After Peter Baumann left TD for good in 1977, the band struggled, not only musically (for example, the critical and commercially unsuccessful "Cyclone" in '78) but they also struggled to keep a "regular" third member of the band.
Many session musicians came and went in '78 & '79 (Klaus Krieger, Steve Joliffe, Michael Hoenig)as the band tried to "find themselves" again.
Enter Johaness Schmoelling. Schmoelling helped breathe new life into TD's sound that brought them into the '80s. The band hearkened back to the older days with this latest release in the fact that the album contained only two tracks that each took up an entire side of an LP (or cassette - don't even get me started on 8-track!), but this time, the music was brighter and more vibrant. The new decade heralded a new Tangerine Dream with a more modern feel.
Edgar Froese's guitar is present during some passages and Chris Franke's sequencers are upbeat and aggressive. Schmoelling adds bright and warm synthesizer melodies to complement Edgar's dark and brooding ones.
This album was a turning point for TD and it proved that most of the fans were willing to follow them into the next decade and beyond...
June 19, 2007One of their best, this album is full of warm, classic synth sounds married with outstanding compositions. Tangram part1 in particular is one of the best analog workouts ever, featuring polyrhythmic sequences of the highest possible personality, mystery and charm. This is more structed, proper 'music' than their 70s output. Some feel that their earlier magic may be compromised by the newer structures, but here the Dream are at the peak of their powers compositionally and so I feel much is gained.
This is easily one of the best all-synthesizer albums ever made.
February 6, 2007When Johannes Schmoelling was brought into the TD fold, he brought with him a sense of musicality and tunefulness that was lacking in much of TD's earlier work. Tangram does contain many of the characteristic effects and sequences that made their earlier work so noteworthy, but Schmoelling's contribution took the album to a soulful and emotionally appealing level. This made TD's sound more appealing to listeners who wanted a more visceral, organic experience. Purists will not be dismayed: this recording still retains driving synths and loops; but instead of letting these rhythms take over and dominate the album, there is a sense of cohesion that ties it all up very neatly. It's a beautiful album, and for a person just jumping onto the TD train, a nice introduction to this important band. It is not mainstream, and, like a lot of TD's work, will take some getting into. Yet, if the listener is willing to hang in there, (he) will find this album appealing, innovative and facinating.
May 3, 2006 |  | An excellent, brooding bookend to their 1970s output. |  |
Released in 1980, Tangram marked the beginning of the Johannes Schmoelling period and ushered Tangerine Dream forward into the new decade, while simultaneously glancing backwards at the 1970s. Although the synth tone colors used on Tangram are "newer sounding" than the brooding mellotron and synthesizers used on their 1970s works, they are still very somber and organic sounding and impart a gloominess to the album that I find very appealing. The album consists of two lengthy pieces including Tangram Set 1 (19'51") and Tangram Set 2 (20'22"), which are fairly interesting and feature the spacey sections and trademark pulsating sequenced synth bass lines that were characteristic of their late 1970s output. Instrumentation consists predominantly of Moog and Oberheim synthesizers, some string synthesizer, with acoustic and electric guitar parts here and there. Percussion is absent. All in all, this is an excellent Tangerine Dream album and forms a nice bookend to their 1970s recordings. I guess that my only complaint is with the shoddy CD reissue packaging, which features a thin paper insert without a single liner note apart from the track listing. Otherwise, this is highly recommended along with all of their albums from 1970-1979 (yes, Cyclone too!).
January 16, 2006 | | Today's classical music already exists | |
Sorry Aionios, but your idea that TD might be today's classical music overlooks the fact that a huge world of modern classical music already exists. I think this album and TD in general are wonderful, and important musically, but they aren't exactly classical. TD exists in a cross-pollenated world influenced by many things from many genres, including several popular music strands, European modern classical composers like Stockhausen and Ligeti, and American counterparts like LaMonte Young and Terry Riley. And certainly they bring an orchestral sense to this hybrid ambient music, both in scope and in texture, but that's not the same as being classical music, any more than the oft-misguided claim that jazz is America's classical music. Jazz is jazz, classical is classical, and TD is, well, TD! Which is to say, not easily pigeon-holed... And actually, all that having been said, labels never work anyway. =)
July 29, 2004More reviews at Amazon.com ...
(24 reviews)