CHARIOTS OF FIRE

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Probably the most accessable work by the great man.Side one is the boring stuff that comes directly from the film soundtrack.The reason for checking this album out is the suite on side 2 called 'Chariots Of Fire'.This was NOT taken from the soundtrack but uses melodies and themes from it instead.Really good quasi classical music.Overall not great and not essential.

Excellent & accessible progressive New Age, this record is the soundtrack of the "Chariots of fire" movie. Side one has 6 short tracks, rather floating & symphonic. "Titles" is the wonderful piano + symphonic keyboards hit that was used to be aired from radio stations as far as in 1990; you probably know it. "Jerusalem" is a well known cover song, having an outstanding cathedral ambience, with all those extremely powerful choirs and church organ parts: it MUST be played as loud as possible: the level of the feeling involved is EXTREME!

On the other side, the epic eponymous track is absolutely delightful, although starting a bit too slowly and slightly eternizing at the end; when the piano starts, then the tracks takes all its dimension: sometimes delicate and emotional, sometimes powerful and anthemic, rhythm & melody changing all the time, this track will really move you. It is a major achievement in the Vangelis' work. The track is not complex, but the combination of echoed piano + keyboards are played in a such way that 3 words come to mind: grace, grandeur and majesty.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Were it not for the Oscar-winning film score, for a quite over-rated Hugh Hudson movie, this album would probably have enjoyed a lesser fame. Nonetheless, it is still one of the more boring music scores by Vangelis I ever heard, and since I owned a vinyl record I never really enjoyed it much. "Titles" was a huge hit, a popular and very accessible melody but nothing outstanding. The rest of the album is boring ambient, synth-laden "elevator music" that IMO cannot satisfy a demanding prog rock listener. Not recommended unless you are a Vangelis completist or if you like boring background soundtrack music.

Well, recently, I have acquired over ten Vangelis albums and have decided I would review most or all of them. I decided to choose this album as the first. Chariots of Fire contains the most well known Vangelis composition, "Title." I have never seen the movie, nor do I really care to, but I have to say, while I wasn't blown away by this album, it still made for an enjoyable listen and actually surpassed my expectations.

Like I said before, everyone knows the first piece on this album, whether they want to or not. It's very accessible and catchy, but after repeated listens, it doesn't hold up compared to most other Vangelis tunes. The rest of the tracks on side one (bar "Jerusalem," a choral piece, which most people know as well) have there moments, but are pretty forgettable when it comes down to it. "Jerusalem," on the other hand, is absolutely grand! It's truly a stunning version of the famous choral work.

The title track, which had nothing to do with the money as far as I can tell, is where the real magic is. It starts slow, but gradually gains power and majesticness. Some of the themes from tracks on side one are redone her in a sort of theme and variation format. It's an excellent symphonic, electronic, Prog epic, not to be confused with new age!

Side one would get 2 stars, while I would give side two 4 stars, thus three stars is pretty accurate, while an easy and accessible listen, this is definitely not the best Vangelis album.

This is my second review of "Chariots of Fire" as my first was, well a rushed one and I failed to take into account the many times I had listened to this album and enjoyed it. I also didn't think of the electronic beauty of it either, there are many prog electronic albums, but few are as beautiful as this. "Chariots of Fire" is very good background music as it isn't intrusive or loud, which is why I listen to it when reading. That said it isn't boring and it can be listened to intently and still be very enjoyable despite the slowness of the album.

The 20 minute "Chariots of Fire" on the album is made up of repeated versions of the same theme from Titles, except they are altered in certain ways and different backing sections are added. This epic is a more solid effort than most other epics by prog Electronic bands as it just feels more real. (By solid I mean more real). When reflecting on the other shorter songs on "Chariots of Fire" I have now realized that they, in themselves are good and melodic songs. "Five Circles" has a great theme to it as does "Abraham's Theme" and "Eric's Theme." I believe certain parts to "Chariots of Fire" were used in small ways on Jon Anderson's 'Olias of Sunhillow.'

1. Titles (4/5) 2. Five Circles (4/5) 3. Abraham's Theme (3/5) 4. Eric's Theme (3/5) 5. 100 Metres (3/5) 6. Jerusalem (2/5) 7. Chariots Of Fire (4/5) Total = 23 divided by 7 (number of songs) = 3.285 = 3 stars Good, but non-essential

My new rating for this album is much fairer than my first. I don't know why I initially gave it two stars, it was too rushed I guess. "Chariots of Fire" was a very successful album and it got Vangelis the accreditation he deserves. Vangelis went on to write the wonders of 'Conquest of Paradise', 'El Greco' and many other enjoyable albums. "Chariots of Fire" in many ways opened the gate for Vangelis. I give it three stars because I know it is not the best thing he has come up with, but let's not forget three stars still means "good" and "Chariots of Fire" is a good album.

How can I say this without being to derogatory? I preferred the movie to the soundtrack. Even though the actual soundtrack has an additional song ' warm up to olympics' I find the Chariots album to be a tad bit dull overall. This is atypical movie soundtrack themes.In saying that ' Abraham's theme' has some of the most haunting beautiful sounds from all of Vangelis's catalogue. The now infamous ' Titles' is great too. This is a good album BUT only for completionists. Arguably Vangelis's most commercially succesful album but definitely not his most satisfying.

The 42 minute mile

"Chariots of fire" was of course a phenomenally successful film which won many awards and plaudits. Vangelis' film score undeniably played a significant part in the film's success. I deny anyone who has seen the film to hear the main theme without instantly picturing a group of runners on a beach, filmed in slow motion. Apart from that defining moment, the soundtrack complemented the film superbly, Vangelis toying with the watcher's emotions though the various moods he created.

This however is not a film review, and here we must assess the music on a purely audio basis. Unfortunately, as with the majority of soundtracks, when heard out of context the results do not hold up nearly so well.

The title theme enjoyed major success on the back of the film, and is a fine piece of music in its own right. Confusingly, the piece we all know as "Chariots of fire" is in fact called "Titles" here. It is however only a brief part of the album, the remainder of which is largely washes of atmospheric synthesisers, such as can be found on any number of Tangerine Dream albums.

Side one of the album closes with a rendition of the hymn "Jerusalem", also covered by Emerson Lake and Palmer on "Brain salad surgery". This is quite different to the rest of the album, as it features the Ambrosian singers performing the piece in a straight church choir manner with Vangelis providing church organ.

The piece which actually bears the title "Chariots of fire" occupies the whole of the second side of the album. This 20 minute suite is not taken directly from the film, but sees Vangelis improvising upon and developing themes from side one. While there is a relaxed quality to the music, it retains the feel of being film music. At times, it seems we have drifted into a classical piano concerto, with only the occasional dramatics of a synthesiser burst or clumsy attack on the timpani to keep things from wandering too far.

Seen for what it is, the music from a film, "Chariots of fire" is a reasonably strong piece of work. Assessed solely as an album in its own right, it is a pleasant diversion, but largely lacking in anything of substance.

Is there anyone alive unfamiliar with the title theme to this popular 1981 movie? The soundtrack won Vangelis an Academy Award for Best Original Score, and secured a global reputation for the Greek synth- rock keyboard wizard. Arguably, it also went a long way toward earning the film its unexpected Oscar© for Best Picture (much to the chagrin of Warren Beatty).

Not bad for a collection of music that hardly ranks among the composer's best efforts. Even more surprising: the now ubiquitous theme was a last minute replacement for the pre-existing Vangelis song director Hugh Hudson wanted to use over the opening credits (the stately "Hymne", from his underrated 1979 album "Opera Sauvage").

Never mind that the electronic score is entirely ill-suited to such a modest (but visually elegant) inspiration piece, set against a backdrop of the 1924 Olympic Games and celebrating God and England with pomp, circumstance, and no shortage of Old Empire virtue. The music may lack a certain period flavor (to say the least). But it's quintessential Vangelis, symphonic in its grandeur, unashamedly romantic (in the sometimes overwrought fashion of Rachmaninoff), and catchy as hell.

But would it be nit-picking to point out that the CD soundtrack only contains 18 minutes of original music from the film? The balance is filled by a suitably heroic arrangement of the old Anglican hymn "Jerusalem" (itself the ultimate English anthem), performed by the Ambrosia Singers, and a long (nearly 21 minutes) "Chariots of Fire" suite, arranged by Vangelis around many of the score's established themes. All of it is very pleasant, very polite, and very unlikely to offend your parents or neighbors.

Perhaps it's an unwritten axiom that an artist will be rewarded for his least deserving effort. That's not entirely true in this case: the music here marked a significant turning point in Vangelis' career, after all. But in retrospect this one soundtrack was hardly the career zenith its world-wide popularity would suggest.