German electronic music pioneers Tangerine Dream have produced so much music over the last 55 years that trying to generate a list of top tracks that people will agree on is literally an impossible task. One’s personal list can even change over time. The seven-time Grammy-nominated group’s music spans heavily sequenced, propulsive electronic music to ethereal ambient soundscapes. Their occasional use of electric guitar has been their secret weapon in that it likely lured in some rock fans, too. The Dream have released over 70 studio albums, and approximately two times more soundtrack, live album, remix, and compilation releases. Their output has been pretty incredible.
Tangerine Dream really came into American prominence when they scored some music for the hit Tom Cruise film Risky Business in 1983. That led to a prolific soundtrack career, which had started in the mid-’70s but then blossomed and extended into the early ‘90s. Even then, they were still putting out other, non-film studio efforts. The group has gone through numerous incarnations since perennial member and band leader Edgar Froese co-founded it in 1967, and that has led to many different stylistic periods. Froese passed way in 2015, but his son Jerome, who has been in the fold since 1990, has kept the music and his father’s legacy going.
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To be fair, any list compiling great TD tracks will be up to the personal preference of the compiler. Here are eight Tangerine Dream instrumentals—some well-known, others deeper cuts—that this writer thinks are worth diving into.
“Origin of Supernatural Possibilities” from Zeit (1972)
Tangerine Dream’s third studio album Zeit is a four-part, 75-minute suite of dark, spacey ambient music that predated the group’s use of sequencers. The third track from the album, the 19 1/2-minute “Origin of Supernatural Possibilities” is a ghostly soundscape that at one point gurgles like we’re floating in the middle of some primordial soup. It’s perfect for immersive, late-night listening.
“Cloudburst Flight” from Force Majeure (1979)
This is one of those Tangerine Dream tracks that takes us on a grand journey over the course of seven and a half minutes. They certainly have more epic ones from the early days, but this is a standout. In contrast to the previous selection on this list, “Cloudburst Flight” feels brighter and sunnier with its combination of lush synths and dreamy acoustic guitar chords swelling into a dramatic synth-rock tapestry with keyboard and guitar solo swaps—and live drums!
“Love on a Real Train” from the Risky Business soundtrack (1983)
“Running Out of Time” from the Miracle Mile soundtrack (1989)
Both the original song and its Miracle Mile do-over make for effervescent soundtrack cuts, but they operate differently. The gentler, simmering “Love on a Train” feels dreamy and sensual and befits the sexy scene its used for, whereas “Running Out of Time” is a little more percussive with a throbbing bass line that invokes a twinge of nervousness. The Miracle Mile soundtrack frequently emulates the effect of a ticking clock to tie in with the intense story during which a nuclear holocaust may or may not be coming.
“Caleb’s Blues” from the Near Dark soundtrack (1987)
Cross a Halloween vibe with a synth-driven blues chord sequence, and you get this lively jaunt from the soundtrack to Kathryn Bigelow’s famed vampire movie. The Near Dark soundtrack spans gothic elegance to percussive punctuation, with “Caleb’s Blues” as a standout for being perky and quirky. Check out the whole disc; it sounds very ‘80s and is very fun.
“The Midnight Trail” from Optical Race (1988)
This cut is from the second album of the “Melrose Years” trilogy, so-named for TD having been signed to the Private Music label of former bandmate Peter Baumann, whose offices were located on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. This era of the band found them diving into more heavy sequencer use, but it still had their signature sonic stamp. This three-part song—with a kinetic midsection driven by staccato chords and insistent electronic drums—feels like it should have been used in a movie. Optical Race was part of the Paul Haslinger period (1986-1991), after which he started composing film scores.
“Three Bikes in the Sky” from Melrose (1990)
Although Melrose came out in 1990, the ‘80s vibes were still going strong. This very cinematic composition is one of their most memorable which, like “Cloudburst Flight,” opens with dreamy guitar and keyboard washes. It then transforms into a dramatic instrumental with gorgeous synths and a suspense-inducing guitar solo that, for me, invokes a movie scene where people are dazzled by the flight of alien craft in the sky. But do they land? The answer will emerge in your mind’s eye.
“Firetongues” from Turn of the Tides (1994)
When you’ve reached your 22nd studio album, how do you enliven things? Inject some flamenco style guitar courtesy of Zlatko Perica into an enigmatic, moody synth-rock piece. Then stir in some electric guitar soloing to close things out. The whole Turn of the Tides was a different sounding release that helped Tangerine Dream refresh their palette after 25 years of releasing albums, and it showed they still had new ideas to explore.
“Leviathan” from Views from a Red Train (2008)
This song gradually builds in intensity around a synth-bass rhythm that sounds like the famed “Peter Gunn” theme. But it’s got those Dream-y synths swirling about the mix, and electric guitar work that veers from funky licks to noisier rock vibes. Starting in the ‘80s, Tangerine Dream often had sequencers dominate certain tracks, but here they build up a structured framework that allows for six-string spontaneity before dissolving into a gentle fade-out.
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