EARTH

One of the last Vangelis albums to be released on CD, this is one of my favorites. Kind of a bridge between Aphrodite's Child's "666" and his solo work, this album has elements of rock, jazz, folk, and especially world music. Of course, there's also a spacy element, thanks to Vangelis' keyboards. Several tracks have vocals, either sung or spoken, and the melodies are catchy and original. A couple of tracks do nothing for me, notably "Come On". However, it's a short throwaway that can be skipped easily. Strongly recommended to fans of "666", especially if you like the songs from that album that have a distinctly Greek sound.

I like this album! It often has a smooth acoustic rhythmic guitar. There are good singers, lots of percussions, the keyboards are modest and sometimes consist in floating background streams full of mystery and hope moods ("My face in the rain", "A song"). "Let it happen" is very catchy and addictive, full of good vocals and bottom bass notes. There is one word that describes well the style of this record: TRIBAL! This is not New Age full of emotional & modern keyboards like on "Chariots of fire" or "1492": do not forget it is 1973 here!

Wonderful album from the classic prog era!

"Earth" is one of early Vangelis' albums that is often neglected and is not easily obtainable in the shops. It is however far better work than many of his later popular new age soundtracks, at least for my taste. It is very atmospheric, ethno-tribal music with lots of percussions, keyboards and above all acoustic string instruments (something like Greek bouzouki etc.). There are several vocal tracks with lyrics, which sort of resemble the pseudo-religious pantheistic love for nature and planet Earth, so there is a loose concept throughout the album. Highlights are "We Were All Uprooted"/"Sunny Earth"/"He-O" , "Let It Happen", while the guest vocalist in "My Face In The Rain", Robert Fitoussi, reminds of the old APHRODITE'S CHILD collaborator Demis Roussos. If you are not fan of popular electronic synthesized Vangelis of post-"Spiral" era, maybe you find "Earth" more appealing, especially if you are into ethno-folk-world music thing. This is a distant precursor of Peter Gabriel's "Passion", cause it bears the similar Middle-Eastern feeling. I can't really call it a masterpiece, but it's very close to one. 4,5 shining stars!!!

An excellent album from Vangelis's pre synthy era, much more of a soft prog album like the Moody Blues or BJH, but with an intoxicating Mediterranean feel- lots of acoustic guitars and some thumpy ethnic-sounding drums. Vocals are surprisingly prominent, with good English lyrics. The keyboard textures from mellotrons, organs and Moogs are beautiful, especially on the ballad "My Face in the Rain". Though this album sounds more like Aphrodite's Child than it does his work from the late 70s, this is actually one of Vangelis's stronger albums, with a wealth of great psych rock ideas mixed with a distinct Greek feel that wouldn't be hinted at again until some of the pieces on the Blade Runner soundtrack.

After the release of a pure atmospheric album ("L'Apocalypse des Animaux"), Vangelis recorded a more varied work with "Earth".

Several musical styles are proposed and contributed to an eclectic album. The short opener "Come On" is totally rock oriented: hard beat, hypnotic and hard "vocals". This is not very common in his discography so far.

The second and also longest song is quite different. "We Were all Uprooted" shares a lot with world music and offers some fine "Mediterranean" acoustic guitar parts. I am not so convinced about "Sunny Earth" which is leaning on some sort a tribal music. Indian chants combined with some complex acoustic guitar parts don't sound really great to my ears ("He- O", "Ritual", "The City").

This scenario is unfortunately also present during the next couple of songs: world music mostly all the way through till the closing number. Since his type of music is not my cup of tea, I can't be charmed by "Earth".

Some tranquil and atmospheric tracks like "Let It Happen" or "My Face In The Rain" are welcome to break the overall mood. Still, the vocal department on this work demonstrates nothing great. The last couple of songs revert back to world music again.

I am not globally impressed by this album. Two stars.

After the first approach with soundtracks, this album is opened by a rock track based on 12 strings guitar and percussions whose lyrics only say "Come on". I wouldn't be surprised to hear Amon Duul II play a song like this.

We have a trio. Bass and guitars will soon disapeear from Vangelis' albums to be replaced by keyboards, but unlike Hypothesys and The Dragon, there's no jazz.

"We Were All Uprooted" is influenced by Greek traditional music even if the repetitive slow tempo has something of krautrock. "Sunny Earth" is not much different after a first half based on 12-strings guitar it turns into ethnic. A bridge between South Europe and Africa.

"He-O" has lyrics, and a middle-eastern flavour while "Ritual" gives me the idea of ancient Greece. A Ritual for the Olympus Gods.

"Let It Happen" has some jazzy moments, specially in the instrumental part. The repetitive and almost funky singing is unusual for Vangelis. Very 70s stuff.

The minute of percussion and noises of "The City" is very evocative. Years later this concept will become an entire album and "Morning Papers" on that album will be able to transmit the same sensations in a different way.

"My Face In The Rain" is a melodic song on which Robert Fitoussi uses his highest pitch. After Demis and this song there's no surprise if Jon Anderson will become his favourite singer. Specially if you listen to "So Long Ago So Clear" on Heaven and Hell.

The absence of percussions and the soft sounds of this song are suddenly replaced by the darker "Watch Out". As all the tracks of this album on which the 12-strings guitar has an imprtant role I see connections with Krautrock in general and Amon Duul II in particular. Some of the sounds used in this track will become familiar to the listeners of Vangelis in the following albums.

"A Song" is again sung on high pitch and has no rhythm, but there's a tremolo effect on the voice that I find a bit disturbing. The melody based on minor chords reminds to the vocal part of the soprano Vana Veroutis on Heaven and Hell. A speaker says something about Earth and the album ends with soft and evocative keyboards.

I'm undecided about the rating. It's good and probably more accessible than some of his best works but there are other albums that I can consider essential, so even if it's a very good album I think it fits better in the 3 stars definition.

"Earth" is a mixed bag for me as Vangelis plays a variety of styles here. I wish he had stuck with one style really and when I say that I don't mean the "Rock" leanings of the openiing track.

"Come On" is a 2 minute rocker with him singing "Come on !" throughout. Not a fan at all. "We Were All Uprooted" opens with thunder and rain as a beat comes in then flute. Spoken words join in before 1 1/2 minutes then acoustic guitar replaces the spoken words. A definite World Music flavour here and on many of these tracks. "Sunny Earth" has these native-like vocal melodies and the sound is very minamilistic. "He-O" is my favourite song on here.Very intricate sounding with vocals.

"Ritual" sounds like it came from out of India with those vocal sounds.They stop 1 1/2 minutes in then return after 2 minutes. Not a fan of this one. "Let It Happen" is more uptempo with vocals. I really like the instrumental section that start before 2 minutes and lasts over a minute. "The City" has these sampled sounds from a city as what sounds like kettle drums pound away. "My Face In The Rain" does nothing for me. Slow moving with fragile vocals. "Watch Out" builds then settles back before 2 minutes where it's not melodiic at all. "A Song" is very new agey as the vocals echo then spoken words take over. Not a fan of this one.

This album has it's moments, just not enough of them for my tastes.

The first solo album by Vangelis following the disintegration of Aphrodite's Child and the long battle to get "666" released combines the psychedelic rock stylings of his former group - heard most clearly on opener Come On - with hints of the direction his career would eventually take, with early New Age and synthesiser experiments mashed in with various "world music" influences from several continents. The general concept appears to be environmental and political in nature, going by the (somewhat hokey) narration in We Were All Uprooted, but on balance the point of the album is difficult to make up, and I find I'm often left wishing Vangelis would pick a direction here and stick with it rather than meandering all over the musical landscape turning up good ideas but not developing them properly. This is far from an essential Vangelis release.

3.5 stars really!!!

Generally seen as Vangelis' best 70's album, Earth might just surprise some that knew him from the Aphrodite's Child group or his 80's collabs with Yes singer Jon Anderson or his other movie musics. Earth is his first solo album after the demise of Aphrodite's Child, whose career abruptly stopped after the stupendous and arresting 666 concept album. Some (many, actually) see Earth being the logical (but debatable) continuation of the concept, especially that another ex-AC member (guitarist Koulouris) is also present on it. Like most of Vangelis or AC album, the concept was born and constructed in France at Europa Sonor Studios and included bassist and singer Fitoussi, but strangely enough Vangelis did not write the lyrics, as he delegated that to Dassin.

Opening on the well-known Come On, a catchy energetic but shallow piece, the album plunges in the atmospheric Uprooted, where a short narrative indicates that the subject is about to get deeper. The album's general mood is slightly mystic or shamanic, may even have an ecology avant-la-lettre slant and many instruments of world music are used in the duration. It's also quite instrumental in nature, since many of the vocals are chants that are reminiscent of shamanic incantations, giving a light psychedelic mood, further enhanced by slightly- haunting lengthy raga passages. The succession of tracks is flowing smoothly, and it would sound almost awkward to extract a single track out of the remainder (well maybe the opening Come On) or even play the album in the shuffle mode. Outside the few striong vocal melodies, the album is fairly even, with no major highlights, but Face In The Rain is relatively weaker with its near new age feel. Shame it ends without a bang and in a minor mode, though. While I certainly wouldn't call the album essential, it is definitely worth an investigation, even if Vangelis would create more fairly similar works in the future.

Even though "Earth" is the first official album that Vangelis recorded after the breakup of Aphrodite's Child, Vangelis had recorded a few other albums that were more like soundtracks that comes closer to the sound he would become famous for as an artist than this album. That would explain why many consider this album the logical follow-up to the classic Aphrodite's Child album "666" and claim that it sound more like their next album would sound. Around this time, he also rehearsed with Yes, but never became an official member.

"Earth" is more of a hodgepodge of styles and sound with Vangelis playing most of the instruments. He also brought along his ex-bandmate Anargyros Koulouris to play guitar, provide background vocals and to help his endeavor to tie in better to the defunct band. Also along for this album is bassist and lead singer Robert Fitoussi (also known as F.R. David) who would add his contributions and vocals on 4 of the tracks. A fellow known as Warren Shapovitch also provides narration on "We Were All Uprooted" and the album closer "A Song".

Come On - a guitar led opener driven by a riff and lyrics that repeat the words "Come on" over and over, but the heavier guitar sound is something you don't expect on a Vangelis album. Thankfully, this underwhelming track is short. We Are All Uprooted - crash of thunder, click of percussion and a mysterious sounding synth bring in spoken word poetry giving it a sort of native-american feel with psychedelic leanings as the guitar meanders along. It's actually quite nice, especially when the synths bring in some orchestral flavor. Sunny Earth - Continuing in a world music style, this one brings in tribal wordless vocals in a more African flair. A steady beating drum and minimalistic plucked tabla give it all an ethnic and wandering sound. Halfway through, more percussion comes in and the plucked strings get more playful, but it remains surprisingly minimal, even when the swirling synth comes in. He-O - A bit more intensity here, but the ethnic flair continues. The vocals are more interesting here than they were for the opener. Nice piano and keyboard flourishes add some needed embellishments to help bring this track out. High and low vocals sing the same notes in contrasting registers.

Ritual - Wordless vocals in a chant-like singing style at first, then a thumping drums increases the intensity a bit and then the singing comes back with the keys following the melody. This could have developed a bit more, but is short. Let it Happen - The tempo is a bit faster with the continued ethnic sound, a bit less obvious here, and with a nice vocal melody. A synth-led instrumental carries the middle bridge as we get a more familiar sounding Vangelis interlude before returning to the vocal melody. The City - a short bit with sounds of a city with thumping tribal drums beat loudly along and a bell chimes. My Face in the Rain - Pensive and lovely with vocals accompanied by atmospheric synths. You can almost hear the future here as it has the feel of the Jon and Vangelis songs. Watch Out - Dark drones and a few sudden dynamic outbursts start this out, then a beating drum brings in a rhythm as intensity increases with the psychedelic/world music feel. A sudden change in style breaks the build as things turn more progressive with interesting rhythm patterns and keyboard sounds. A Song - Carrying the mysterious sense of the last track, wordless, treated with tremolo vocals from Robert bring in another spoken word section recalling the poetic feel of the 2nd track. Nice atmospheric synths close it out with a minimal melody again reminding one of Vangelis' future style.

For the most part, this is not much like many of Vangelis' albums that would come out later. However, the fact that there are some passages that reflect that sound let you know that he was searching for his niche at the time. The album might seem a little disjointed because of that, but in reality, the only track that doesn't feel like it belongs is the awful opening track "Come On". Other than that, there is the tribal/ethnic flair of the songs that actually do tie things together better than might not be noticed on the first few plays. The actual disjointed feel comes from some somewhat underdeveloped ideas, as if Vangelis wanted to display his entire palette on one short album. Throughout the album, I get the feeling that things are a bit too restrained, and it doesn't feel as if the power wasn't really released here like it should have been. The album is not bad though, and should be one that is searched out by Vangelis fans, but don't expect it to be his best either. There are some nice passages throughout though and you can definitely hear the future of Vangelis' music in many places. It does work well, however, as a minimalistic-ethnic music album, if you can ignore the first track.