Last Sunday Edgar Froese, a talented keyboard and guitar player, took his first solo concert in Eindhoven, Holland.

Yes, it is true: while Edgar composed and published many-many solo album during his career, he never played not a single concert of them. Now this era is over: with his fellow musicians in TD, he played more than two hours of material that composed exclusively by him. The event took place in Eindhoven, Holland, at the TU Auditorium, where TD already played a successful concert in 1976.

The city provided really extraordinary circumstances for the evening: their football team , PSV Eindhoven was going to win the Holland championship exactly that day - they only had to win a significantly weaker team at home to have the title. (PSV's top scorer, Balazs Dzsudzsak is a Hungarian guy so we also supported them a lot.) The whole city was flagged by PSV, and every people weared PSV's colors during the whole day. And nearly everybody was drunken in the morning :)

Unfortunately they played only draw, so the decision had to wait until the next weekend.

During the afternoon, the main supporting act, Ron Boots started the line of the performances with his band. Ron is really a nice guy, he let us to record the show with two cameras in HD, and supported us with his positiv personality. His program was very energic, groovy, and was worth of attention.





















But what we were waiting for is Edgar's concert, which featured a small sensation: after almost a 30 years break, Edgar played a real Mellotron again. The classical vintage instrument, which heavily characterised TD's music during the seventies, was used in an old Edgar song, Maroubra Bay, a favourite track of most of us. The piece itself was not a vintage gear: the company that responsible for making them has released a brand new Mellotron model last year, and that was the one that Edgar played.





















The visual design of the stage was very simple but elegant: a constant, uncoloured lighting was used during the whole night, with no any additional light effect, four coloured, programmed LED columns were the only attraction, together with the projected animations and some smoke sometimes. Musically the selection was very wide, from the very old tracks to the very new ones. All the musicians were working heavily while the instrumentation gave all of them jobs almost permanently. Some old tracks got new, modern rhythmic accompaniment from machines, and from Iris, too. And Edgar played most of the lead lines himself.

Bernhard was not on the lucky side since he successfully killed his guitar amplifier in the first minutes, and after it he heroically recabled his system real-time during the performance. Edgar also played a guitar solo, Hamlet, and slightly quoted the very recognisable guitar sound from Talking to Maddox in the middle part.





















Shortly after the performance, the whole band, lead by Edgar came out to the hall for a public photo session and chat with the fans. On the picture you can see the result of our small game with Bianca - who can take more photos on the other party.





















This sexy pose from Iris was not a matter of random-catching - she performed it consciously, you can believe me. After the shot she examined the photo with care and found she seems to be drunken. Guess, is she right?

By the way, the band played the classic track Drunken Mozart, of course.

More pictures from us on the web can be found here.

The entry process of the official Eastgate photo contest for fans is closed 31th, October - and now the voting for the best pictures is up and running. You can check the photos at TD's official MySpace page with a nice slide show. I also have an entry (in the right you can see it) which will not win definitely - the distance of our seat prevented me to take much better pictures but I felt we have to throw in something for everyone's sake.

Anyway, it's very entertaining and a big joy to see all the great pictures and it's really a very-very hard task to select from them. The contest was a great idea, Edgar, we are looking forward to your next turn! :)

The day started with a funny moment in the Hungarians' headquarters. As always, I now choosed the old historical city found some 30 kilometres far from Frankfurt, Seligenstadt. My favourite hotel is situated here at the wonderful main square, and was established in 1490 as hotel. In Sunday while having breakfast, Peter Lion suddenly discovered some familiar tunes coming  quietly from the kitchen. Is it TD? - asked me and I started to listen thoroughly. No, the radio station played the new album from Ulrich Schnauss (formerly known as Ethereal 77...).

My complete Flickr photoset can be found here.





















Funny things were going on thru the days, but the biggest joke was the opening set of Tangerine Dream - a wurlitzer was playing the tune of Yesterday... Why it was so silly for us? Because in the afternoon we had a pleasant hour in the inner city of Frankfurt in a cafeteria working nine levels high, at the top of a building. While we was there our musical background was presented by a saxophone player performing on the street. His main attraction was Yesterday - he played it at least ten times while we was sitting there so we were perfectly getting used to it...





















Almost forgot to mention that we were lucky not to miss the visit of Linda and Iris at the place of the fan meeting... we have arrived in time, while they were photod heavily with various fans.

Back from Frankfurt, having good time at a fantastic place, Alte Oper. Perhaps the best acoustic environment TD ever played, we enjoyed a show that was really extraordinary. The setlist was very curious, containing several rare or never-played tracks again - perhaps Edgar wants to play everything that released under the TD brand.





















In the next days we share some photos taken at the hall. Unfortunately the event wasn't to lighty, and the laser show needed megatons of fog so the circumstances were far from the ideal for taking good pictures - my place was in the middle of the hall, but most of the time my professional Canon teleobjective couldn't gather enough light to make real professional photos.





















You can enjoy more pictures and better resolution at my Flickr page.





















And finally, of course: the ticket.

We promised a surprise for the Frankfurt pre-concert meeting and now we finally roll up the curtain: the lucky fellows who will fill our "TD in Hungary" quiz sheet best will receive not only out legendary :) td.hu T-shirt and the original Hungarian booklet with the long TD interview inside but - we made a special CD release for you.

The disc contains a live TD material previously not available in any acceptable quality - no Tree, no Leaves, no Bootleg Box and so on... We have a fan recording - taken by Laszlo Kovacs and Ferenc Filep - of the first part of the first TD show in Hungary, performed in 1982 and now we share it with the worldwide TD community in this form.

The quality of this recording is quite acceptable - by the standard measurement it could get a strong 6 or 7. It was taken by an open reel recorder brought inside the big hall, with two decent-quality microphones with long cables which were placed hard left and right of the audience.

The sex appeal of this show was the technical failure within a Keep track - the playback tape of the backing has broken and the music suddenly stopped - the band was forced to improvise freely for some minutes. This happening is accurately preserved on our recording. We wish the winners of the disc - and all of you since we suppose the recording will be shared shortly after its launch - a nice time while listening!

After a long break we are here again and planning the Frankfurt trip to have a Night in Space with Tangerine Dream at Alte Oper. Probably Frankfurt is the city where I spent the second longest time in my life - if I add all the weeks I've been there for world's biggest musical instruments show, Musikmesse, the sum would exceed a half year. So, I could easily drive there with eyes closed without any problem and I will bring some of the friends from here - a total of 6 people at least.

We will not arrive with empty hands - in the pre-concert fan meeting we will share some rarity with you. For example a lucky mate will receive this unique piece of Hungarian newspaper from 1983 which features a 14-page long interview with TD and Klaus Schulze, taken after their big concerts in budapest, 1982. This issue has been never circulated in any known fan's and worldwide, and is also a very special item even here, in Hungary. The interview is written in Hungarian of course but someone should find the English translation I made 10+ years ago and posted in the cs.uwp.edu mailing list. A scanned version can be found here.

We will also have some spare td.hu T-shirts for you, and, hopefully, an additional surprise which should shock you all... :)

For those who cannot attend the show: please enjoy the leader of the Hungarian delegation, Maby's video sniplets. Quality: acceptable!

http://www.youtube.com/Mabygabi

Official news from the official site: two more special live appearance of TD has confirmed - first is 1st July, 2007, an open air concert with no admission fee at the city of Eberswalde. (This city is about one hour far from Berlin by car.) The show will celebrate the opening of the Wunderlich-House - the well-known surrealist painter and sculptor was born in Eberswald, 80 years ago.

The second show is perhaps even more exciting: TD will perform together with minimalist superstar composer Terry Riley at the Alte Oper of Frankfurt, 7th October, 2007.

Yes, we are way behind the news... Unfortunately we couldn't manage such a huge group to London, Astoria like last year, Tempodrom, Berlin, but a few of us were there and will report soon.

Until then, you can read a very detailed report on The Archive Plus written by Andy with a special kind of feeling, or join the Yahoogroup debate - tell us whether it was a Karaoke night or not.

What we surely know is that the show consisted of a vocal block at first until approximately half time, then an instrumental, "regular" TD set was performed on stage. Setlist is still not known. (Thx Andy for the photo!)

Update: setlist has arrived, thx Chris!
Read more...

Jerome has promised it, Jerome has done it: his label Moonpop has opened a complete webshop for Jerome-related products at cybersounds.org. The professional surface works very fine and quickly and the news section has some interesting information. The first surprise: Jerome will soon release a TD album called Dream Mixes 2.1 in te beginning of May - it will contain the best tracks from DM1 and DM2, plus two unreleased tracks which will make us buying this CD without any doubt. Second info is Jerome's own new solo album called Shiver me timbers which will be released 14th, May.

Jerome is a bad son this is very clear now - he offers a brand new T-shirt family with the following text: "Dante is dead". I think it will fit the taste of real lots of oldschool TD fans plus a legion of lovers of TD's latest, dance and dnb-oriented era trademarked by Jerome. A very funny coalition... :) We are waiting for Edgar's immediate response... :)

Two new DVD releases are really worth to mention: at first, Voiceprint announced the long-awaited Phaedra 2005 show held at the Shepherd's Bush Empire, 2005. Act quickly at this page and you will be in the lucky 750 who receives their disc with Edgar's signature. A second argument: the initial release contains two disc - one for the show and the second with interviews with the band and fans and there is some secret soundcheck recording also.

You can preorder the already mentioned Madcap DVD/CD release from 24th, March at the Eastgate shop. The video plays the full album performed at TD's studio environment.

Smart viral marketing or Madcap has leaked out unintentionally? Check this site and make your choice: there are streamed audio segments from TD's upcoming sensational album.

If you have fifteen minutes at least, check this very new interview of Edgar at getreadytorock.com.

Concert tickets for a TD-fan work as virtual time machines - you can travel back to different places and relive the events with them.

Let's see what we have in our vaults. At first here is the ticket for the Shepherds Bush Empire show, London, 1997. Wish I had a time machine really - because I could attend the show with no problem, this ticket is still valid. I did not attend the show because of a vis maior but kept the ticket...


Read more...

Nobody can beat Andy: he brought up to us the very new info from the official site. TD will release a new special project 23rd March called Springtime in Nagasaki which was composed for a Japanese businessman last year. Yes, the topic is the terrible nuclear attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 1945 - in terms of seasons. It means the disc is the first part of a five-pieces collection - four seasons and the final stage: "endless season", the time after.

Don't hesitate to place your order soon here, supplies will be really short because of the contract.

All the information is public now about the upcoming London premiere show of Madcap's Flaming Duty: you can read it on the official promo poster.

What is sure now: you will find people in www.tangerinedream.hu T-shirts again, but we still unable to tell our exact number.

For all who would buy tickets online here is a direct link to the ordering page. Be quick, the venue will be full with Pink Floyd fans.

The semi-official pre-concert fan meeting is organized by Andy at his wonderful blog here. There is a list of 51 prominent fans already from all over the world who will attend and the list is growing constantly!

Edgar and the company take surely a series of a heavy rehearsal session now - it is not easy to have a vocal concert again after such a long time you can believe me... Good luck, TD!

TD's official site has announced the exact date and place of the London show. The official world premiere of the new album, Madcap's Flaming Duty will take place at the Astoria Theater, London, in April 20th, 2007. TD promises a very special show for the event, coloured with old tracks that never performed live. There will be no more concerts around so the rumours of the three consecutive concert dates are false. Tickets will be on sale next week.

Editor of The Archive Plus invite everybody for a pre-concert drink at Jack Horner Pub in Central London. We will be there with a massive group of people!

Today Voiceprint placed a webpage at a special domain:

www.tangerinedreamnewcd.com

where you can preorder Madcap's Flaming Duty for 10 GBP + shipping. The page also streams the free interview CD with musical examples from Madcap.

It seems very clear now: after 17 years of collaboration, Edgar father and his son will manage their lives separately. Jerome's label, Moonpop revealed its new, redesigned website at www.moonpop.org, where we can read about the agreement between the Froeses - Jerome has got back all the exclusive rights of some 80 songs from TD which were composed by him. Jerome will soon remix and re-release a lot of them under Moonpop together with some unreleased tracks. A complete list of the old songs is available at Moonpop and we caught there some real surprises.
Read more...

A sensational DVD release has just announced: Tony Palmer's legendary film of TD's famous gig at Coventry Cathedral is very close to be shipped to our hands in much better quality than the YouTube version we all got used to. Groove starts to ship this wonderful surprise 19th, February for 26 USD, you can preorder now.

Although it is clear that the video sequences were overdubbed with Ricochet Part I and II fakely, it is still a great step: we still did not have any official, decent-quality video recording of TD's classic years when they set the standards of electronic music for the next 30 years.

Click tangerinedreamcoventrydvd.com for more info.

Some of you will be disappointed, others will be glad: now it is official that Madcap's Flaming Duty, TD's next official studio recording will be a vocal album. The promo disc has just arrived from Voiceprint and features a long interview with Edgar and excerpts from the album.

The overall sound of the new tracks are very different from anything you ever experienced from TD - the structure of the songs are heavily pop-oriented, there are really great songs on the promo disc which promise an incredible album. The vocalist man's name is Chris Housle and he did a great job I have to tell you.

It is said at Yahoo Groups' tadream list that TD will perform the new material on three concerts at London, April.Still to be checked...

Perhaps some of you have noticed on the new official website: Edgar tries to sell his old Roland D70 synthesizer which worked for him more than a decade actively. The instrument hit the shops around 1990 and TD soon discovered its features: its sound (besides with the already-mentioned Korg Wavestation) characterised Rockoon heavily. Edgar later probably dropped the sound generator of this early digital instrument (successors had a lot more to offer), but the instrument could be found on-stage with him even in the latest performances: it functioned as a master keyboard for synth modules and software instruments because it is light, thin though has 76 keys, and has great touch for a player who deals string and pad instruments a lot (I even have a piece at my home setup - you hardly find a proper replacement on today's market).

Read more...

Many of you, TD listeners refuse the Dante trilogy because it is very different from the usual sound you get used to from Edgar in the decades. I don't want to fight with these valuations - it would eat up so much time and I have so few hope to win.

But.

The company has recently released a performance of the first part of the trilogy as a live DVD. After seeing the concert and the bonus videos anybody can easily change his/her mind on the topic. Because now it is clear: the Dante pieces are made for stage primarily. It is a very living project, it is full of colors, and all the staff on stage are playing with a very real and deep enthusiasm (watch Iris!). The camera settings and the visual editing are clever works also, and the whole thing makes a huge effect on the person who enjoys the disc from the very first second until the last notes. A wonderful experience.

I have to mention the very extensive extra video sets on the disk where the singers and the Froeses have monologues on the project. Edgar's words are especially worth to mention - as three points define a plane in the space his personality can be perfectly determined from his music, visual works and words. And the bonus of the bonus: he plays some classical pieces on a grand piano elegantly, with his unmistakable groove.

Magyar Narancs (Hungarian Orange), Hungary's most popular political and cultural weekly for the young people published a full-page article on the so-called Berlin-school phenomena in their Christmas 2006 issue. Narancs featured TD- and Klaus Schulze-reviews many times in its sixty-years history, and the author of these materials was István Bundula - expert of the topic - mostly, as this publication was also written by him. (I also got a page there for a review of the Shepherd's Bush Empire show in 1996.)

Here I provide you a quick and dirty translation of the original Hungarian text.

"It doesn't exist, but still it's here

The past and present of the Berlin-school

Though its name is established in classifying electronic music, the artist themselves are finding this aproach stupid. Anyway, today's stars benefitted from this style very much.

The avantgarde music of the 60s and 70s in Germany has much more colour and it's not fair to tighten it to its most popular names, Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze, or the Dusseldorf-based Kraftwerk. There were so many bands who share a common thing: the musical experimentation - and, at that time it was logically ended up dealing with synthetic sound sources. The Germans were not the first to employ them but they were the very first who used them excusively.

Read more...

New colours, new look-and-feel, new functions: the promised very new TD site is on the web and running.

Edgar still considers the web as an artistic form of expression. It shouldn't be a problem, and, at the very first sight, the new TD page is a pleasure and an excitement for the eyes, no doubt. The colour set for the visual appearance he chosen is something a newbie in the life of the band and the clear heading fonts are wonderful also (just to name a few nice thing).

To continue on the good side, long-awaited functions got place: a real mp3 download section of the latest albums for a small amount of payment (TD Plays TD is there!), hot and fresh news (Madcap will be bundled with a full-length DVD with the production of the album!), an extended and very deep, personal FAQ section with valuable lines from Edgar himself (I suggest to read it at a quiet place thoroughly - a lot of clever things to learn...), a video box on the main page, a new forum, and the TD Universe part, where interesting things will happen, at least it seems to me now (I will not say more, try it!)

Read more...

We've just received a letter from Voiceprint with some really good official news: the new studio album called Madcap's Flaming Duty is really on the way and planned to be released 2nd April. It is really dedicated to the memory of Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd, and features a long list of musicians: Edgar, Thorsten, Linda, Iris, plus Chris Housle, Bernhard Beibl, Gynt Beator, Thomas Beator and Vincent Nowak. (It seems to us that Jerome didn't work on this project.)

An official press release page can be found here, a promo CD can be ordered here with an exclusive interview of Edgar. We can also find info on the Tempodrom DVD release also - Voiceprint will resell it from April, also.