CHRONICLES

Review Nº 892

"Chronicles" is the second compilation of Jon & Vangelis that was released in 1994. It was released ten years after the release of their debut compilation "The Best Of Jon & Vangelis". As many of we know, Jon & Vangelis was a musical project formed by vocalist of the band Yes, Jon Anderson, and the Greek musician Vangelis Papathanassiou in the 80's.

The first meeting of both has happened in London in the 70's. Vangelis would be the replacement of Rick Wakeman on keyboards after the departure of him from the band after the release of the sixth studio album of Yes "Tales From Topographic Oceans". That would never happened, because Rick Wakeman was substituted by the Swiss keyboardist Patrick Moraz, the keyboardist of Refugee. Still, Anderson participated as a vocalist on some solo albums of Vangelis like "Heaven And Hell" released in 1975, "Opera Sauvage" released in 1979 and "See You Later" released in 1980.

The duo worked together from 1980 to 1991 and recorded four albums "Short Stories" released in 1980, "The Friends Of Mr. Cairo" released in 1981, "Private Collection" released in 1983 and "Page Of Life" released in 1991. The music was written by both and Anderson was the author of the lyrics. Jon sang all the songs and Vangelis played all instruments.

"Chronicles" has fourteen tracks. The tracks were taken from their first three studio albums. "I Hear You Now" is from "Short Stories". It's a love song, beautiful, melodic, delicate and vibrant at the same time. This is a song that represents the perfect harmony between the two musicians, the main hallmark on "Short Stories". "He Is Sailing" is from "Private Collection". It's a good song with nice rhythm, more in the vein of their album "Short Stories". Here we can see some effort and some complexity on the structure of the composition of the song. "Thunder" is from "Short Stories". It's the shortest song on "Short Stories" but it has some beautiful and interesting musical moments. It's very short but very nice . "Beside" is from "The Friends Of Mr. Cairo". It's a very good and beautiful love song with some fantastic classical musical arrangements and where the voice of Anderson and the music of Vangelis marry beautifully. "Birdsong" is from "Short Stories". It's more a coda of "Each And Everyday" than a filler. This is a short beautiful love song with the music of Vangelis providing the ambient to Anderson's voice. "A Play Within A Play" is from "Short Stories". It's a sublime dreamy song that is, for me, with "Curious Electric" and "Far Away In Baagad" one of the three best moments on "Short Stories". It starts slow and grows up until reaches the climax and in the end it returns and dissipates slowly again. "And When The Night Comes" is from "Private Collection". It's a nice and pleasant song clearly focused on Anderson. It's an electronic melodic song typical of the 80's but it has unfortunately bad lyrics. The lyrics are awful, lame, trivial and almost laughable. "Deborah" is from "Private Collection". It's a song in the same vein of "And When The Night Comes". It's dedicated to Anderson's eldest daughter and fortunately the lyrics are better than on "And When The Night Comes". It's a nice and mellow song where once more we can hear a good orchestral arrangement. "Curious Electric" is from "Short Stories". It's a superb and brilliant song that begins to create the perfect atmosphere along the entire "Short Stories". On this track Vangelis is simply brilliant. In my opinion, this is one of the best compositions ever written by him. "The Friends Of Mr. Cairo" is from "The Friends Of Mr. Cairo". It's a funny fine piece, worthy of being part of a soundtrack for a "B" class American film noir of the 30's and 40's. Despite be a bit a commercial song it has enough to be considered a good piece. "Back To School" is from "The Friends Of Mr. Cairo". It's a funny rock'n'roll song played with keyboards, a nice and pure synth pop song of the 80's with good rhythm and nothing boring. Still, this is a vulgar song without anything of special on it to offer. "Italian Song" is from "Private Collection". It's a beautiful and celestial song with an absolutely perfect and majestic combination between Anderson's magical voice and the beautiful and floating Vangelis' keyboard sound. "Polonaise" is from "Private Collection". This is an intense, catchy, mellow and beautiful love song with plenty of sugar. Beware with your CD player. If Jon & Vangelis would have competed on the European Song Contest, they probably would win it. "Love Is" is from "Short Stories". It's a nice and mellow love song but is at the same time too much sentimental and bore. This song represents for me the lower point on "Short Stories".

Conclusion: As I wrote when I reviewed "The Best Of Jon & Vangelis", "Chronicles" is a better compilation album than "The Best Of Jon & Vangelis" is. It has more five songs and it's probably most representative of the musical career of Jon & Vangelis. All tracks are in general good and it has also some great tracks like "Beside", "The Friends Of Mr. Cairo" and "He Is Sailing". By the other hand, all six tracks chosen from "Short Stories" are great but I left out them purposely. As I mentioned on my review about "The Best Of Jon & Vangelis", "Short Stories" always was my favourite part of the project. And, it displeases me a little bit that "Short Stories" was separated into several parts. I always saw "Short Stories" as a whole and solid piece of music. However, "Chronicles" remains for me a good compilation album.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Social review comments

Review related links

• Send comments to VianaProghead
• Report this review (#3182334)
• Buy JON & VANGELIS music online with PA partners
• Show all JON & VANGELIS MP3/Stream
• Go to JON & VANGELIS page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Chronicles page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for JON & VANGELIS related discussions