Tangerine Dream – 50 Years of Phaedra: At The Barbican

KScope

In 1974, Phaedra was the album that turned Tangerine Dream’s fortunes around. It was the first for the band signing to the still-fledgling Virgin after four records released on the German UHR label.

It was also a massive step forward within the use of equipment the band had at their disposal. Mellotrons and Moogs were now replacing the old organs that the band had used, and slowly sequencers and a larger amount of kit would see the band hurtle towards being a massive stage act for those wanting to travel to other planets; it was a point where the band never looked back, but would see them making ever-expansive albums throughout the ’70s.

With the passing of Edgar Froese, the awol of Chris Franke and the reluctance of Peter Bauman to step back on stage, a fiftieth anniversary gig by any of the original members was never going to be a thing that was going to happen. The current Tangs line-up have been performing together since the passing of Froese in 2015 and under the management / guidance of his widow Bianca Froese-Acquaye keep the name and the memory of the band alive and to take audiences back to the heyday of its ’70s and ’80s greatness with plenty of synths and of course the classic TD sequencer ready to kick in.

Recorded at The Barbican in London on 7 October 2025 and featuring the current line-up of Thorsten Quaeschning on synths and sequencers etc, Paul Frick on synths and piano, and Hoshiko Yamane on violin, what you get on this double CD is the complete concert recorded that night, including spoken intros to tracks giving listeners an aural taste of what it must have felt like to be there.

From the beginning, what you have to get used to is that these are not faithful adaptations of the 1974 album, but rather a re-imagining put through the blender of the band’s equipment, a mixture of analogue and digital, adding their own personal style and touch to each piece as it is performed. Purists might well scoff at this, but in truth it breathes new life into fifty-year-old material that, even if the three original members were performing it today, they would no doubt change and explore new ways of playing the tracks rather than keep them as museum pieces, and improvisation and expansion was always one of the most important parts of Tangerine Dream.

The opening is rather wonderful and quite eerie, beautiful synths sounds hang in the air in a tranquil state like you are sitting in a Japanese garden. Then we move on to what was side two of the original album, rethought but still using classic elements like the Mellotron sounds. These blend effortlessly into the “Hippolytos Sessions” parts 1 to 7, proving that the new Tangs can sweep majestically as much as their ’70s incarnation did. We are treated to two different versions of the “Phaedra” title track, the 2022 version probably sticking a little closer to the original elements, especially that punching Mellotron riff that sneaks up about halfway through as the sequencer chugs away.

The second disc comprises of more early ’80s material such as Logos and White Eagle (two tours I first saw TD on) as well as recent compositions such as Raum. These again take you on an inward journey, opening up space portals before you as you drift among the stars to the pulsating rhythm, and the big chord sequences that take you somewhere beyond time and the universe riding the solar wind.

The booklet is illustrated with shots from the gig as well as some words by Bianca and Thorsten. The recording sounds fantastic and really transports you to that special night at The Barbican, I now only wish I had been there.

-Gary Parsons-