The German prog pioneers were founded in 1967 and had already released four albums on the Ohr label when they signed with the still young Virgin Records label in 1974. Their last Ohr release, Atem, had been named Album of the Year by influential BBC broadcaster John Peel in 1973. Phaedra was the record that launched the band's international career. When this classic instrumental work was released on February 20, 1974, it unveiled a brooding title track that spanned the entire first side, over 17 minutes of VCS 3 synthesizer glory. One of the first albums to feature sequencers, side two began with the nearly 11-minute "Mysterious Semble At The Strand Of Nightmares". Then came the eight-minute "Movements Of A Visionary" before the album ended with the short coda "Sequent C". Phaedra was recorded at the Manor, the studio in a manor house in Shipton-on-Cherwell in Oxfordshire, England, which was already celebrated in early 1974 as the place where Mike Oldfield had created Tubular Bells. It was produced by Tangerine Dream founder Edgar Froese, who played Mellotron, guitar, bass and organ and, like his colleagues Peter Baumann and Christopher Franke, the VS3. Froese also painted the picture on the album cover; Baumann added organ, electric piano and flute and Franke the Moog. Strangely enough, Phaedra was not a great success in Germany, where the band had already been established for several years. But in the British and American markets, it opened doors. A two-week run and a peak of 196 in the US charts was a modest start, but it was the first of seven charting albums there in a dozen years. In the UK, where imports of the band's pre-Virgin albums had reportedly sold 25,000 copies, the title eventually sold an estimated 100,000 units. It enjoyed a 15-week chart run, reaching number 15 in the charts there, despite very little airplay. The band would only improve on this chart position with the success of the Rubycon album No. 12 the following year. These were the first two of no less than 16 UK top ten albums in the charts over a 13 year period, in a loyal relationship between the band and their fans. As Froese himself said, "We believe that every single member of the audience has to be a musician as well. Everyone ... has a different understanding of what comes off the stage." Phaedra was originally released by Virgin Records in February 1974 and is one of Tangerine Dream's most successful and acclaimed albums. It stayed in the UK charts for 15 weeks on its release. It was recorded at Manor Studios in November 1973 and was the band's first album for Virgin, which also featured their classical, sequencer-driven music for the first time. The six-disc box set celebrating Phaedra's 50th anniversary includes the remastered original album mix, two discs of outtakes from the recording sessions, the complete concert at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London in June 1974 (the band's first live performance in the UK) and a Blu-ray disc featuring Steven Wilson's 5.1 surround sound mix of Phaedra. The box also includes an illustrated book with a new essay by Tangerine Dream expert Wouter Bessels. Contents: CD 1: Phaedra CD 2: November 1973 - Phaedra out-takes volume one CD 3: November 1973 - Phaedra out-takes volume two CD 4: "Live at the Victoria Palace Theatre, London - June 16th, 1974" [Previously unreleased] CD 5: "Live at the Victoria Palace Theatre, London - 16th June 1974" [Previously unreleased] Blu-ray: "Phaedra" 5.1 Surround Sound mix by Steven Wilson