Tangerine Dream Announces ‘Phaedra’ 50th Anniversary Box Set
The limited-edition collection will be released on April 18.
Tangerine Dream is celebrating a major milestone with its newly announced Phaedra box set. The five-CD/Blu-ray box set commemorates the 50th anniversary of the German electronic group’s album.
The collection, which will be available on April 18, includes a remastered original album mix, two discs of outtakes from the recording sessions, a CD of the complete concert at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London in June 1974 (the band’s debut live appearance in the UK) and a Blu-ray disc featuring producer Steven Wilson’s 5.1 Surround Sound mix. The box set also features an illustrated book with a new essay by Tangerine Dream authority Wouter Bessels.
Phaedra, the band’s fifth album, is acclaimed as one of the pioneering albums in electronic music history. Recorded at The Manor Studios in November 1973, it spent 15 weeks on the UK charts upon its release. It marked the band’s first album for Virgin Records and is widely regarded as the first album to feature a sequencer, which became an essential part of their sound.
That sound became known as “Kosmische Musik,” a term coined by Tangerine Dream founding member Edgar Froese which came into regular use before “krautrock” and was preferred by some German artists. The experimental genre blended elements of psychedelic rock, avant-garde composition, and electronic music.
Along with the Phaedra box set, Tangerine Dream is celebrating the album’s 50th anniversary with shows at Birmingham Town Hall on May 8 and Manchester’s Aviva Studios on May 9. This follows the band’s recent performance at London’s Barbican last October.
Tangerine Dream was founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The band’s lineup has changed frequently over the years, with Froese being the sole constant member until his death in 2015. The band’s current lineup includes musical director Thorsten Quaeschning, Hoshiko Yaman, and Paul Frick.
