TANGRAM

Tangerine Dream moves into the turbulent eighties with an album that transfixed with its immeasurable beauty and complexity. The first side is a juxtaposition of musical pieces that build into cosmic shapes until it bursts open with a sequencer that drives a hypno trance beat. This is how I like Sympho electro served up.

In 1980 the duo of Froese and Franke were joined by Schmoelling and began to focus on a more accessible sound akin to the growing popularity of Jarre, Oldfield and Vangelis. To say they were selling out is an unfair summation of their development as it's clear the eighties demanded a Neo approach lest the band were to spin into the depths of obscurity. The first track takes detours into a vast variety of sounds and this culminates in an album with surprises around every corner. There is a guitar passage that is absolutely gorgeous and percussive sections and layer upon layer of keyboards. It even ends on Who- inspired keyboard chops. Side two is slower and more patient with extended keyboard pads and sporadic passages of jumpy beats and dissonance merged in among beautiful pastoral washes. I particularly love the sound of helicopter blade flutters and later chirping locusts generating organic atmospheres of tranquility and ambience. It lulls you off into a dream in places.

This is the type of album that grows slowly on the listener. I call it musical ear candy for the senses. There are enough innovative shifts in tone and style to appease a listener so I can easily rate this as one of the best of the TD releases along with "Force Majeure" though I have yet to encounter any TD as awesome as "Ricochet" which is the one masterpiece thus far. Right, I'm off to listen to "Firestarter".

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