BEST OF VANGELIS

This attempt to condense Vangelis' pioneering synth albums into a palletable single disc was the first bit of his solo music I picked up. As with the similarly celestial and electronic Tangerine Dream, once I consumed the fare, I have felt no subsequent hunger for seconds.

Sure there are some memorable space synth anthems like Pulstar, Aries and Spiral (all pulse rhythms and ambient synths) as well as exciting fusion-inflected experiment Bacchanale and the suitably cosmic So Long Ago, So Clear (with vocals by Yes' Jon Anderson), but there are also dreary lullabies like To The Unknown Man and the New Age forerunner Albedo 0.39 (spacey sounds underpinning a deadpan voice stating scientific facts!). The 10 minute plus excerpt from Beaubourg, which is basically a cacophony of sound effects, is particularly trying.

While Vangelis is a great musician, I'm less than totally enamoured of the sound of him interacting with himself. The lack of rhythmic and instrumental diversity tends to make this music more one-dimensional than it should be. It doesn't really help that while Vangelis originally slaved for hours to create the dense layers of sound that gave his music its character, nowadays any novice can park himself in front of a half decent Korg and replicate music of this ilk with the minimum of effort. I suppose one day I may take the trouble to check out highly rated albums like Heaven And Hell, Earth and Albedo 039. But that's way down my list of priorities at the moment. ... 41% on the MPV scale