CHINA

What is interesting about China is that it mixes two different characteristics of Vangelis work: the somewhat folkish sound with traditional Chinese flutes, percussion and even a bit of violin by the longtime collaborator Michel Ripoche and the distinctive soundscapes using now polyphonic and digital synts, with their raspy sounds (at least at the end of the 70s and beginning of the eighties) and pianos, to a great effect.

One thing that amazes me on those works by Vangelis, including the celebrated elsewhere victim of some prejudice among prog fans "Chariots of Fire" is that, composing and playing almost everything, the Greek composer and musician knows exactly what should go where in every song, even with the countless possibilities that the synthesizers bring. One has to recognize that it seems to be much more complex than prog composers that compose the general flow of the songs on their main instrument and then use the talents of their bandmates to fill in the arrangemets of their own instruments.

In China, it is all there, and songs like Yin & Yang and Himalaya, that blend beautiful harmonies and soundscapes with experimental lead synth flourishes here and there make the work uniquely pleasant. Some other songs mix well the experimental aspects and the quasi-symphonic and traditional folk, like Chung Kuo. There is a good variety of compositions, some more straightforward, some more complex, and listening to the entire album is a very pleasant experience.

Of course, lots of people don't like very much Vangelis works because they are shy in the "rock" component (it is almost non-existent on this album), but it is a lot better musically than almost everything that was being done in the realms of the progressive music by 1979.