TANGRAM

Tangram is the only Electronic album i own at the moment, and if it weren't for the fact that most earlier Tangerine Dream albums are rated so much higher, there is a chance that it would be one of the last as well.

It's not a bad album at all, and i do believe that it is a great starting point for many newcomers to the genre, there is just something very unsatisfying in the way it is structured. It begins right away with some noce melodies, and then there are various sections with very varied sound, and this is where my problem lies. There is, in my mind, no real reason why it sould be "one song in two parts" rather than simply several separate songs, as on any other regular album. I can't really compare the quality of the music with other TD releases, as this is the first i've heard, but while there are certain sections which are exactly what i would want from the electronic prog genre, such as the opening, it is a little too disjointed for me to warrant it more than 3 stars, especially since it i so obvious that these fellows can do so much better. I don't even mind the geeky 80's sound, as i am an avid player of old 80's video games, it's just that there is too little aim, and for me, aim is very important for such a sterile sounding record.

So while i have faith in the german trio (or whatever they were on the earlier albums), i really can't see Tangram as anything more than a starting point, and maybe some easy ambient listening some lonely night in from of the computer screen.