For those unaware, as a key member of Tangerine Dream, Peter Baumann’s contribution was felt on the classic albums released by Virgin Records issued between 1974 and 1976, ‘Phaedra’, ‘Rubicon’, ‘Ricochet’ and ‘Stratosphere’.

In 1976 he embarked on a solo career with his classic work ‘Romance ‘76’, recorded in July and August that year in Berlin and Munich. The result was a remarkable album that is now held in huge esteem by aficionados of German electronic music.

His next work as a solo artist was the equally remarkable and ground-breaking album ‘Trans Harmonic Nights’, recorded in Berlin between July 1978 and January 1979, a release which per-empted and influenced the protagonists of synthesizer-based music that would burst forth in the 1980s.

His third and final album for Virgin Records was ‘Repeat Repeat’, which saw him adopt a more song-based approach to his writing, stylistically akin with the prevailing mood of the early 1980s. Recorded in New York and at Compass Point studios in Nassau in the Bahamas, ‘Repeat Repeat’ was co-produced by Baumann and Robert Palmer.

Phase By Phase – The Virgin Albums [3CD] is the first time all of Peter Baumann’s solo works issued by Virgin Records have been gathered together in one collection.

CD 1: Romance ’76
1. Bicentennial Present
2. Romance
3. Phase by Phase
4. Meadow of Infinity (Part One)
5. The Glass Bridge
6. Meadow of Infinity (Part Two)

With blatant references to Rubycon, Ricochet, and Stratosfear popping up in various places, it’s actually Baumann’s arrangements here that have an added clarity and directness that drive the music more than one would have imagined.

Thus on a song like Phase by Phase, the results can seem circumspect, and too much open space allows the listener’s attention to seep out through the cracks. But the rest of the record finds Baumann expertly controlling what he wants the listener to hear.

For a further example, Romance introduces new sounds carefully and for calculated effect, a style that would reappear on the Baumann-produced Grosses Wasser by Cluster. This and the opening Bicentennial Present are remarkably accessible for electronic music from the ’70s - the latter especially feels like the best parts of Stratosfear distilled - but never at the expense of sounding trite.

Baumann shows off different styles of electronic music on the first three tracks, only to challenge the listener’s expectations all over again with the semi-classical Meadow of Infinity. Mixing orchestral instruments (cellos, human voices, percussion) and electronics, the composer creates a tone poem using only the sounds he needs to describe the action.

CD 2: Trans Harmonic Nights
1. This Day
2. White Bench and Black Beach
3. Chasing the Dream
4. Biking Up the Strand
5. Phaseday
6. Meridian Moorland
7. The Third Site
8. Dance at Dawn

Baumann’s second solo album, released in 1978 following his departure from Tangerine Dream, covers much of the same ground as his first solo album, meaning it is mostly short, unfussy, minimalist melodic synthesizer pieces with perky sequencing.

The main addition to the mix is a vocoder which Peter makes liberal use of in several of the tracks. To be honest, the music on offer here will be immediately familiar in style to anyone who’s heard Tangerine Dream’s Stratosfear, Encore or all those bootlegs of their lives sets from back when, to the point where it makes me wonder why Baumann felt he had to leave the band to make this stuff.

I mean, it can hardly have been so-called musical differences (indeed he even can be heard some distinctly Edgar-ish fuzzed guitar in places), but regardless, the music is timeless.

CD 3: Repeat Repeat:
1. Repeat Repeat
2. Home Sweet Home
3. Deccadance
4. Real Times
5. M.A.N. Series Two
6. Brain Damage
7. Kinky Dinky
8. Daytime Logic
9. Playland Pleasure
10. What is Your Use

Baumann returned in 1981 with his third solo album, Repeat Repeat. After two well received electronic/progressive/instrumental albums in the late seventies, Repeat Repeat, produced by Robert Palmer along with Baumann, is a straight forward electro-New Wave album.

Indeed, this new venture has Baumann providing vocals on all tracks with a style similar to Gary Numan and icy electronics that recall Kraftwerk and early John Foxx. The title track was given a single release and music video in the UK, which I vividly recall, having grown up in England.

And by the time the album was released in the USA, the running order was shuffled and a couple of songs had been remixed. Daytime Logic was released as a single and became an underground dance hit.

In closing, and with the album title Repeat Repeat, luckily he didn’t actually bring forth another Ricochet here, or God forbid, another Romance ’76 album! For me, the best track is definitely Playland Pleasure, itself being a rather catchy and addictive cut than most all the others: and one that we can even lovingly recognize its elements inspired by prior Tangerine Dream albums.