Tangerine Dream

Live at Coventry Cathedral 1975 (Respect Recordings)

Twenty-seven minutes long with chop-shop menus and no bonuses, Coventry Cathedral nevertheless turns up a semiprecious token in the collection plate. Three West German longhairs minutely adjusting knobs among candelabras at the altar of Britain’s savior makes for action-packed sequences when augmented acidic by postproduction visuals left over from Woodstock. Tangerine Dream’s 1974-75 tour of Christian masonry no doubt made usual services seem choreographed by comparison. Remarkably, despite the information and content vacuum herein, promo footage documenting one of electronica’s first commercial breakthroughs actually preserves a pivotal chapter in so-called Krautrock history. Ricochet, whose second side is highlighted on Coventry, hints broadly at the aural iconography Edgar Froese’s late-1960s musical vehicle would lend Risky Business, as well as big-screen sparks such as William Friedkin’s Sorcerer, Ridley Scott’s Legend, and Michael Mann’s Thief. Soundtracking underground power matrices suited Tangerine Dream to peak effect on 1976 disc Stratosfear. Lay eyes on the tingler.

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This article appears in December 26 • 2008.

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San Francisco native Raoul Hernandez crossed the border into Texas on July 2, 1992, and began writing about music for the Chronicle that fall, debuting with an album review of Keith Richards’ Main Offender. By virtue of local show previews – first “Recommendeds,” now calendar picks – his writing’s appeared in almost every issue since 1993.