Romance 76

In the spring of 1976, Tangerine Dream played a few concerts in various places around Europe, and all through that summer Peter Baumann recorded his first solo project, Romance 76. He felt that he had more and more difficulties finding his role in Tangerine Dream and he needed to go his own ways. He was passionate about his first solo album, and it gained a lot of appreciation and was even played on the radio a few times.

With Peter Baumann on board, Tangerine Dream grew into one of the most influential bands in electronic Krautrock, sited somewhere between experimental electronica and progressive rock. Open to new ideas, Baumann's positive aura and eagerness to experiment galvanized the band's music almost instantaneously. His catchy melodies, rich in positivity, propelled Tangerine Dream into the charts.

After five years of chart appearances and extensive touring through Europe and North America, punctuated by several albums -- including Atem, John Peel's nominated import album of 1973 -- Baumann called time on his solo career with Romance 76. "We found some time between tours and record productions, so Edgar recorded a solo disc and helped Christoph and me to develop our own music too. Romance 76 resulted from the urge to create new music. I felt we had begun repeating ourselves in Tangerine Dream and I was keen to discover new things, to carry on experimenting. Improvisation had been common to us all, but on your own it isn't quite so simple. I started to work on my own pieces." This shift in focus led him to leave Tangerine Dream towards the end of 1977. He and a friend set up the Paragon Studio in Berlin, which would earn a prominent place in music production history, but that's another story.

Still a member of the band in 1976, Baumann rented a hall in the ufaFabrik, Berlin to record Romance 76. Sonic similarities to Tangerine Dream can be explained by the fact that the group used the same space for gig rehearsals, giving Baumann access to their instruments. The distinctive sound of a modular synthesizer system christened 'The Big One' can be detected on Romance 76, for example, along with a Mellotron. Some tracks on the album, such as Romance and Phase By Phase, are relatively minimalist in character. This airiness lends the unusual synth sounds space to unfold in all their glory. A state of affairs for which David Bowie is partially responsible, as Baumann recalls: "We were in Berlin and met him for dinner, then he would call in while I was recording the album, listening carefully to what I was working on. I explained to him what still needed to be done, but Bowie suggested: 'Leave it as it is, there's enough there already.'? At which point Baumann decided to look at the tracks in question as finished.