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Vangelis Appreciation
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Saperlipopette! View Drop Down
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Points: 11566 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Saperlipopette! Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 01 2024 at 22:40
I'm not the kind of music listener to simply "love" all of this or that artist body of work. If something fail to connect with me, it doesn't really matter if Vangelis, Morricone or whoever composed the music. I move on. Vangelis, like almost every composer/instrumentalist of his generation, loses me underways at some point. But he had 10-15 years of greatness. And that's more than enough for me.

5 The Dragon (1971), Odes (with Irene Papas) (1979)
4.5 L'Apocalypse des Animaux (1973), Blade Runner (1981/1982)
4 Sex Power (1970), Hypothesis (1971), Earth (1973), Heaven and Hell (1975), Opera Sauvage (1980)
3.5 Albedo 0.39 (1976), Spiral (1976), See You Later (1980), Soil Festivities (1984)
3 Ignacio (1975), La Fete Sauvage (1976), Beaubourg (1978), China (1979), Antarctica (1983), Mask (1985), 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992)
2.5 Ραψωδιέ (Rapsodies) (1986)
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He is the ultimate eclectic artist. Not always easy to categorise what he does. He perhaps got hijacked by Hollywood and once Chariots Of Fire and Blade Runner came out he was supposed to copy that. It's to his credit that he didn't. He recorded most of his well known albums in the period 1975-1985 at a studio in West London. I remember reading a piece on the internet from his sound engineer about how tricky it was to record anything without upsetting the local residents. Nowadays the studio no longer exists and a block of flats has been built in its place. After that he moved back to Greece and set up a studio in Athens , the first album he recorded there was Direct. Still an album I like a lot, this takes you on a journey through his various styles. In the 90's he recorded the albums Voices, El Greco and Oceanic , all 3 containing some of his most beautiful music. In later years he made the excellent Rosetta and Juno To Jupiter as well as the operatic and sweeping Mythodea. I enjoy all those. He was fascinated with the idea of space travel and reaching out to the cosmos and that dominated his music later on. Covid took him away from us sadly but what a legacy of work he has to his name. It's just extraordinary that only one man could do all this. Mike Oldfield gives him a run for his money but that's it imo.

Edited by richardh - September 02 2024 at 00:01
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Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

...
It's just extraordinary that only one man could do all this. Mike Oldfield gives him a run for his money but that's it imo.

Hi,

Mike, is not a composer in the sense that Ryuichi Sakamoto and Vangelis were ... and they did a lot of soundtracks which gives you an idea of how visual their work was for them, and how they illustrated it, not just how it was interpreted in film many times, for which Ryuichi Sakamoto deserves a lot of praise.

Mike, has redone too many TB's for my taste, and he has not exactly moved away from the mechanical style of composition that he is attached to, with the exception of AMAROK which was known to be a huge finger to the record company ... and yet it is appreciated much more than expected ... but he has not come back to that free form thing as far as I can tell.
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Jared View Drop Down
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I'd just like to say 'thanks' to everyone for their initial thoughts... I've been reading everyone's preferences with interest and will expand my knowledge of his discography in due course while there were some I am familiar with, others relatively new to me, such as Soil Festivities and Mask have pleasantly surprised me..
Music has always been a matter of energy to me. On some nights I believe that a car with the needle on empty can run 50 more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. Hunter S Thompson
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I like Vangelis'works with Aphrodite's child
and I like his 1973 's Earth a lot ....
A Must Have imo
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My favorites from him are:
Albedo 0.39
Direct
Heaven and Hell
Opera Sauvage

I should explore more. It's quite a large discography.


Edited by progaardvark - September 03 2024 at 10:50
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Originally posted by verslibre verslibre wrote:

Do you like The City? That's a really underrated one in Vangelis' discography, IMO. It plays like an unofficial sequel to Blade Runner. I think I'll listen to it today.
I took a chance on that album on vinyl some years ago and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would (more than Direct). It has a couple of weaker tracks but since it's a concept album I'm more forgiving.


Vangelis is an artist I adore I've been listening for more than ten years, and there's still a lot of music I never heard from him, mostly soundtracks. I've been listening to "L'Apocalypse des Animaux" often at night since I bought it last year, it's very relaxing but doesn't fall into background music.

My favourite album is still the first one I heard, Spiral. I find fascinating that all the percussion is acoustic, in electronic music it's normally the first thing that's replaced with synthesizers.

Than I'd complete my top 3 with Heaven and Hell and China. I also really like Soil Festivities and The Dragon.
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Originally posted by Meltdowner Meltdowner wrote:

Originally posted by verslibre verslibre wrote:

Do you like The City? That's a really underrated one in Vangelis' discography, IMO. It plays like an unofficial sequel to Blade Runner. I think I'll listen to it today.
I took a chance on that album on vinyl some years ago and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would (more than Direct). It has a couple of weaker tracks but since it's a concept album I'm more forgiving.


Vangelis is an artist I adore I've been listening for more than ten years, and there's still a lot of music I never heard from him, mostly soundtracks. I've been listening to "L'Apocalypse des Animaux" often at night since I bought it last year, it's very relaxing but doesn't fall into background music.

My favourite album is still the first one I heard, Spiral. I find fascinating that all the percussion is acoustic, in electronic music it's normally the first thing that's replaced with synthesizers.

Than I'd complete my top 3 with Heaven and Hell and China. I also really like Soil Festivities and The Dragon.


Glad you like The City. Do you have Juno to Jupiter? It's exceptional, was his best music in years.
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Glad to see The City, an oft-overlooked album, receive so many mentions. It's the one that changed me from a casual fan to a serious listener. I read somewhere he composed/recorded The City in a hotel room while on a movie set, endlessly waiting for "dailies" to make soundtrack music for. It's shorter than most of his albums and got a serious promotional push in the USA from the record company, and I've often wondered if many listeners have held that against this album.

Other favorites: China, Opera Sauvage, Chariots of Fire, Soil Festivities, Mask, Voices, Oceanic.
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Am I the only one who likes Invisible Connections?

Vangelis is one of my favorite artists ever. I've managed to purchase the two vinyls with Irene Papas and a collection of Forminx during a trip to Crete (there was a nice shop in Agios Nikolaos).

I have all his official releases and I still listen to him. Aphrodite's Child always put me in a sort of melancholic state, as they were actually very famous and I've listened to them a lot when I was a child.

Apart of that, my favorite albums are Heaven And Hell, Albedo 0.39 and China.
The Blade Runner 25th anniversary boxset features also Demis Roussos and I've never regretted the expense.

The only album that I don't like is See You Later. I think (by memory) that it's one of my very few one-star reviews. 

The City, mentioned above is another very good album. In particular Morning Papers gives me the sensation of going for a breakfast after a non-sleeping night. 
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Originally posted by octopus-4 octopus-4 wrote:

Am I the only one who likes Invisible Connections?

Luca, I simply can't get my head around how to listen to this one; it's so sparse and disjointed, almost devoid of any underlying melody with which to build on with repeated listens.. you merely seem to be hanging on for the next set of notes, then wondering how they connect to what you've just heard? I really struggle with Beaubourg, but that's a walk in the park compared to this!

I reluctantly came to the conclusion that it was just too intelligent for me?  Embarrassed
Music has always been a matter of energy to me. On some nights I believe that a car with the needle on empty can run 50 more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. Hunter S Thompson
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I feel like a bit of a Vangelis virgin really.. i first came across (and love) the lps Spiral and Albedo 0.39 in my teens (Pulstar was the theme to a UK childrens tv programme about horses in the mid-late 70's!) but never really explored his music. Until i came across Soil festivities and China which have a very personal connection to me and apart from odd bits and pieces ive just not really explored further, for which i feel slightly embarrassed. However, this is something i intend to rectify!

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Originally posted by verslibre verslibre wrote:

Glad you like The City. Do you have Juno to Jupiter? It's exceptional, was his best music in years.
Never heard it but I've been meaning to. I do have Rosetta and listen to it often as well. It has a great flow, I just find the title track distracting because the melody is similar to a Portuguese Pop song LOL

Originally posted by octopus-4 octopus-4 wrote:

Am I the only one who likes Invisible Connections?
I never dared to approach it, the Deutsche Grammophon label and the comparisons with Beaubourg say it's not for me. I hope I'm wrong.
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Originally posted by Meltdowner Meltdowner wrote:


Originally posted by octopus-4 octopus-4 wrote:

Am I the only one who likes Invisible Connections?
I never dared to approach it, the Deutsche Grammophon label and the comparisons with Beaubourg say it's not for me. I hope I'm wrong.


Oh, Beaubourg is very accessible by way of comparison....
Music has always been a matter of energy to me. On some nights I believe that a car with the needle on empty can run 50 more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. Hunter S Thompson
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Invisible Connections is one of those albums where it's better to have the CD. Back in the day I purchased the cassette and couldn't understand what I was listening to. About 10 years I got the CD and had a listen and liked it. It is Berlin school (like Beauborg) where sonic landscape is the thing, no rhythm or melody apparent. It's hard to imagine anyone else doing this.

Heard some exciting news yesterday. Been waiting for years for this.

Aphrodite’s Child

666 - The Apocalypse Of John (CD/Blu-Ray / Vinyl pre-order)


Aphrodite's Child’s astonishing concept album 666 - from 1972 - is a masterpiece of Progressive and textural experimentation helmed by band members Vangelis and Costas Ferris.
 
This limited box set edition contains remastered versions of the original album mix and the rare 1974 Greek LP version (which featured considerably different mixes to the original LP release), along with a Blu-Ray disc featuring 96 kHz / 24-bit Atmos, 5.1 up mixes, a stereo mix, and a 28-minute episode of the French television show Discorama from June 1972 featuring Vangelis talking about the album.
 
The boxed set includes a book featuring a new essay and original interviews with the band plus many previously unseen photographs that Vangelis sourced from his various archives around Europe.
 
Pre-order for November 11 release.


Edited by richardh - September 05 2024 at 22:14
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^Nice. This reminded me of a 16 minute previously unreleased track (until 2002). I got it of a collection titled Babylon the Great. I think it's basically Vangelis improvising and it sounds a little like Sex Power and Hypothesis combined (but easier on the ear than the latter album). Not everyone's cup of tea, but I love it. It says that it's recorded in 1969 during the 666-sessions, so to me it's strange that it's never been featured as bonus material for that album. Not this time either. Maybe Vangelis himself hated it, like he seemingly did with the mentioned Hypothesis (and the fantastic The Dragon):



Edited by Saperlipopette! - September 05 2024 at 23:07
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Originally posted by progaardvark progaardvark wrote:

...
I should explore more. It's quite a large discography.
HI,

It's quite large since he had been at it since the mid 60's ... which places things at the very least 50 years ... but his solo albums are the best thing, and it is clear how he "saw" a lot of music ... it was very "visual" and "film like" which really helped it get illustrated by several film directors, and eventually got him an OSCAR.

Listening to it all from the start is a treat ... from "Earth" to the last release, how he dealt with the new equipment, and then new music ... you have to say it was special, though there aren't enough specials on him that show/tell a whole lot about him, which would suggest not exactly a simple person at all, but one that lives according to his musical moods, which, of course, we know were far out and excellent.

I find that I can not select a single album as best or to make a suggestion at all ... in his later days, you could say he was more "classical" as a musician, but that was something that was in him, anyway, although I kinda thought that how "Heaven and Hell" came off was likely to be a sort of ... something ... about commercial music and the record companies. This is implied and suggested in the promo that was sent to many FM stations which Guy Guden played on his show in its entirety which explains a lot of his music and where it came from, up to and including such things as t-spoons that folks here don't believe in at all, but it shows a human side that we have a tendency to not believe at all ... he's "normal", just like we are, and sensitive to a lot of bits around us ... and he uses them ... we just ignore those things! And a rock musician, goodness me, he/she would never consider anything but a chord or note! Creativity at the DAW, as I call it ... not in the music living inside your head and heart!

I would think that not making a suggestion would be better ... so you can get surprised ... but I think that's more my own vision of "discovering" something new, instead of some more MOS stuff out there that is so commercial you want to go .....and formatted even worse .... 


Edited by moshkito - September 12 2024 at 06:20
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Besides Pulstar and the Blade Runner end titles, which other electronic songs would be up there?
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Originally posted by Dellinger Dellinger wrote:

Besides Pulstar and the Blade Runner end titles, which other electronic songs would be up there?
L'apocalypse Des Animaux is an album I've listened to countless times. It's beautiful and gentle... Progressive Electronic/Ambient. Very unique for 1973. It resembles some of the music Brian Eno would start making a few years later.
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