Alpha Centauri

Born in 1944 in Tilsit, East Prussia, Edgar Froese came to Berlin in the mid-60s as a student. A guitarist, he formed The Ones, a predictably beat-era combo that recorded one single. The band were fortunate to spend two summers in Catalonia, Spain, at the invitation of surrealist Salvador Dali. Then, catching the rising underground spirit of the late 60s, Froese formed Tangerine Dream in 1967, its name inspired from a lyric of The Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” They gigged at the Zodiak Free Arts Club, and by their first album, 1970’s Electronic Meditation, the lineup consisted of Froese, drummer Klaus Schulze and cellist Conrad Schnitzler; both would also become pioneers of electronic music. Yet the lineup only lasted for one album; joined first by organist Steve Schroyder and then drummer Chris Franke, previously with Agitation Free, the band recorded their “kosmische” classic Alpha Centauri for the Ohr label in 1971. The massive chords of Shroyder’s organ announce “Sunrise in the Third System.” “Fly and Collision of Comas Sola” quakes under the incessant pounding of Franke’s drumming, with only guest Udo Dennebourg’s flute providing a way through. Side two is encompassed by the title track; Tangerine Dream offer what’s been called “space rock, without the rock.” Here, the band utilize the sonic armory of the studio-including Roland Paulyck on synthesizer-intermixed with silence to create pure atmosphere: Like the star system in space, there are no fixed points-only brief flashes of light as elements passing through the soundscape. The album was a success, selling a reputed 20,000 copies in West Germany alone. Guitar and Mellotron dominated a rare single, “Ultima Thule, Teil 1” b/w “Ultima Thule, Teil 2,” released around the same time. The massive Zeit followed, with Froese and Franke now joined by a young Peter Baumann on VCS3, and accompanied by Schroyder, Florian Fricke and Joachim von Grumbkow of Hoelderlin. A “largo in four movements,” it was again recorded with Dieter Dierks’s Stommeln studio, and furthered their deep sound exploration.