Vangelis - Prog?

Fellow members, we thank you for bringing up this matter once more (count must be of double digits now) and showing such great interest in it. We would also like to remind you, however, that this will still be of no avail.

Logan wrote:   You should try some of his earlier albums, if you haven't already (see the clips I posted).

 

Edited by Ivan_Melgar_M - November 08 2011 at 16:54

jean-marie wrote: Prog for sure, he already was prog with Aphrodite'schild first album ( End of the world ) Just listen carefully to tracks like : the grass is no green, day of the fool or the sheperd and the moon...It was kind of prog genesis.......

jean-marie wrote: Slartibartfast wrote: Logan wrote: I have great respect for Philippe, and for Rico while he was on the team.  It's actually been one of the team threads that I've most enjoyed visiting/ making sugesstions to.  Both very personable, insightful, quick to respond,  thorough in response, easy to talk to, and enthusiastic when they enjoy the music.. That just deepens the mystery.  I think I figured it out though: Beauborg.     Beaubourg not beauborg... it's a museum in Paris...but yes...and what about invisible connections? is it prog enough?

Whaaa????
It all sounds like sqeeee eee eeeekkk to me dammit!  You know, I think I remember some verbiage on the cover but dammed if that thing totally didn't work for me when I first heard it.  The same thing with those two albums with the sci-fi covers.  I was backwards exploring and terribly disappointed by all of that.  Heaven And Hell and Albedo 90210 remain tops for me.  Spiral too.  I don't hear the particular distinctions in sub genres that Ivan does though.  It all sounds progressive electronic to me.  Maybe my problem is that I find all good synthesizer dominated music to be the epitome of progressive electronic.


Edited by Slartibartfast - November 08 2011 at 15:37

Prog for sure, he already was prog with Aphrodite'schild first album ( End of the world ) Just listen carefully to tracks like : the grass is no green, day of the fool or the sheperd and the moon...It was kind of prog genesis.......

The connection I see of real value to this site is that he has more than sufficient materal/ albums to be included in a PA  prog category.  Lots of artists can't easily be pigeonholed/ work in diverse styles, but for evaluation we should focus on the most deemed Prog Archives-relevant albums, and not let the other material keep an artist out of a prog category, in my opinion.

Vangelis himself is not Prog, and I don't call artists Prog, only artist's music, but he sure has music that fits PA's Prog umbrella.

The only connection I see as value between Vangelis and prog is in fact part of his history where Jon Anderson desperately attempted to make him a member of YES. Only then ...during that time it seemed as if he would become the next Wakeman or Emerson.....recording and touring with a progressive rock band, but in the end I suppose it was up to the musician's union ...or whatever reason?...Jon Anderson didn't have the time to waste and hired someone else. Vangelis was considered a progressive rock keyboardist by your prog icons, but he was diverse and dismissed the proposition continuing to make a living composing soundtracks. What made his RCA releases to sound more prog crossover than other Electronic artists was the fact that he played drums and steered clear of the drum machine death trap for a while. Take for example when Tangerine Dream released Force Majeure....it sounded more prog in sections due to the employed drummer.

If it was only for "Heaven & Hell", I would claim Vangelis for Symphonic (Extremely close to 666), but his career is too diverse.

He has more than one full Prog album, so he should be considered Prog IMO.

Now, I'm more oriented for Eclectic or Crossover.

Edited by Ivan_Melgar_M - November 08 2011 at 10:27

Saperlipopette! wrote: ... - Vangelis is prog no doubt. He should be in Eclectic... or I don't know. The ones I've kept in my collection by him are: Hypothesis, The Dragon, Sex Power, Earth, Heaven and Hell, L'apocalypse des Animaux, Albedo 039, Beaubourg. Eight albums in almost as many different genres.

digdug wrote: Logan wrote: ...Vangelis was declined for Progressive Electronic, and I think an Art Rock sub such as Crossover could fit work of his well (or Eclectic ).  He has electronic, jazzy, avant Prog, psych Krautrocky, and more classical symphish pieces.... Digdug, of the albums you have, do you have Hypothesis and Dragon?  What albums do you think most suitable to a Prog category that you have?   Here are my Vangelis albums     The Dragon                      - 1971   -  Sounds like Krautrock to me L'Apocalypse des Animaux -  1973 -  more ambient - Prog Electronic fits Earth                               - 1973  -  all over the map - but definitely prog Heaven and Hell                - 1975  -  this could easily fit under Avant Chariots of Fire                 - 1981 -  softer - almost classical - but prog 1492 Conquest of Paradise - 1992 - softer - almost classical - but prog El Greco                            - 1998 - softer - almost classical - but prog    I also used to have Blade Runner.... but this seems to have disappeared  :(     Overall , I guess I would throw him  in eclectic   :)

Quoting both, and adding in more of my posts, since they relate and help make the case for eclectic.

Cool! Thanks.  I could definitely see him in Eclectic , and methinks it may be about time that that team check it (I used to be on it and may still have a vote, but would be rude of me to intrude after all this time). Maybe let this thread develop a  bit more first since it'll help as people post more youtube vids (plus the other such discussions that have happened). It would take Admin plus Eclectic team approval to move it, I believe.  I think one reason why it is still in Related is because it was rejected for Prog Electronic, but no other Prog category team has evaluated it to my knowledge.

I have Hypothesis, Dragon, L'apocalypse..., Sex Power, Beauborg, Heaven and Hell, and have had music from a lot of his later soundtrack works as well (Blade Runner,  Antarctica, The Bounty).

Just re-posting some music and adding to it (in order of his albums):

Sex Power 1969

(such an underrated album at PA)

Fais Que Ton Reve Soit Plus Long Que La Nuit 1971



Hypothesis 1971



The Dragon 1971



L' Apocalypse des Animaux 1973



Earth 1973



Heaven And Hell 1975



Albedo 0.39 1976



La Fête Sauvage 1976



That's enough from me for now.


Edited by Logan - November 08 2011 at 09:41

Logan wrote:   Digdug, of the albums you have, do you have Hypothesis and Dragon?  What albums do you think most suitable to a Prog category that you have?