Much like Stratosfear before it in 1976, Tangram is very much a transitional album, the halfway point between one era and the next. That is not to say anything of its quality; rather it is a comment on its unusual style. If Stratosfear was the point when the band edged away from Berlin School to progressive rock, then Tangram is the move from prog to the new age / synthpop blend they would perfect in the 1980s. Although the arrival of Johannes Schmoelling as a permanent third member, and the procurement of digital gear give the album a fresh, new sound, structurally the two pieces on the album are very similar to the title track of Force Majeure: strong melodic anthemic sections joined by short sections of synth noise.Looking past the shiny surface the 1980s and all its new kit brought, the most obvious difference found here is in Schmoelling's compositional approach. In joining the band, he pushed Froese and Franke to expand their musical style, clear from the very start of the album. Gone are the moody, sinister elements of previous albums, replaced by more richly emotional melodies. The opening section, with its tentative sequence and strident electric piano chords is bittersweet; the following movement sees the band sounding broad and optimistic for the first time in their career. Over the course of the album's two side-long pieces (the last time the group would take this approach for a studio record), energetic sequences alternate with hushed, relaxed sections, such as the beautiful piano break around nine minutes into Set One. Throughout, the mood is jubilant, or melancholic, or bittersweet, but never bleak or foreboding. Indeed, TD had left behind their previous contemporaries of krautrock and prog groups, and sounded more like Jean Michel Jarre and even Vangelis. Deep down, however, this is still a Tangerine Dream record. The pieces flow as well as any other extended tracks, and the composition is sublime. If the 1980s is considered an era where the group lost their edge a little, this album is certainly not one of those records. At every point the music is rich, beautiful and vibrant. Whilst some of the sounds are rooted very much in 1980, a lot of the album sounds strikingly contemporary (as evidenced by its 2008 re-work by Edgar: hardly a career highlight, yet the material works surprisingly well with a dance beat behind it). Tangram is one of the few TD albums I can put on pretty much regardless of mood, and probably the one album of theirs that moves me the most. A beautiful 40 minutes of music, and highly recommend to anybody exploring the band.

A very good review. A beautiful 40 minutes of music indeed.