Revolution Of Sound: Tangerine Dream truly lives up to it’s name, in more ways than one. The journey of the revolutionary experimental group, Tangerine Dream, is well-documented here, but so is the world they inhabited. Director, Margarete Kreuzer, is clearly a superfan and worked closely with Froese, his friends, and his family to deliver a stunningly detailed portrait of the group.
This is a highly complete narrative told through archival footage, narration, and interviews. It starts from the absolute beginnings and acknowledges the continuing history of the band, even after the untimely death of bandleader, Edgar Froese, in 2015. The amount of archival footage was rather astounding. Every era of the group from their formation in the 60s until the present day is represented. Footage captured by the late Froese depicts everything from recording sessions, to live performances, to leisure time with his family. The rest of the film is taken up by an also impressive amount of interviews with people directly and indirectly involved with the group. Fellow electronic music pioneer, Jean-Michel Jarre, offers insight into their impact on the larger European electronic scene, former bandmates provide a look into the deepest nuances of the music itself, and family members tell the story of the man behind it all.
As a film, it’s a little rough around the edges. The subtitles had a few formatting mistakes, there were some odd edits, and seemingly random photos of space broke up the different parts of the story for some reason. However, the sound production was predictably fantastic. The music wasn’t just slapped on over the pictures, it was implemented and produced with true care.
This is a far-reaching documentary that captures not just the history of Tangerine Dream, but Froese’s life and the world of music that was rapidly changing around him. Hence, this is not a documentary just for Tangerine Dream fans, but for anyone with any remote interest in experimental music or music history itself.
Revolution Of Sound: Tangerine Dream is screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival. (unclassified 18+)
