Phaedra

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.

beep boop music

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

Hot garbaggio

I feel anxious listening to this

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

apologies but this just stressed me outtttt

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.)

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

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.

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.

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

My life became a loading screen that was stuck for around 40 minutes.

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!)

It's hard to have much to say about some of this early electronic work, but I certainly enjoy it. Tangerine Dream shares some similarities with Kraftwerk in terms of their use of synthesizers and sequencers, but this feels much more spacey and ambient than anything from Kraftwerk. It's progressive, but there's always something interesting happening. There's a lot of music that came after this album that was clearly influenced by it 4/5

A truly beautiful piece of work. I can't believe this is from 1974. The title track is the real obvious highlight here, but the 3 tracks after it all hold their own, if not as grand as "Phaedra". Love the interesting sounds and textures of this album

Not particularly surprised by the low score on this one. Many people would just call this avant-garde noise and move on. Maybe not entirely incorrect, I guess... But as someone who adores electronic music and is trying to get into ambient music, this is a beautiful album. I love how the soundscapes morph and transform through the pieces, I love how the synthesizers paint an environment that is simultaneously futuristic and natural. I don't care that the title track is 18 minutes long, it changes form so much through the course of the song, and I think it could probably be likened to a classical piece in some respects, with how it has quiet parts that crescendo and fade away. The remaining three songs are each shorter than the title track, the longest being nearly ten minutes and the shortest not much longer than two minutes. They are all just as sweeping, ambient and interesting as the title track, but I must say that I particularly loved Movements Of A Visionary for its arpegiated synth working with other synths and organs to paint one of the colder, darker pictures of the album, but it's cold and dark in very much the same way that space is. There's an especially weightless feeling to that track, and it makes it perhaps the most incredible ambient track I've ever heard. In some ways I can see how the synthesizers and oscillators of the day were more their own bespoke instruments rather than the sleek, computer-controlled, DAW-driven electronic tracks that form much of the popular music scene now. It was interesting to read and hear how the music would change and detune through the performance of Phaedra due to equipment warming up. It's genuinely interesting to me, reading about these kinds of hurdles and imperfections that artists had to deal with as the pioneers and trailblazers of new genres, styles and techniques. It really paid off though, because even fifty years on, this sounds just as wonderful and space-age as it must have done upon release. The more I read about Tangerine Dream, the more interesting it seems to get. While it's not particularly noteworthy that it's a band that has outlived its founder, it's interesting to see how many people have been part of the band since its inception in 1967. There's some "Ship of Theseus" discussions to be had about what makes a band a band, but it's great to see how it still exists, and I hope that Tangerine Dream can continue to live on in this way long into the future. They seem like the type of band to do that. Also it was interesting to see that Tangerine Dream helped compose the score for Grand Theft Auto V, but honestly it doesn't really surprise me. The OST was a masterpiece (Not even including the licensed tracks) and I firmly believe it is one of the greatest video game soundtracks of all time. It's pretty interesting to see that this was recorded in a village barely 10 miles away from me. What happened, Oxfordshire? There used to be so many studios... It's an interesting link to a city I saw while I was still too young to understand and appreciate it. Someday I'll go back to Berlin to immerse myself properly into this scene. Gorgeous, gorgeous album. I'll definitely be looking more into Tangerine Dream's impressive discography after this one. Favourite: Movements Of A Visionary

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

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

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.

A haiku: Whoo-hoo, the Germans! Laid the land for this music I’m … a little bored

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 🌟

I feel like I really need to be in the right headspace to listen to this one. I know of Tangerine Dream work that I actually don’t mind, but this didn’t hit for me. Also not sure if we listened to the right album, as the one that came up was only the 2 tracks, but I definitely like the eery elements of these tracks.

I hate Trance music I hate anjunabeats. i CANT STAND THIS EVEN IF IT IS ELECTRONIC COULD NOT FINISH AND DID NOT CARE

Very cool overall. I love the ethereal soundscape nature of it, and it’s crazy how popular this has gotten both given its style and also only through word of mouth. It’s definitely not a regular rotation album but it is very good.

It was a bit difficult to find the album on Spotify. The link on the website led to a shortened version. In my search for alternative versions on other albums, I luckily came across the deluxe version. After reading the first comments, I was a little skeptical. I love Krautrock. Back then, groundbreaking things were created in Germany. But even for me, some of the genre's aberrations are too weird and I can hardly follow them. It wasn't like that with this album. Even though Klaus Schulze hasn't been a member of Tangerine Dream for 5 years, the music still sounds very much like him. Or is it the other way around? In any case, I'm glad to have come across the album as part of this project. 5/5

Das Album oszilliert zwischen verschiedenen Rhythmen, Taktarten, Tonarten: Beinahe arhythmische abgespacete flächige Synthesizer-Klangteppiche wandeln sich zu schnellen elektronischen Rhythmen. Von einer Tonart glissandieren sie in eine andere und plötzlich wandelt sich die Musik zu tonlosen Geräuschen, von denen man nicht weiss, ob sie verzogene menschliche Stimmen, Atemgeräusche oder Naturklänge wie Vogelzwitschern oder das Rauschen eines Flusses sind. Die neuen Motive, Rhythmen und Klänge schleichen sich immer unbemerkt in die Musik und steigern sich so lange, bis sie selbst der Klangteppich sind, in den sich neue Motive schleichen. Sehr spannend zum Zuhören.

kinda cool

I love this style of music. I could listen to this forever.

It kinda bums me a bit that electronica has ended up being such a low rated genre for me. I mean, before yesterday, before I gave PSYCHOCANDY a 1, it was number three in my bottom three genres. Only post-punk and (surprisingly) world music beat it out. And it just gets me because that's not even remotely close to how I feel about electronic music. I love it a lot, actually! Like, yeah, of course there's Daft Punk, but I also have a good love for Moog music and a lot of synthesizer work and electronic ambient soundscapes... I'm all for all of that kinda stuff. I suppose I've just been getting too many bad draws: those drum n' bass albums, MAXINQUAYE, FEVER RAY, KALA... All boring albums (or annoying, in KALA's case) that I couldn't help but give a 2 or lower, really bringing the average down against the fewer 5's I've given to Fatboy Slim and AUTOBAHN... I just don't find it entirely fair to 'em, y'know? So, y'know, I thank the powers above that this album isn't another bad draw. This album consists of long, ambient, space-y excursions, and oh, I mess with it so hard. Just lying back on this soft bed of stars and letting these beautiful sounds carry me across the cosmos to wherever they may. Believe me, it's absolutely not for people who want things to... Y'know, happen. To my ears, it's an album for relaxing. Letting these sounds fill up your mind, pushing out all the bad stuff in the process. Close your eyes and don't even think. Just let the sound envelope you; wrap you up tight. And more new age meditation jumbo like that. But you get what I'm talking about — that's just what this album means to and does for me. It's music I'd put on to calm down or focus. And in that lane, jeez, not since I heard the music Brian Eno did for airports. So, hooray, another 5 for an electronica album. The average goes back up and the genre gets further away from where it doesn't belong. Not that placement or averages really matter, anyway. Like I said, they don't reflect how I truly feel about electronica. And certainly, the 3.47 it currently has doesn't reflect how I feel about this album at all. All I need to do is turn off my mind, relax, and float down stream. 'Coz these numbers — they're all in the mind, y'know. They're nothing to get hung about, and nothing's gonna change my views about electronic music. (Lotta random Beatles quotes at the end there, goodness. Point is: this is a 5. Big recommendation if you're like me and love ambient music. I'd've maybe hoped for a spookier album to end October with, but, hey, I can't complain about what my group was given.)

I’m at a 5. I mean, listen; if we’re weighing 5’s next to each other, this is at the low end of the 5’s I’ve given. It’s not doing anything so deeply impressive to actually put it up next to, say, Nevermind by Nirvana or Rumours by Fleetwood Mac. It’s a 5 on its own merits, for its genre, and for my experience with it. I just really fucking enjoyed this. Yes, one may disparage this as “beep boop music”, but I think it’s more than that – maybe it’s just because I’m a big sci-fi head, but I haven’t really heard an electronica soundscape so deeply capture the feeling of adventure, mystery, and ambience in this specific style so efficiently and effectively. I’m not saying this is easy to make, but it does a lot without really using up too much; a lot of what’s here is based in simple windy synths, panning tricks, volume tricks to add the illusion of depth, and the occasional Moog melody distorted to hell and back. It’s a really fast 37 minutes, despite how slow it felt in the moment. I walked around while listening to this album, and even my walking just felt more deliberate, more focused; it could’ve been because of how attentive I was to the soundscape, but I’d like to imagine it’s because it just felt more like space to me, with that sense of adventure really getting into my brain and actively working. It’s an album that’s deeply, deeply enhanced with headphones in, and it’s enhanced even further if you close your eyes – it’s an audio journey, and for me, about as effective as an ASMR video might be in terms of eliciting a specific feeling. Hell, ASMR just barely works for me, but this really fucking worked for me, so it might be even better for someone else. I thought it was a beautifully crafted set of compositions, and I can feel this album’s general influence on so much of modern ambient music. Not quite to the degree of, say, an Eno album, but something relatively close. It’s an enjoyable 5 if you let yourself melt into the soundscape – it’s certainly no less than a 3, at the very worst.

🍊🍊🍊🍊🍊🍊

I simultaneously love and hate the term 'Krautrock' Mostly because it has very little meaning and it's a fun word to say. This is an album you'd listen to while standing in line for a vintage space-themed rollercoaster that runs in the dark. Or, also the soundtrack you'd hear while lying face-up in a salt-bath surrounded by expansive darkness.

An ambient electronic album, with a fair amount of structure. A very pleasant listen.

exceptional

I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't this. I love it! Spacey, surreal, alien, and experimental instrumentals. Sci-fi/Horror movie soundtrack kinda vibe. Spent most of my life passing on this thinking it was adult contemporary yoga-mom stuff.

Incredible. Exciting, important, cosmic, futuristic… Highly recommended.

To really understand the impact of this album and this group is a mix of you-had-to-be-there and you-have-to-listen-to-a-ton-of-electronica (and a few other things). It helps a lot that the album is akin to a cloud gently letting sunbeams through.

5/5

Nice ambient

Really nice album. Nice atmospheric sound.

Durante minha escuta ao álbum entrei num profundo estado de concentração e de meditação, tive vontade de não fazer mais nada a não ser olhar para nada enquanto espero os 17 minutos e 39 segundos da primeira música passar. Também senti calma e ansiedade em diferentes momentos do álbum, mas nunca fiquei entediado ou irritado. É uma experiência sonora. Talvez não seja o artista que mais vou ouvir, mas definitivamente toda vez que ouvir será uma experiência marcante no dia.

This was an AMAZING experience. At first I was having trouble with it, and then it just clicked. Absolutely fantastic. 5 stars.

Ambient mellotron music? I’m a fan!

Truly an innovative band. Love that old-school synth sound, they create some gorgeous landscapes on here, just takes you away and before you know it the whole thing is already over. Ambient stuff like this isn't everyone's thing for sure, but when you can start to enjoy music like this, it hits a spot nothing else does.

boy i don't really know how to feel about this one. it was out of my comfort zone. it is really beautiful, haunting. it is out of my comfort zone. it is also a lot of electronic noise. it is out of my comfort zone. i found it very relaxing. it is out of my comfort zone. it's not music i would ever seek out. it is out of my comfort zone. i really liked it? it was out of my comfort zone. but i liked it?

Great meditating music

Exploring the sonic boundaries of electronica while always staying listenable. Essential. Yes, I said "sonic boundaries."

Nuts, incredible work

Electronica's baby steps, so to speak. Froese, Franke, and Baumann created a unique experience for this time, the early '70s. No wonder this was their commercial breakthrough.

April 18th, 2024 HL: “Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares”, title track, “Sequent C” A challenging listen does not mean bad. In this case, ‘challenging’ means ‘too repetitive for a close listen, too spooky to be in the background’. Yet I’ve now listened to Phaedra twice, and I have their followup Rubycon queued up, so I think I love this. If you wish the “weird part” in a Pink Floyd album (Atom Heart Mother, Meddle, DSOTM) was its own fully-realized album, then you might too Upon finishing Rubycon, there are very similar vibes but I actually preferred Phaedra’s more sinister overtones. Rubycon was a chiller experience though (or am I just getting more used to Tangerine Dream?) (Note to self: The Who Sell Out was listened to April 17, I’ve been unemployed so long I just forgot how days work)

just enjoying beep-boop music with passion This album and an MRI scan on the same day … what?

wow

I know Tangerine Dream thanks to the movie Legend. Their score is beautifully woven into the film, and it's the only version of the movie I'll watch (there's another version that has a generic orchestra & it's just no good). I loved listening to Phaedra. It's eerie and lovely at the same time. Along with Kraftwerk, Sparks, Eno, and Giorgio Moroder, TD were fundamental in influencing all electronic & synth music that followed. This reminded me a bit of Eno's Music for Airports with its soundscapes. I'll admit that it wasn't an easy listen, but music shouldn't always be an easy experience. Beautifully done & I'll definitely revisit. 4.5 stars.

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.

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.

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.

Soooooo fuckin good, good to study or vibe to

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.

This is a proper bit of me me this

One of my favorite albums to chill to.

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.

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!

meh

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

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

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

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!!

Truly marvellous groundbreaking electronic music

This. All day.

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.

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

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

Very cool, a real accomplishment. However terrible background listening on an already stressful day. Very anxious waiting for the other shoe to drop quality. I do think it earns a place on this list.

1,001 Albums, you can feel free to keep the 1970s electronica coming. I wasn't aware of Tangerine Dream, so this furthers my education on the genre. I liked Phaedra. Noticed it shares a similar structure to another 1974 electronica album that's come up for me here, Kraftwerk's Autobahn - with a long title track occupying the full Side A, and then a handful of shorter pieces coming together for Side B.

Sehr interessant. Hätte ich nicht erwartet. Fühlte sich insgesamt - wenn auch nicht in Gänze komplett - sehr gut an.

Wait what

I kinda liked this. It reminded me of that point in a space movie where the hero goes outside the space ship to repair it so the rest of the crew can get back home, even though he knows he can't get back in and will just float around until he dies. It felt lonely.

Maybe it’s because I listened to it while stuck in downtown traffic on a snowy evening, but the more I this album went on the more hypnotic and pleasant it became.

Je comprends pourquoi ce band sont considéré tellement important dans l'histoire de la musique electro. Un album qui se laisse écouter tout seul, ambiant mais sans être ennuyant pour autant. Définitivement à réécouter. 8/10

not usually into ambient or electronic music. really enjoyed this a lot

For the most part, it feels like a predecessor to the ambient genre, while still having more traditional qualities of electronic. Overall, it's a 3.5 bumped up to 4 for me.

Another 40 minute album that's only available in a bloated, multidisc, "deluxe" edition on Spotify, which is shit. I don't need to listen to Barry Chuckles Oh Dear Remix (Radio Edit) when the original song is right there. However, the actual album is pretty good. One to add to my rotation of ambient music to have in the background when I'm concentrating on something else.

I was all aboard on this one. I dig the ambient instrumentals and haunting nature. It's a niche area of the spectrum, but I'm a fan. 3.5/5

If you didn’t listen to this one at night, outside, while smoking weed, did you really give it a fair chance?

Perfect background music

Thought this was super cool. Definitely want to dig into some more TD.

absolutely love THIS

83% Best: Phaedra Must-Hear? Sure

I've never heard of Tangerine Dream before but this was a cool ambient album. I listened to it while walking around in an airport and felt like i was in a movie.After digging into them a bit, I've learned that they were very influential and are still very prolific. I have to check out some more of their work.

Loved it. And the songs that followed on Spotify.

I'm no expert on ambient music, but I know I dig this a decent amount. 3.5/5

Intense; establishes a mood right away

One of the records that I am glad is on here as I never would have come across it. Won’t become a regular in my rotation but glad I heard it.

It's like krautrock but solely played by synths. This could be boring but the songwriting is excellent and it's quite the trip

All the ladies go crazy when I tell them I got this on vinyl.

Music for synth lovers by synth masters. Count me in.

Chill cool and interesting

Compelling New Age weirdness. Noises across the spectrum. Lovely changes in dynamics and mood. Elegant.

This is rad. Pretty dark and very atmospheric.