Tangerine Dream may need perplexed many with 1978’s prog rock opus Cyclone, however they quickly got here again out on prime with the next yr’s Power Majeure: a formidable file which broached the UK High 40, garnered appreciable acclaim and ensured the trailblazing West Berlin outfit bade farewell to the 70s on a excessive. When Tangram, their first file of the brand new decade, was launched, in Might 1980, it ensured that the group would proceed on that trajectory.
Regardless of that Power Majeure’s success, the band had been in a state of flux since Peter Baumann departed following 1977’s warmly acquired, US-recorded dwell LP Encore. Mainstays Edgar Froese and Christopher Franke stored the religion, however the ensuing Cyclone was recorded with a short-lived line-up that includes vocals and flute from Steve Jolliffe (previously of British blues-rockers Steamhammer), whereas Power Majeure included contributions from cellist Eduard Mayer and drummer Klaus Kruger.
Later in 1979, nonetheless, Tangerine Dream reverted to their “classic” three-man configuration with the arrival of Johannes Schmoelling. A keyboard virtuoso who initially discovered his chops taking part in the pipe organ in his native Catholic church, Schmoelling was a gifted and versatile musician, however he was making a residing as a sound engineer in a West Berlin theatre when Froese recruited him.
Schmoelling’s arrival offered some much-needed stability as Tangerine Dream confronted the 80s. He was totally built-in into the line-up by the point the band performed their historic live performance in East Berlin in January 1980, and simply weeks later he joined Froese and Franke in West Berlin’s Polygon Studios to start out work on TD’s tenth album, Tangram.
Issued by Virgin in Might 1980, Tangram once more attracted constructive press and cracked the UK High 40. Superficially, its content material (two side-long items entitled “Tangram Set 1” and “Tangram Set 2,” respectively) mirrored the band’s mid-70s albums similar to Phaedra and Rubycon. Nonetheless, whereas these earlier, Virgin-released recordings had been customary from hypnotic sequencer loops and lengthy, spontaneous classes of improvisation, Tangram provided jazz-oriented chord patterns and extremely developed melodies; its fashionable wares are nonetheless tightly structured and accessible sufficient to stay a gorgeous proposition for novices and seasoned followers alike.
Each of the file’s 20-minute exercises have retained an attraction that has steadfastly refused to wane. Although TD’s trademark sequencers make a short, if decisive look across the 13-minute mark, “Tangram Set 1” is uncharacteristically heat, blissful, and balmy, whereas the crisp synth motifs and insistent digital rhythms that pop up throughout the ever-morphing “Tangram Set 2” recommend Froese and co have been already nicely on the way in which to planning the surprising raid on the dancefloor they might pull off on 1981’s Exit.
