Froze, Edgar

Edgar Froze was born on June 6, 1944 in the East Prussian city of Tilsit (now Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Region). At the end of World War II, the family fled from East Prussia to central Germany.

From an early age, Edgar showed a penchant for art, at the age of 12 he took piano lessons , at the age of 15 he began to play the guitar. Then Froze entered the Academy of Arts in West Berlin to study painting and sculpture there. At this time, he saw the Rolling Stone group, in which the appearance of the musicians amazed him the most; they looked gloomy and depressing. The success of the Rolling encouraged Froze, who was also gloomy. He realized that the new pop culture is taking on a variety of forms of beauty in art.

The Ones

In 1965, Froze formed ^{[ where? ] a} band called The Ones , which played rock music and rhythm and blues . In the same year, The Ones went on a concert tour of Northeast Spain, where one of the concerts was held in the coastal small Catalan town of Cadaques , 50 kilometers from Barcelona. Here were located the private possessions of famous artists, including Salvador Dali , an unexpected meeting with which changed the life of Edgar Froze. The Ones played a concert in Dali's villa, and after that Froze was never the same again, a brilliant Spanish artist inspired him to experiment in music.

The Ones broke up in 1967, releasing only one single single (Lady Greengrass / Love of Mine). Problems began from the very beginning of 1967: the group became poorer, speaking in seedy clubs in Paris . Often they had five of them sleeping in the same room and eating garbage. After parting with The Ones, Froze returns to Berlin.

Tangerine Dream

Froze dreams of creating something special, similar to rock , blues or jazz , but at the same time a completely new one, immersing a person in the boundless inner world, opening up a new universe of his feelings - something cosmic, unearthly.

After returning to Berlin, Frese began to assemble a new rock band , which will become known as Tangerine Dream . At first, the musicians played traditional instruments for a rock band - ordinary guitars, drums and electric pianos. The group begins to perform a lot in Berlin clubs. In 1969, an important meeting took place between Froze and drummer Klaus Schulze . It happened at the cult club Zodiak . Schulze, somewhat similar to Freze in a fanatical passion for experimentation, became interested in Edgar's ideas and soon became a member of the group. After some time, the first Tangerine Dream album, Electronic Meditation , was released in 1970 .

The Electronic Meditation album quickly conquered Germany, although there was more chaos than electronics and meditation, at the same time, listeners were attracted by the unusual approach of Froze and fellow musicians. The second disc of the group, called Alpha Centauri (1971), turned out to be no less cosmic and frantic, but somewhat more structured than Electronic Meditation, electronic sounds appeared on it. The German public Alpha Centauri liked it so much that over 20,000 copies of the record were sold in Germany. The next disc Tangerine Dream was waiting for the whole German underground . The double album Zeit ("Time") was released in 1972 and consisted of four tracks, each of which tended to a 20-minute duration. The album turned out to be deep, epic and completely divorced from earthly realities. Soon followed by Atem (1973), which summed up the so-called “pink years” of Tangerine Dream, so named because of its collaboration with Ohr , a recording company whose logo was a pink ear.

Berlin School of Electronic Music

In 1974 , Tangerine Dream left Ohr and signed with British label Virgin . Froze and his comrades set about researching and introducing new technologies into music. The sound of the group has become almost completely electronic, based on synthesizers and sequencers . The new sound of the group formed the basis of such albums as Phaedra , Rubycon , Stratosfear and some others, which brought Tangerine Dream international fame and became classics of the Berlin school of electronic music .

Solo career

Between 1974 and 1983 , Froze released seven solo albums, the most powerful of which was Epsilon in Malaysian Pale , which entered the classics of the Berlin School of Electronic Music. The sound of Froze's solo albums was very close to the Tangerine Dream music of this period.

As part of the Tangerine Dream in the 1980s

In the 1980s, the group changed their style again. Spacious electronic ambient compositions gave way to a more commercial, structured and melodic sound, close to the new age , which as a whole lost its innovative spirit. Interest in the group began to fall noticeably, but interest from Hollywood sharply increased; as a result, in the 1980s, Tangerine Dream recorded over 30 American movie soundtracks .

Personal life

Edgar Froze constantly emphasized that he does not smoke and never used drugs, but, on the contrary, leads a healthy lifestyle and consumes vegetarian food .

Death

Edgar Froze died on January 20, 2015 , in the city of Vienna . According to the official website of Tangerine Dream, the musician died of a pulmonary embolism .

• Aqua (1974) (published in two versions with different versions and order of songs, both in 1974)
• Epsilon in Malaysian Pale (1975)
• Macula Transfer (1976)
• Ages (1978)
• Stuntman (1979)
• Electronic Dreams (c. 1980) compilation
• Solo 1974-1979 (1981) compilation
• Kamikaze 1989 (1982) soundtrack
• Pinnacles (1983)
• Beyond the Storm (1995) double CD, semi-compilation with new and re-arranged tracks
• Introduction to the Ambient Highway (2003) sampler compilation issued prior to the series
• Ambient Highway, Vol. 1 (2003) semi-compilation with new and remixed tracks
• Ambient Highway, Vol. 2 (2003) semi-compilation with new and remixed tracks
• Ambient Highway, Vol. 3 (2003) semi-compilation with new and remixed tracks
• Ambient Highway, Vol. 4 (2003) semi-compilation with new and remixed tracks
• Dalinetopia (2004)
• Ages (2005) partially re-recorded, remixed version of the 1978 album, omits one track from the original, but not the same one omitted for CD previously
• Epsilon in Malaysian Pale (2005) partially re-recorded, remixed version of the 1975 album
• Stuntman (2005) partially re-recorded, remixed version of the 1979 album
• Aqua (2005) partially re-recorded, remixed version of the 1974 album
• Macula Transfer (2005) partially re-recorded, remixed version of the 1976 album
• Pinnacles (2005) partially re-recorded, remixed version of the 1983 album, omits the last 1/3 of the original
• Orange Light Years (2005) double CD semi-compilation with new and remixed tracks