Released in 1980, Tangram marked the beginning of the Johannes Schmoelling period and ushered Tangerine Dream forward into the new decade, while simultaneously glancing backwards at the 1970s. Although the synth tone colors used on Tangram are "newer sounding" than the brooding mellotron and synthesizers used on their 1970s works, they are still very somber and organic sounding and impart a gloominess to the album that I find very appealing. The album consists of two lengthy pieces including Tangram Set 1 (19'51") and Tangram Set 2 (20'22"), which are fairly interesting and feature the spacey sections and trademark pulsating sequenced synth bass lines that were characteristic of their late 1970s output. Instrumentation consists predominantly of Moog and Oberheim synthesizers, some string synthesizer, with acoustic and electric guitar parts here and there. Percussion is absent. All in all, this is an excellent Tangerine Dream album and forms a nice bookend to their 1970s recordings.
