HEAVEN AND HELL

If you don't count soundtracks, "Heaven and Hell" is Vangelis' 2nd solo album after his breakup of the progressive band "Aphrodite's Child". Vangelis held on, at least to some extent, to his progressive roots from that band for the previous album "Earth", but for this album, released in 1975, he moves to a more classical approach with his use of synthesizers and keyboards. The album is considered one of his most important albums, and it is one where he performs everything except for the vocals that appear on the album.

Even though most labels list only two tracks, part 1 and part 2, these parts are actually divided up into separate sub- tracks, so it works more like a suite than a long-form composition. The album also features the first collaboration with Jon Anderson, which would eventually morph into a few albums by Jon & Vangelis. Some of the tracks are more of an avant-garde, experimental style (representing Hell) and more melodic and tranquil style (representing Heaven). However, instead of separating them out as taking up an album side each, the styles are mixed resulting in a nice feel of variety.

Side 1 of the album contains all of part 1 of the suite, beginning with "Bacchanale". Sounding like a dark and complex fanfare, the basic motif is a three-note riff with wide and varying intervals. After playing through a sequence of riffs on synth, the 2nd time through, it is played again joined by the vocal chorus, then it develops off of this in a frantic exchange between the vocals and synth, then repeating that pattern. It's quite a rousing beginning and promises an exciting album. The next subsections combine 3 movements of what is called "Symphony to the Powers B", the 3 movements make up over 13 minutes of this side. It has quite a cinematic feel with synths, piano and vocals, almost sounding like the famous composition by Orff, somewhat dark, yet also exalting. Some might recognize the theme of the 3rd movement as it was used as the theme to the PBS series "Cosmos" and was released as a single in 1981. It's a very impressive and symphonic track (meaning all three movements), one of Vagelis' best ever. This amazing work is followed by the debut of Vangelis & Jon Anderson performing together with the section titled "So Long Ago, So Clear". The song was written when Vangelis sat down and played the melody and Jon immediately wrote the words. Hymn- like and stately, it signaled the beginning of what would result in 3 albums of the duo working together.

The 2nd side is made up of 5 subsections of the 2nd part of the suite. Starting with a spooky and minimal track "Intestinal Bat" which definitely conjures up some eerie sentiments with its strange effects and noises, it shows the experimental side of Vangelis. "Needles & Bones" is more percussive and sounds like a dance of bones, interesting and even a bit of sinister playfulness. "12 o'Clock" is supposedly divided up into 2 parts totaling over 8 minutes. Subdued vocals and percussion sound as if it's coming from afar, but the percussion and synth effects wash out the choir vocals with a tense and dark mood. Suddenly, it's not so playful anymore. Treated vocal noises along with synth effects swirl around as heavy percussion continues and sudden jolts of synthesized chords signify some unpleasant surprises. Then some bells and wordless choir vocals take the place of the noises. Another guest vocalist (Vana Verouti) takes the lead from the choir with continued passionate wordless vocals and the synths follow along with chimes playing lightly behind it all. "Aries" has a lively march beat with another fanfare style melody with synths. The last section "A Way" cools things down quite quickly with a lovely, lullaby-like melody, pensive and more ambient.

There is a lot of emotion and dynamic in this album and the two sides are portrayed quite well. It's easy to see why this album was so appealing to those that were wishing to explore electronic music of that time as it is one of the most powerful and dynamic albums of its type. It's melodic and experimental, the best of both worlds. Even though Vangelis takes a more classical approach in his style on this album, it is still quite appealing and, for the most part, accessible, yet it is interesting and mesmerizing too. It is without question one of his most important albums and should be heard by all lovers of the electronic style.