SEX POWER (OST)

Interesting debut album for Vangelis. I own this album not for a long-long time in my collection and I was looking for it for a long time. (I'm a real fan of Vangelis music). What can I say? I was expected to listen something very jazzy and hard to understand but..no! This album is something very common for the beginning of the 70's progressive music and a good one, reflecting in music his idea of repetitive musical theme, used in many other future albums he composed during his entire career such as Antarctica, Chariots of Fire and others. The music is soft, using pianos, drums and it's easy to listen (perhaps not giving the idea of sexual life and any other reflections about it) for a debut album and Vangelis did a good job.

This is a soundtrack from the movie « Sex Power » directed by H. Chapier (a well know French journalist).

I haven't seen this movie (which is not catalogued as being a masterpiece) but the music played here is quite gentle, so: if you are looking for something in line with the title?you'd better pass on your way.

Nothing extravagant here: lots of decent piano play, aerial music but all this is quite conservative and it is not really interesting. This is of course a confidential release from Vangelis and he won't be remembered for this one. Even if soundtracks will be important for him in his career.

There is little to say about this work. At (few) times, some grandeur is emerging and is heralding of his later work. This one is just a curiosity and as such I rate it with two stars.

I don't know much of the movie and about how Vangelis came to his first misknown solo work. I, too have discovered it only on PA even if I think I can be considered a Vangelis' fan, and borrowing a copy (vinyl with a lot of scratches) was not easy.

Respect to what I thought were his first works which are very jazzy, this one is unexpectedly closer to his following works. There's a good quantity of electronics but also an unexpected piece of classical guitar, quite simple and with te noise of a motorcycle coming and going in the background that I suspect has something to do with the movie. I don't know who is playing the guitar. The touch is not very professional and the harping is so simple that it could be Vangelis himself. This part is followed by gong and percussions similar to the attack of Pink Floyd's "Set The Controls for the Heart of the Sun". The main theme that was previously played by the guitar is now played by the keyboard with a guitar harping as accompaignment. There are variations that make it a different piece, but we are still on side A or "premiere part" as it's called on the album. A sort of mandolin gives it a touch of sirtaki. Then it proceeds on the same chords by a piano and the side A is gone with some traffic noises.

Side B opens with percussions again. This is a very interesting part. The percussions have an african mood as in the first side of La Fete Sauvage, but a square wave keyboard and a flute make the difference. This is the surprise. It's not an embrionic album. It's already Vangelis. After the percussions there's a dark part. It's a predecessor to Heaven and Hell. Infernal noises and weird male voices, bells and bass sounds. This is space rock. It takes about 10 minutes before coming back to the main theme, but this time faster and with a different electronic sound. No more guitar, this time the piano makes the background harping. Another noisy part that fades into a ascending sequence of notes sung by a voice (or a keyboard?). The main theme again played by the piano closes the album. Not a great closer, just a coda.

The album is absolutely not bad, specially the spacey part on side B. It can deserve three stars and is a very good debut. I wasn't expecting anything so good, to be honest.

This was the Greek composer's first solo work and actually a soundtrack. The vinyl version is split into two halves but has different pieces within them. They are mostly short, ranging from one to two minutes. Many segments are built around one main simplistic melody which is very mellow and delicate.

Just like Vangelis' later albums, there are lots of musical ideas including the use of some folky acoustic guitar, an organ/harpsichord with percussion interplay, soothing vocals and some sharply performed ethnic bells. The fourth piece is purely percussion and brings in some new moods by becoming faster and more ominous. The following piece has more of a classical nature with some charming piano.

The seventh part is an industrial experimentation with various kinds of percussion. It features bass drum punches and gong strikes as well as a few dissonent chords from a glockenspiel and returning echoes from the gong. There are also some light gregorian chants and a tiny bit of organ but no musical pattern. It lasts for eight minutes which is far too long as it becomes a tad boring. It does however, pave the way to the nighmarish panoramas of hell, later visioned by Vangelis on his masterwork "Heaven And Hell".

I would compare the proto-industrial sound with the factory style noise of early Kraftwerk or Faust. The album ends on a soothing note with a reprise of the main theme. I have to give a decent raing for this one because it is mostly very pleasurable and has diversity. Vangelis fans should definitely track this one down as an important historical link at least. 3 stars.