Tangerine Dream's releases have been divided into several eras based on the record label of the time.

The Melrose Years started when Tangerine Dream switched to Peter Baumann's Private Music label, located on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles; the first release was Optical Race (1988).

The Dream Mixes series is a project initiated by Jerome Froese.

The series has a dance music slant and primarily consists of remixes of other TD material.

Albums billed as live commonly include overdubs and original material added in studio.