Tangerine Dream Announce '50 Years of Phaedra: At the Barbican'

12-04-2025

(Glass Onyon) Tangerine Dream have announced "50 Years Of Phaedra: At The Barbican" will arrive January 30th in 3 editions that feature a commemorative performance at London's Barbican to honor 50 years of the groundbreaking album.

In 1974, Phaedra redefined the landscape of electronic music. What began as an experimental session at Richard Branson's Manor Studios in Oxfordshire became a seismic event in modern sound. Using the Moog sequencer for the first time, Tangerine Dream - then comprised of Edgar Froese, Christopher Franke, and Peter Baumann - crafted Phaedra, an album that shimmered with innovation, mystery and a palpable sense of discovery.

Half a century later, Tangerine Dream returned to London's Barbican to honour that landmark work - reimagining it for a new era. Across its three vinyl LPs, 50 Years of Phaedra: At the Barbican captures this transcendent live performance, in which the current line-up - Thorsten Quaeschning, Hoshiko Yamane, and Paul Frick - revisit the spirit of Phaedra with the very tools that Froese and his collaborators helped pioneer.

Part of Phaedra's magic lay in its imperfections: the original sequences were never truly quantised, their timing drifting unpredictably through the Moog's analogue circuitry. That subtle instability became part of its charm - a human pulse within the machine - yet it long left current bandleader Thorsten Quaeschning intrigued by what a fully realised version might reveal. Now, fifty years later, Tangerine Dream have revisited the work with the precision that technology once denied them. 50 Years of Phaedra: At the Barbican is the first time Phaedra has been performed fully quantised, each motif beautifully aligned with a crystalline precision previously unheard.

For over five decades, Tangerine Dream have stood as pioneers of electronic sound, shaping the evolution of ambient, film, and synthesiser music. Founded in Berlin in 1967 by Edgar Froese, the group became synonymous with the "Berlin School" of electronic composition, influencing generations of artists from Jean-Michel Jarre and Depeche Mode to Radiohead and M83. Their vast catalogue spans over a hundred albums, including acclaimed film scores for Sorcerer, Risky Business, and Firestarter, and countless live performances that redefined what electronic music could be on stage. Universally recognised for their visionary approach to texture, atmosphere and technology, Tangerine Dream remain one of the most innovative and iconic forces in modern music.