HEAVEN AND HELL

I listened to this album for the first time twenty years ago (in mid 1985). At that time, I was playing the drums in a new band which my brother and me formed. It had 8 members! (two keyboard players, two female backing singers, one male lead singer, a bassist, one guitarist-my brother-, and me).The members of that band had several things in common: almost everybody liked Prog Rock. One of the keyboard players one day went to my parents`house (where we rehearsed) with at least 15 L.P.s, and he said to me that he wanted to lent them to me. One of these L.P. s was this "Heaven and Hell" album (the others were albums by Peter Gabriel, Robert Fripp, Banco, Faust, Return to Forever... a great collection!; I also lent him some L.P.s of my collection:Genesis, Kansas...). I knew something about Vangelis`music because I have listened to the "Short Stories" and "The Friends of M. Cairo" albums which he recorded with Jon Anderson, and also to the "Chariots of Fire" main title which was played a lot in the Radio in the 80s. I recorded this "Heaven and Hell" album in a cassette (I still have it!). This is a very good album, with a lot of "fantasy images" created by the music. That L.P. was divided in: Side One:"Heaven and Hell part 1" and "So Long Ago, So Clear", and Side Two: "Heaven and Hell part 2", without other listed parts in the cover or in the label. I prefer the Side One of the old L.P. I agree with previous reviewers about the influence of Carl Orff`s music ("Carmina Burana") in the "Bachanale" section. In "Movement 3" I can hear a musical theme similar to the "Chariots of Fire" main theme. Maybe Vangelis "recycled" it for the soundtrack of this film. "So Long Ago, So Clear" is great, with great "orchestrations" done by Vangelis with his keyboards, Jon Anderson`s lead and backing vocals and good lyrics too (it`s a love song,really) and a "celestial" female choir. Side Two is less "peaceful", with music which sometimes sounds like "souls in pain", and a male choir arranged like singing a Gregorian Chant. As I recorded this album in a cassette 3 few days before a heavy earthquake happened in Mexico City in 1985, this album is a bit related in memories to that sad event. Fortunately, my family and friends didn`t suffer losses, but unfortunately many people suffered losses (nobody really knows how many people died then). But, apart from those sad memories, this album is still one of those albums that I like a lot.