VERY cool soundscapes, great for working. Will check this band out more. Only got the last 2 (out of 4) tracks on Spotify, but I was impressed.

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Wed Feb 10 2021

4

Pretty cool early electronic music. Very ambient.

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Sun Apr 25 2021

4

Quintessential kosmiche of Krautrock. Had heard this album before but it's been a few years. From the original 4 track version there is not a single dud, haven't listened to the deluxe yet. Remix sounds very modern, but I'd be curious of how the original sounds. Still a touchpoint for anyone doing soundscapes/ambient/space music.

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Thu Jan 21 2021

4

Musik som får en att vilja vandra ändlöst i en skog, sikta mot stjärnorna men inte riktigt universum. Mycket bra ambient från Tyskland!

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Thu Jan 28 2021

4

I like ambient music also how was this made in the 70s

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Thu Mar 04 2021

4

Música electrónica ambiental. Por lo visto alguna canción sale en Stranger Things.

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Fri Jul 16 2021

4

Was much more interesting than I had expected. Must have sounded completely different from everything else in 1974.

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Sun Feb 28 2021

4

Cool discovery. I knew the name but not much else. Pioneering like Kraftwerk. Same year as Autobahn. Mad lineup, more like a movement than a band. Music featured on Grand Theft Auto and Stranger Things. I actually really liked the music too. 8.5/10

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Sun Feb 28 2021

4

Enjoyed this, who vibe i didn't know existed, got some Vangelis vibes from it too! Dunno if a total 4 as it did get a touch fatiguing towards the end..

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Mon Apr 12 2021

4

I only know Tangerine Dream from their film scores, which rule. This album was really good.

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Thu Mar 25 2021

4

really cool, atmospheric experience. a solid 4/5

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Sun Jul 25 2021

4

I was surprised to read that this is the only Tangerine Dream album on this list because I think their later work is better, eg Stratosfear, Cyclone and Force Majeure but I guess it’s because this album was highly influential and important in the annals of Krautrock and electronic music with the early use of sequencers. Also it’s interesting that along with Mike Oldfield, TD was one of the first bands that Richard Branson signed to his fledgling Virgin Records label.

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Wed Jul 28 2021

4

Crazy to know it’s from 1973. Pretty enjoyable ambient-type sounds from very early in its origins.

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Sun Aug 29 2021

4

One of Tangerine Dream's most popular, and by extension most influential, albums. In this kosmische masterpiece, we explore the innovative use of synthesizers and sequencers that would be further developed in krautrock to follow, later picked up by New Wave and soon the many electronic genres of the 80s and 90s. It is atmospheric giving the audience a feeling of wide open ambience and space that few others have been able to achieve. There is room to breathe in this album, a huge contrast to most other albums at the time which typically feel rushed from track to track. You have a track that takes up an entire side, but also a track that only lasts 2.5 minutes, and the others somewhere in between. These tracks take however much time they want, and due to how seamless they lie to each other, one is able to appreciate both the individual tracks alone and also the coherency of the album as a whole.

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Thu Sep 16 2021

4

Begendim, ozellikle 2 numara baya guzel

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Sun Nov 07 2021

4

I think I prefer their film work, this left me a liiiittle cold but it’s still competent. More of a 3.5

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Fri Nov 12 2021

4

Great early electronic album with spaced out vibes to it. At times relaxing, and at others mildly creepy. Favorites: Phaedra, Movements Of A Visionary

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Fri Nov 19 2021

4

Pretty good ambient electronic music. Very specific situations where I would enjoy this, but its perfect in those specific instances. Feels like a 3 musically, but I'll give a 4 for usefulness in focus-up music.

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Fri Nov 26 2021

4

stunning album

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Thu Dec 02 2021

4

The band's name was familiar to me already but for the life of me, I can't remember why. Maybe a friend liked them, not sure. Anyway, I don't recall having heard their music or even knowing what kind of music they make, so this is all very new to me. And I'm really glad I am now introduced to this band. Fascinating stuff, especially when I consider when they recorded this album. What sounds to our ears in the 2020s like music anyone with a MIDI instrument and a DAW could make in a matter of minutes, they produced with early 70s tech. This is, to state the obvious, no small feat. I will definitely listen to more of their work and read up on how they did it. So cool!

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Wed Dec 08 2021

4

Feels like the grandfather to house music. Great to have on in the background; not sure that I would ever be like, "time to sit down and do nothing so that I can focus entirely on Tangerine Dream"

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Fri Jan 07 2022

4

Wow another gem

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Mon Jan 17 2022

4

This is a striking album of gorgeously composed songs. The arrangements move from sparse to lush, peaceful to spacey, with sometimes eerie and menacing sounds, drawn together with some expert sequencing. Whatever you're doing, stop and just listen to this one without interruption. Fave Song: Phaedra

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Fri Jan 28 2022

4

Hell yeah. This is exactly the kind of oddball stuff I like to find through a list like this. Never heard of this band, apparently they've been making music since the dawn of time and still are. The album is fantastic. Ambient, cinematic electronic music, as if from a lost Dune or Blade Runner movie. Love the four-track structure too, with some tracks coming in over 10-20 minutes. Give me less uninteresting copy-paste rock projects and more like this. This captivated me. Favorite tracks: Phaedra, Mysterious Semblance, Movements of a Visionary. Album art: Nothing too special, but it's a cool and mysterious shot to look at. 4.5/5

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Fri Feb 04 2022

4

I'm trying to re-imagine a sci-fi / aquatic setting wherein the queen has a thing for her stepson, and when he rejects her, she tells the king his son tried to rape her. The king believes his wife and banishes his son, who soon gets trampled by (sea)horses and dies. If you're sober, you need to bring something of your own to this album to give it claws. Just lie back on the sofa and close your eyes. Listen in complete silence, and it'll be like an underwater journey with lights flashing in the deep.

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Sun Feb 06 2022

4

Really enjoyed this. Sublime, dreamy and trippy electronica that sometimes made me feel I was watching some sort of sci fi film. Must try more of their music

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Thu Feb 10 2022

4

Blissed out and atmospheric genius. T.D. is really something special, it almost reminds of side B of Bowie's "Low" in its impeccable synth compositions.

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Fri Feb 11 2022

4

Can you really expect a PNE supporter to like Blackpool? I was surprised how enjoyable this was. That sequencer sound is very good to listen to.

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Thu Feb 24 2022

4

Great focus music

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Sun Feb 27 2022

4

Fascinating album, especially when reading how this early electronic music was put together. There are several great passages, but at times I missed a bit of tension and structure. Maybe I need to listen to it more often, but Jarre's Oxygene, which came out only a few years later, was much more compelling/memorable.

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Mon Mar 21 2022

4

Very solid space ambient album. Really like it.

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Thu Mar 24 2022

4

It’s nice, to be a little star-drop floating along the cosmic currents.

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Fri Apr 08 2022

4

What you would think sounds like an Enya-esque inspired album, then realize this album came out in 1974! For the technology limitations compared between then and now, this album can easily be released today, and while not my normal choice for mood music, I'm interested. 3.5/5.

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Fri Apr 08 2022

4

Rating: 7/10

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Thu Apr 21 2022

4

Really liked this album. A blend of ethereal sounds, electronic tunes, and noise.

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Fri Apr 22 2022

4

Bank robbing music

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Wed Apr 27 2022

4

Listened Before? N HEY! I know these guys! They did the soundtrack for Legend back in the 80s. This is good stuff, especially as far as electronic music goes. I loved it. Added to Library? N Songs added to Playlist: Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares

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Fri Apr 29 2022

4

Todella kosminen tunnelma. Tekis mieli mennä nurtsille makaa tuijottaa taivaan syvyyksiin tätä kuunnellessa, niissä oloissa varmaan 5/5. Nyt oon valitettavasti toimistossa ja arvostan täältä. 4/5

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Fri Apr 29 2022

4

Täähän on ihan naurettavan kovaa ambienttia. Tai siis sikäli kun nyt ambient voi olla ”kovaa”! Nautin. Tosi hyvää ja unista. En osaa nimetä mitä kaipaisin lisää, mutten silti anna täysiä pongoja. 4/5

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Fri May 06 2022

4

these were some lovely soundscapes

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Mon May 09 2022

4

Whoa. This was a fun trip. Need to be in the right mood for sure, though. Great background music but I don't think it's very much of an "active" listen.

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Fri Jun 03 2022

4

very ethereal, hints of what would become trance and DnB throughtout

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Thu Jun 16 2022

4

I first listened to this on a plane, thinking it to be perfect ambiance for a long flight but the amount of noise planes make really dampened the experience. It's way better to listen to this at night in silence, hearing the whooshes and nutty arpeggios. It's a really relaxing listen, though I like their more melodic material. This is going in my sleep playlist.

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Fri Jul 15 2022

4

Hladan album, iako ga ima pola na spotifaju, pola se ipak može nać i na youtube-u, zapravo cijeli album. Ovaj album ću si baš pustit u zimu, vjerujem da će pasat puno više nego sad usred ljeta, heh. - Moguće, prva stvar je bolesna. Općenito album zvuči alienski, outer space glazba, hladnog ambijenta i to mi se sviđa. Berlinska škola. >3

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Fri Jul 15 2022

4

Jako fora. Dijelovi me podsjećaju na sigur ros. Pogotovo prva pjesma

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Thu Jul 28 2022

4

Good

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Mon Aug 08 2022

4

Умиротворяющая музыка. Именно то, чего сейчас так не хватает.

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Fri Aug 12 2022

4

Great with headphones - the soundscape is almost 3D. I wasn't expecting to like it but was pleasantly surprised.

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Mon Aug 15 2022

4

par contre tu me mets deux trois blip bloup à l’heure de la sieste cest tout bon

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Mon Aug 15 2022

4

Pretty cool

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Thu Aug 25 2022

4

I don't really have an objective way to judge these kinds of albums. They all sound the same to me, but somehow I like certain ones better than others. I liked this one but couldn't possibly say why.

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Sun Aug 28 2022

4

Yep! Time to find out finally what these were all about. So it's not Krautrock. I like half of the first track, very atmospheric. 2nd track could be the soundtrack to Dune. Ok, all of that was so wonderfully chilled, I loved it. Was starting to feel pretty aggravated before I listened and now I feel much better.

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Fri Sep 09 2022

4

This is the first album I needed to listen to elsewhere which is a shame because this is exactly the kind of record I'd like to be able to fit into a streaming rotation while working. Blissed-out space-pulses. Definitely a mood though.

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Thu Nov 03 2022

4

Crazy to know it’s from 1973. Pretty enjoyable ambient-type sounds from very early in its origins. (prior listen)

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Sun Nov 20 2022

4

Interesting 4

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Wed Nov 30 2022

4

vay ahead of it's time

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Thu Dec 22 2022

4

Sweet

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Mon Jan 02 2023

4

I enjoyed it. This was the precursor to all electronica music and it's interesting to hear.

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Sun Jan 08 2023

4

Classic of the ambient genre

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Wed Feb 15 2023

4

Loved

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Thu Feb 16 2023

4

If TRON was a 37-minute movie, this album would be a perfect soundtrack and I can even see similarities between this and Daft Punk's score for the sequel. It sounds so futuristic, ethereal, and timeless all at the same time. It's not quite as powerful as Oxygene but it's definitely what I wished I got out of Kraftwerk's music. The first two tracks were the strongest.

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Fri Feb 24 2023

4

Really cool sounding. It's interesting to hear the pioneers of ambient & electronic music. Definitely want to check out more of their stuff.

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