Tangerine Dream completists will be well aware of how hard it is to collect everything. Between the re-recorded works, various compilations with minor differences, bounteous live recordings and box sets, their legacy of work literally spans well over a hundred titles.

There’s some good news for the keen collector: On November 25th 2022, Cherry Red Records will be reissuing ‘The Bootleg Box Set, Volume 2’ via their Esoteric Recordings imprint. Not to be confused with “The Official Bootleg Series” (also in the hands of Cherry Red), the original “Bootleg Box Set” releases were issued by Castle Music back in the 00’s and soon became hard to find. The second volume, in particular, was a very short run and over the years has become incredibly sought after, occasionally fetching three figure sums on the rare instances it came up for sale on eBay.

The question is, do you need any more Tangerine Dream live material? Could there be anything to possibly rival ‘Exit’ and ‘Logos’? In this case, the answer is a resounding yes. This box set even presents audience recordings from the time of ‘Logos’, and includes a great show from Steve Jolliffe’s second stint with the band in ’78.

Although all of the tapes are taken from audience sources, the materials are often clear. They can be a little bright on occasion and a few of the finer points are lost through the cassette source, but due to quiet and respectful audiences, everything can be experienced in the manner you’d expect from some excellent unofficial sources.  In addition, the box very much keeps to a Tangerine Dream tradition of presenting unique performances, and in this case, a show from Newcastle in ’81 does a fine job in mixing up the unfamiliar with a few classics, and a tribute concert for filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder in 1983 captures a thirty six minute soundscape that fuses dark drones with shrill soundtrack elements, creating a sombre and sometimes frightening musical backdrop.

In short, it’s great that this set can now be enjoyed without fans having to shell out extortionate prices.

The full tracklisting and an audio sample can be explored below.

DISC ONE
Nottingham Albert Hall – November 8th 1976
1 Nottingham 1976 Part One
2 Nottingham 1976 Part Two
3 Nottingham 1976 Part Three

DISC TWO
Washington Lisner Auditorium – April 4th 1977
1 Introduction
2 Cherokee Lane
3 Monolight
4 Monolith

DISC THREE
Washington Lisner Auditorium – April 4th 1977
1 Drywater Rush
2 Rain in Spain
3 Octogon

DISC FOUR
Hamburg Audimax – February 24th 1978
1 Hamburg 1978 – Part One
2 Hamburg 1978 – Part Two

DISC FIVE
Newcastle City Hall – October 25th 1981
1 Logos Part 1
2 Sobornost (Edinburgh Castle)
3 Digital Times Suite
4 Bondy Paradise

DISC SIX
Newcastle City Hall – October 25th 1981
1 Mojave Plan
2 Thermal Inversion
3 Remote Viewing
4 Force Majeure
5 The Price
6 Kiew Mission
7 Choronzon

DISC SEVEN
Frankfurt – The Fassbinder Memorial Concert – June 11th 1983
1 The Fassbinder Memorial Concert

Buy the box set here: TANGERINE DREAM – Bootleg Box Set Volume 2