40 years ago Tangerine Dream Released ''Phaedra''

Phaedra (1974) is an album by the German electronic music group Tangerine Dream.

This is the first Tangerine Dream album to feature their now classic sequencer-driven sound, which launched the Berlin School genre. This album marked the beginning of the group's international success and was their first album released on the British Virgin records label. It achieved six-figure sales in the UK, reaching No 15 in the charts in a 15-week run, with virtually no airplay, only by strong word of mouth. It also earned the group a gold disc in seven countries, and yet in their native Germany it sold barely 6,000 units.

The title track was originally based on an improvisation recorded in the studio, and unintentionally exhibits one of the limitations of the analog equipment used at the time. As the equipment warmed up, some of the oscillators began to detune (they were highly temperature-sensitive), which was responsible for some of the changes in the music towards the end of the piece.

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