Steve C wrote:I'm on a roll now !
I remember vividly placing the stylus on Edgar's record Epsilon in Malaysian Pale back in 76 and feeling the hairs rise on the back of my neck as the Mellotron flute theme soared majestically. Wonderful, wonderful stuff.
First concert was the Cyclone tour of 78 at Newcastle. The music after Baumann and pre Schmoelling, whilst successful (in my view) on record, just did not gel in a live setting and I left disappointed. They more than made up for it in the following years with fantastic live shows in 80, 81 and 82 showing the band at the height of their powers. It was a privilege to be there.
I'm jealous! I would have loved to have seen the Logos tour, for example. Anyway, I got into Tangerine Dream at the start of 1988. I didn't see them live until October 1990, when I attended both shows at the Hammersmith Odeon! I remember being in heaven when they played a live version of Gaudi Park...wow.
My first listens were the three albums my big brother had: Stratosfear, Force Majeure and Thief. All on vinyl. Then lots of trips to the big Virgin megastore on Oxford Street to buy up the whole back catalogue. I recall the summer of 1988 fondly, and loving the new studio album, Optical Race. Plus Schmoelling's wonderful The Zoo of Tranquillity which came out at round the same time.
I should say though that I believe that my first listen to TD, literally speaking, would have been when I watched Firestarter on home video a few years before!