Tangerine Dream: Untangling the Tangram

JOHANNES SCHMOELLING      Following the departure of Steve Jolliffe & Klaus Krueger after the Cyclone (1978) & Force Majeure (1979) albums, Tangerine Dream returned to a classic keyboard trio with Johannes Schmoelling, who was largely responsible for the reinvention of Tangerine Dream as an eighties hit-making maschine phenomenon, with best-selling albums of shorter songs such as Exit (1981) and Le Parc (1985), as well as some outstanding soundtracks including Thief (1981) and Legend (1986). In addition, Johannes Schmoelling featured in many classic live performances of the period, most famously when Tangerine Dream became the first western band to play in East Berlin in January 1980, subsequently released as the Pergamon (or Quichotte) album. Finally, after an exhausting six years of relentless touring and recording with Tangerine Dream, Johannes Schmoelling decided to call it quits, marking the beginning of a long career as a solo artist spanning five decades. Das ist fantastische, ja!? 

Very interesting and serene but intriguing stuff. 

I sampled Instant City and Thousand Times...are those your favlorites?

Johannes Schmoelling's Recycled version of Stratosfear.

PAUL HASLINGER        Austrian musician Paul Haslinger was a member of Tangerine Dream from 1986 thru' to 1990 and during his five years with the band, he recorded an incredible total of 19 albums, 8 of which were released after he'd already left Tangerine Dream. A lucrative career in Los Angeles beckoned, where the world was his lobster. He recorded an almost endless succession of scores for TV shows, video games and movie soundtracks in Hollywood, where the future looked so bright, he had to wear shades (especially in the dazzling Californian sunshine). By the way, if you really want to hear some amazing music, then skip all of the soundtracks and check out Exit Ghost II (2021), which is simply sublime! ....... And talking of exits, it's time for me to say "Auf Wiedersehen", until the next time.  

JEROME FROESE      Best-remembered by many as the cute baby on the cover of Tangerine Dream's Atem album in 1973, Jerome Froese became a full-time member of Tangerine Dream in 1990 at the age of 19 - having grown an impressive German mullet in the intervening period - Jerome remained with his father's band until 2005 when a  solo career beckoned.

                 2005: Jerome Froese - Neptunes

                 2007: Jerome Froese - Shiver Me Timbers

                 2012: Jerome Froese - Far Side of the Face

                 2015: Jerome Froese - Orange Sized Dreams (Works 1990-1995)

                 2018: Jerome Froese - Beginn (with Claudia Brucken)

LINDA SPA     A Viennese fancy and dedicated follower of fashion, Linda Spa learned to play piano in her parents' boutique in Vienna, where she also developed a passion for fashion and high heeled shoes, eventually going on to own almost as many pairs of shoes as Imelda Marcos. Linda studied piano, saxophone and clarinet at the Vienna School of Music, and through her Viennese friends, she met Edgar Froese and Paul Haslinger in 1990, who just happened to be looking for a saxophonist to join Tangerine Dream at the time. Linda Spa brought new glamour, excitement and saxuality to Tangerine Dream's live performances during her first tenure with the band, before departing for pastures new in 1996.  Linda then made the most amazing comeback since Lazarus almost a decade later, when she rejoined Tangerine Dream in 2005 and remained with the band until the major upheaval of 2014, when Bernard Beibl and Iris Camaa both departed around the same time, leaving only Thorsten Quaeshning to continue Tangerine Dream in the wake of Edgar Froese's permanent change of cosmic address in early 2015. 

Linda Spa - It's Not Over Now