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In Memorium: Edgar Froese (1944-2015)
I found out the sad news on Saturday via an email from Compact Disc Services in Scotland. Since then I have listened with a sense of poignancy to some of Edgar's greatest music, both with Tangerine Dream and his solo work. His passing has come as a shock to me and, it is obvious, to many others. It does indeed feel like losing someone close to you, not just a favourite musician and composer, but in a funny way a friend and guiding light. By all accounts in person he was a great guy, part of a generation of creative souls who grew up in the ruins of post-war Germany and, coming of age in the late 1960s, set out to do something different artistically.
I discovered TD back in 1988 and the rest is history, as the saying goes. Edgar's electronic soundscapes and expressive, unique guitar style have been an almost constant soundtrack to my life since my late teens. I think his visionary, surreal music will remain so for the rest of my life. He was a true legend of electronic music, a real pioneer in the 1970s and 1980s, as evidenced by his experimentation (along with his very talented colleagues, Franke, Baumann, Schmoelling etc) with modular synthesisers, sequencers and the early days of drum machines and digital sampling technology. Beyond the sheer creative force of using music technology in such an inventive way, there was a warmth and individuality to his work and, as has been mentioned elsewhere, an ability to reinvent himself (and the band itself) by continually creating new music: every few years changing the style, instrumentation and emphasis. What other guy who founded his own band in 1967 would be open minded enough to welcome his son into the group and delight in Jerome freshening things up with his Dream Mixes albums? Releases informed by drum n bass and the contemporary electronic dance music scene in the 1990s. To be bold enough to be different; brave (and crazy!) enough to be the first Western rock band to play a concert in East Germany, with no new material written for the historic event - relying on improvisation alone and letting new member Johannes Schmoelling start off the show on piano. To have the vision to set William Blake's poetry to electronic music on the album Tyger, a work that has since been acknowledged as a classic. To have provided numerous Hollywood movies with groundbreaking, sequencer driven electronic soundtracks in the 1980s. Edgar's list of achievements and huge influence on other musicians has not been lauded widely enough in the music press down the years - changing fashions and a cheap, shallow desire by music fans and critics to be hip and trendy has a lot to do with that I'm afraid.
In another thread in this forum I was touched to see all the remembrances and tributes from noted people that he worked with in the film and music world. Glad to see the movie directors William Friedkin, Michael Mann and Bobby Roth all recalling Edgar with respect and fondness. It is also apparent (though I had realised this long ago) that Edgar was a very special person as well as his talents as a musician. Former and current band members clearly held Edgar in the greatest esteem and note his fatherliness, perception, humour, positive influence and warmth as a human being. These qualities have always come across to me in interviews with the man down the years. Even music critics (that harsh, unforgiving bunch at times) that have met him have remarked on Edgar's charming personality.
I celebrate his vast output of wonderful, varied music spanning five decades, but I also feel very sad that he has died so suddenly at the age of 70. It comes to us all of course, but one felt somehow that he was immortal and would go on and on.
Thank you Edgar for so much great music...even the names of your compositions sound like magic: Epsilon in Malaysian Pale, Barbakane, Alchemy of the Heart, Specific Gravity of Smile, Sundance Kid, Talking to Maddox, Pilots of Purple Twilight, Diamond Diary, It Would be Like Samoa, Rubycon, Song of the Whale, Mothers of Rain, and many many more...timeless music that will live on for eternity, inspiring and entertaining all your fans and those still to discover the magic of Tangerine Dream in the future.
Rest in peace, Edgar Froese. I never met you but your dreamy music and vision have been a comfort and companion to me for 27 years. There is a reason for all this outpouring of grief and love. It feels like a light has gone out.
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