There are different kinds of fans of Tangerine Dream music, so to understand my reviews, you must understand my tastes. I prefer their later works, with songs that are harmonious, rhythmic, lyrical, and "pretty." Their first excellent album for me was Underwater Sunlight. You might find (by reading lots of reviews) that the people who love TDream's early work dislike the later albums; people who like the later albums don't like the early stuff. I am the 2nd type. Of my 22 or so TDream albums so far, the greatest ones (in approximate order) are: Le Parc, Underwater Sunlight, Architecture in Motion, Private Music, Goblins' Club, Optical Race, Melrose, Lily on the Beach. OK albums are: Tang-go, Force Majeure, Exit. Unpleasant albums are: Turn of the Tides, Rockoon, Stratosfear, Phaedra, Atem, Alpha Centauri, Elect. Meditation, or anything else pre '83. Underwater Sunlight is great! Especially Scuba Scuba. In Song of the Whale, TDream uses a musical dissonance to make sure you remain awake - hope you don't mind! TDream fans who share my tastes MUST try out Patrick O'Hearn.

During the first months of 1986, Tangerine Dream was reduced to the nucleus of the band, Christopher Franke and Edgar Froese. After the departure of Johannes Schmoelling, they again decided that a change in the musical direction was welcome. Working alone, the duo composed the musical material for the new studio album, which later was dubbed "Underwater Sunlight". In the meantime, Edgar Froese, as a manager of the band, was intensively looking for a replacement, someone who would fill in the place of Johannes - and that was to be someone whose contribution was to be in tune with the new direction the band took. As it happened, the fresh blood injected into the old machine's veins was Paul Haslinger, a young Austrian classically trained musician, who in addition to synthesizers specialized in acoustic and electric piano, and more to the point, was able to play rhythm guitar, to complement Edgar's Les Paul leading guitar. Haslinger actually took part in the final recording of the album, although the material was already composed.

This said, one must admit that his contribution was welcome, given the circumstances. This was still the time when Tangerine Dream members were fond of delicate piano tunes, so-far performed and composed by Schmoelling. The Song of the Whale, the opening suite of the album features a moving piano song, which was masterfully performed by young Paul. There are many reasons to be happy with this album, beyond that. For a brief moment, the band returned to the traditional musical form of a suite, which took the whole side of the vinyl release. As much as the previous studio album, Le Parc, was loved and appreciated, the suite on "Underwater Sunlight" brought us the memories of good old days, when compositions were as long as the vinyl medium allowed, and divided into tracks only because they didn't fit on any one side of the record. Song of the Whale is a delicious journey into the unknown musical land - what a treat! With two guitars interlaced in recognizable, and even hummable tunes, with the harmony of the actual composition, this record is more of a "concept album" than any other release by Tangerine Dream from the 1980s.

Flipping the side of the vinyl, or simply switching to another, second track on CD) you gain speed, accelerate with 'Dolphin Dance', a Christopher Franke very dynamic composition which is perfectly composed and executed. Indeed, the track was to become a long-standing favorite of both the audiophiles, and the band members as well. Tangerine Dream successfully performed 'Dolphin Dance' live during their concert tours in 1986, and 1987, and even years later, during the 1990s, the shadow of Tangerine Dream, as it was, enjoyed exhumation of this song during their concert tours. That's not all, my friends! Christopher Franke must have liked this track enough to have included it in his program for the come-back concert in 1991. Rid of the Froese influences, Franke delivers an astoundingly good and fresh version of 'Dolphin Dance' on "The London Concert" disk, released to our enjoyment and hilarity in 1991. It's indeed a pearl.

After that, the album enters more shallow waters, I am sad to say. The following two tracks, 'Ride on the Ray' and 'Scuba Scuba' wander aimlessly for quite long time, indicating that they were more of a fill-in material than actual scores. After all, in early 1986 the band was on the crossroads, the compositional think-tank was limited to two members, one of whom was more than a little tired already. Thus they should be forgiven - these tracks are not all that bad, just aimless.

At the very end of the album, we get a special goodbye treat, a short and beautiful composition 'Underwater Twilight'. It summarizes the whole album in bare two minutes of delight.

Not counting the soundtracks, "Underwater Sunlight", issued in 1986, is the very last TD studio album that could carry my interest. There are some interesting moments in here, which make it worthwhile.

The essential song of the album is "Song of the Whale (Pts 1 and 2)", a 20 min exploration of the soundscapes underwater. Part 2 of the track, which starts with a gentle piano intro, eventually bursts into a soaring synth solo for which the album is best known. The remaining 20 min. of the album are evenly spread over 4 tracks, sounding very much like "Le Parc II". "Scuba Scuba" is the best of the lot, with a mesmorizing percussion.

Tangerine Dream of the "Underwater Sunlight" period is a gentler, "lighter" TD than what I came to enjoy. The melodies are pleasing to the ears, but perhaps too easily pleasing for my taste, if you know what I mean. Consider this: a mere 2 years before this album, TD issued "Poland", their last truly great album. How quickly it all changed! This is not a bad album, but certainly not a great on either, considering the legacy TD carries with it.

Tangerine Dream's 1986 album "Underwater Sunlight" is the second of their major themed studio albums, building on the success of their previous release, "Le Parc". It also marks Paul Haslinger's debut with the band, following the departure of Johannes Schmoelling some six months earlier.

Inspired perhaps by Edgar Froese's love for scuba diving, this album evokes various aspects of the underwater world but without resorting to any hackneyed techniques or sonic images which are commonplace on those `natural ambient recordings' to be found all over the place nowadays. Don't worry that this disc is awash with `soothing and relaxing synthesiser sounds (TM)' played over taped whale and dolphin sounds and the splashing of the sea, though! Rather, what you'll find here are truly musical portraits-albeit of synthesiser origin-and all of the highest possible order.

The major work on the disc is the two-part `Song of the Whale'-a classic Tangerine Dream composition. For almost 20 minutes, mellifluous guitar and soft synthesiser melodies build music which dips and soars majestically, at times driven along by sequencer-powered synthesiser rhythms and no-nonsense electronic percussion lines, at other times drifting calmly in currents of its own making. Paul Hasslinger stamps his mark on this album very early on with his rhythm guitar work permeating both parts of `Song of the Whale' and with a sparkling grand piano solo, introducing part II. Hasslinger's rhythm guitar is in evidence, too, in the next track, `Dolphin Dance', which is an altogether more playful piece, featuring more classic TD alternating synthesiser and guitar riffs over pulsing percussion and jangling guitar. `Ride on the Ray' is a more stately affair, its melodies gliding effortlessly over a glittering array of percussion elements, while `Scuba scuba' uses a serious of flowing synthesiser voices to portray the scuba diver's distorted aural perspective of the world. Finally, the closing `Underwater twilight' evokes the somewhat unnerving serenity of the half-light found in deeper waters. Starting with a subdued and rather sedate synthesiser chorus, out of whose dulcet tones an electronic tom and percussion pulse emerges, with a shower of keyboard runs slowly rising like a flow of bubbles to the surface, this track draws the album to a powerful but gentle and satisfying conclusion.

My only complaint of this album is that, like many of its day, its 40-minute duration is somewhat scant by modern CD standards. Incidentally, the 5-CD "Dream Roots Collection" includes about half of this album, scattered over its 3 central CDs. But heck, you need all of it! An absolute delight throughout, this music is really just too good to ignore and if you're at all tempted, you shouldn't hold back!

...I don't see the connection between the musical thematics and being in or under the water. Even the Song of the Whale - which is quite good - does not at all give me the sense of swimming with these gentle giants...nor do most of the other tracks. It just seems to me the name was picked somewhat arbitrarily given that there isn't much within the music itself that evokes oceanic imagery or a sense of being waterborn.

In any case, two or three of the tracks are quite good. There is certainly more emotion in this work than in some of their later efforts. Especially those in the last 10 years or so. Recommended if you're building a TG library and need an original sounding work to add to the collection.