3.5

Release data:

Johannes Schmoelling – Early Beginnings
CD, Viktoriapark Records, 2008

The anthology “Early Beginnings” comprises a range of previously unreleased recordings, rough drafts and demo’s Johannes Schmoelling recorded between 1979-1985, giving a nice insight in the musician’s process on finding his own voice and signature in music.

When Johannes joined Tangerine Dream between 1980 and 1985, he was able to add his beautiful melodic input to the bands sound while simultaneously infusing his ingenious, evocative and appealing atmospheres.
The music featured on this anthology is not that polished though, offering the rough sketches and musical framework of initial ideas which would come to fruition later on.

What a pleasure though to hear joyous melodic pieces such as “Perpetual Motion” or “Avatar”, hitting the right spot and vibe found in TD’s ‘80’s and Schmoellings later solo work. “Walking on Sunset Blvd” revisits TD’s “Thief” period in its own way, while the movie-track “Violence in the Street” echoes TD’s album “Exit”.
The pieces “Echo Village” and “The Soldier Theme” contain the key elements and mood of TD’s score for “The Soldier”, followed by “Riding the Bike”, Johannes’ peculiar pop-jazz interpretation of the “Streethawk” theme.

“Early Beginnings” makes an interesting historical document with crazy odds and ends, despite its quite poor sound quality.

Website: www.johannesschmoelling.de

You can see what reviews I have done of this artist on the Johannes Schmoelling artist page