VANGELIS

First of all, I take umbrage at the star rating system for this album, since it is not actually prog rock. It is experimental electronica. There are many reviews here that lambaste this album because it is not what they expected from Vangelis. However, one has only to listen to the modular synth electronica that is being made today to realize that Vangelis was only about 45 years ahead of his time. Also, if one wants to put this album in context, then one must listen not to other Vangelis music or prog rock, but to go back and listen to such works as Stockhausen's Etudes or Ligeti's Artikulations. Beaubourg is like those works, only less formal and more melodic. There are actually some really beautiful sections of Beaubourg -- for example, the first five minutes makes a very compelling composition, full of beauty and drama.

When I first got this record back in the early 80s, I didn't really know what to make of it. However, it is now my favourite Vangelis album. Another Vangelis album that I thought was really useless at the time is Invisible Connections. However, it is now probably my second favourite Vangelis album. These albums are pure abstract electronica, and they are very good in that context. In my view, much of the more accessible Vangelis music has not aged particularly well, but that certainly cannot be said of Beaubourg and Invisible Connections -- they stand up very well amongst the experimental electronica being made today.

VANGELIS with CHINA as a hidden chronicle, just for fun.

1 Chung Kuo with the intro cosmic waves or Chinese artifices that set the sky ablaze; immense apocalyptic, symphonic and majestic intro, the arrival of this comet sound, shooting star, flame-fall of the extinguishing fire?; in short we are at the dawn of the great journey on this binary air quickly chiselled by a Mandarin keyboard... the slap what... I had read at the time 'the long march of the mandarins at the time of the mellotron' yes I take it out. 2 The Long March for the melancholic solf'ge piano variation where a synth adds a little more spleen, shhh it's the break and it's not this crescendo that will scare us 3 The Dragon bam it goes to the right, to the left, the fire is not extinguished; return to 'Beaubourg' for preposterous synthetic experiments; good it's going a well restrained air arises for a conventional Asian dance; the minimalist break and the flight of synths amplified by the majestic percussion gives the expected relief, we are indeed in China to climb the great wall. Dantesque and eventful this piece 4 The Plum Blossom for the variation on the arid violin, the one that makes hair and other hair rise high, a tune that twirls, that moves like a salad basket supposed to dry this damn lettuce... ah the images scroll by, come on the theme Chinese in the final background. 5 The Tao Of Love for the variation of the Chinese air, the one where you see the cherry trees of Japan in bloom, yes we are going very far to change countries... in short, the theme dripping with marshmallow sweetness to ask questions hassles of everyday life, well I will take a tea with this synth that relaxes and imposes respect ... a bit of the child in the sea in the distance 6 The Little Fete and the characteristic tuba flute that we dream of hearing to symbolize our arrival on the ground, drum roll, crystalline arpeggio, drops of water... yes we have arrived, I take a bottle of wine, now I speak Chinese too... my shadow is never first? good barker title to make you think you're there when you're still here 7 Yin & Yang continues on the same path, synths, local string instruments to make you forget Europe, France, you're good there and nothing will make you come back, dong dong says this song ; the ambient variation which arises wisely on a guitar and harp arpeggio ennobles the air so that the wicked evangelical synths show the end of their keyboards; boo it would even become oppressive; small aside on this album chosen to try to raise awareness of the progressive extent through music, here we are; I have a soft spot for the percussion associated with these high notes raising the emotion to the firmament for the finale. 8 Himalayas for the piece of my favorite, yes Julien it's not just you; in short, a dark, sinister, evolving rise, a crescendical rise as one can only love, a hypnotizing and hypnotized sound, a bewitching air that I used in relaxation, that is to say; the title which runs for an hour, which makes you forget your temporal landmarks. As often halfway through an evolution, a break, here a musical will-o'-the-wisp with invading sounds, like one that goes behind my ear; good little Chinese symphonic explosion in the last third before the final monolithic plaintive declension 9 Summit for the dark happy ending, gloomy air, on a 'Blade Runner' when it was still only in the drawers; the progressive title so to come back to earth, finally to leave the great wall and land in Paris.... what did you not know that the great wall is a temporal passage, well at least I will have been used for something ; good this ambient title, latent on a musical structure in overloop, to put in phase anvil and stirrup.

Good this VANGELIS to rediscover art-rock, even if it's rather Japanese-rock here... and I have a Chinese friend who loves this pun. A good album by VANGELIS which is more OCNI than OMNI!!

1.Spiral ah this spatial intro, the synths that come and go, back and forth, from left to right, ah this sound that comes from the center, from your head, it swells, what else can I say, it's very linear, yes but before there was nothing; so these redundant sounds, these sounds coming from the universe, amplified by this microphone elsewhere, what a cover that everyone remembers; the air that comes, dancing, symphonic and catchy; a sound that returns like a wave and that we would listen to for more 2 Ballad which takes me back to the album 'China' for its Japanese connections, the entry is symphonic, Chinese, grandiloquent; then with the voice-overs it deviates to an airy air, of the turbosphere I think; a synthetic violin which juggles with the folklore of the land of the rising sun, a musical image of plenitude, bells, percussion which amplifies and the return of this sampled sound, trademark of the master VANGELIS; a magnificent bucolic stroll 3 Dervish D with the trademark of electronic music, a tune on a rhythmic base, all one on top of the other, like a black hole absorbing a galaxy; it seems so outdated these days, so beautiful when it came out 4 To The Unknown Man and one of my first musical excitements with electronic music; yes there was TANGERINE DREAM, SCHULZE, JM JARRE; yes there was VANGELIS with this very significant title; a solemn tune, the perfect anthem, here before hearing the drum roll I imagined it; in short, stereo to brighten up, the sound that plays on the speakers, or that stirs your air in your headphones, more on the left side it is true; 3'50 and it arrives after this wave of muffled synths; the roll, yes you have to follow, makes the hairs on your back stand up, it was the fashion, yes the anthem becomes beautiful, tall, you can't be more... 6'20 and that's messy; boom, boom boom and the finale arrives... a little pink noise to bring that last musical, symphonic and airy touch, in short a simplistic and wonderful title at the same time 5 3 + 3 at the end for the final title which leaves me cold; too much synth kills the synth; it's too easy, too bland, I don't like it and listening again confirms my initial feeling; perhaps also that the other titles took all my emotion.

13th January, 2023: Irene Papas - Odes (electronic dimotika, 1979)

An incredibly pretty album, with Vangelis just approaching his Blade Runner era mixing incredibly well with some traditional Greek singing. The mix of synths, ambience and folk music can give this a kind of hokey new age atmosphere at times, but when it locks in, it's quite captivating. There are elements of both traditional classical and folk music in it and it does manage to have a solid amount of variation - the synths occasionally locking into Vangelis' characteristic proto-synthwave sound, but at other times sounding more like a Tangerine Dream Berlin School record. A unique mix of sounds and definitely one of my favourite Vangelis related projects.

6.6 (3rd listen)

Part of my listening diary from my facebook blog: www.facebook.com/TheExoskeletalJunction

This 13-disc box set contains 13 remastered studio albums of Vangelis, three of them actually by JON + VANGELIS. The only Vertigo release is "Earth" (1973), which happened to be the only one I hadn't listened to before. Actually a group effort with vocals of Robert Fitoussi, it has some faint resemblence with the Aphrodite's Child classic 666 (released in 1972), although obviously a minor and less exciting work in comparison. All the other albums in this set were originally released by Polydor, thus it won't include some classic albums from the 70's, ie. Heaven & Hell, Albedo 0.39 and Spiral, from the RCA label. Several of the albums here are music composed for films: L'Apocalypse des Animaux, Opera Sauvage, Chariots of Fire and Antarctica. These are among the best known Vangelis albums except perhaps Antarctica (1983), which is a very fine work. The rest of the Vangelis albums are: China, See You Later, Soil Festivities, Mask and Invisible Connections. The set is finished with the three JON + VANGELIS albums from the early 80's: Short Stories, The Friends of Mr. Cairo and Private Collection.

I'm surprised by the numerous five-star ratings without reviews, because I have major complaints about the box and the representation. The physical size of the box is massive, big enough for vinyls. The discs are plainly placed in two gatefold sleeves. All the album information and other textual contents are in the large hard-cover book of 96 pages, and judged against the size the actual contents are rather disappointing. I expected much more of the liner notes when I borrowed the box from library. For the most part, it's a picture book. It's not handy at all that you have to hold that clumsy big book open to see the albums' track lists while listening. I truly prefer smaller and thus more user-friendly sizes for CD box sets. That said, I'd be satisfied with the rather brief liner notes too, if the box and the book/booklet had been smaller: come on, almost a hundred vinyl size pages for contents that would nicely fit into a 40-page CD size booklet!

The bonus material on the discs remains rather minimal. The fifth disc containing See You Later (1980) features three bonus tracks in the style of the album, hardly worth a second listening. The third and the best Jon + Vangelis album Private Collection is accompanied by a fairly good B-sider 'Song Is'. And that's more or less all. Considering the salty price of this box set, I frankly don't see it very recommendable. I'd rather spend the money on individual albums of your own choice.

One thing is sure. There's a wide musical variety among these thirteen albums. From the earthy art-rock of "Earth" to the avant-garde minimalism of Invisible Connections (1985 - originally released in the classical music label Deutsche Grammophon, so I'm wondering of its inclusion here), from the organic melancholy of L'Apocalypse des Animaux (1973) to the Oscar winning athletic themes of Chariots of Fire (1981), and from the fascinating microcosmos interpreted in Soil Festivities (1984) to the choral approach of the mythologically inspired Mask (1985). I personally also enjoyed the opportunity to (re)visit the Jon + Vangelis albums at the same time, despite a little reservation for them not being actual Vangelis solo albums.

Alongside its companion piece Hypothesis, The Dragon is one of the most controversial releases in Vangelis's discography. Of course it doesn't speak in their favour that both these albums were released nearly a decade after being recorded without authorization and against the wishes of the artist who subsequently disowned them, and the fact that they bear little resemblance to most of Vangelis's output presumably doesn't help for most people either. This album, containing a trio of extended krautrock and jazz fusion improvisations, indeed would be unlikely to please anyone expecting to hear the music that Vangelis had become known for by 1978, but personally, this makes me appreciate it all the more: it makes me feel like I'm getting a sneak peek into a completely different side to this clearly multi-talented musician.

But of course that would only be worth so much if the actual music wasn't also very good, although it's a bit slow to start, admittedly. Vangelis does not play keyboards (or if he does, they're unrecognizably distorted) on the lengthy title track that opens the album, an oppressive, 15-minute long psychedelic jam which is mostly a showcase for violinist Michel Ripoche and guitarist Anargyros Koulouris, Vangelis's bandmate in Aphrodite's Child who allows himself that get much more fuzzed-up and atonal than he could ever be in that band up until then.

The second side is where the album's beauty really comes to fruition, however: "Stuffed Aubergine" is probably the closest that this album comes to resembling Vangelis's more famous works, being a mellow, new age-ish minimalist sequence with plenty of keyboard soloing, but it sounds much more like Popol Vuh than Spiral. Vangelis only uses a synthesizer to add some background chords but for the most part relies on a clavinet, electric piano and even a mellotron, while Koulouris gets a chance to show off his more sensitive side near the end. "Stuffed Tomato" throws the album on its head again, starting out with an unaccompanied guitar improvisation before launching into a furious speedy jazz-rock jam. Vangelis is indeed playing jazz on his piano here and he does it excellently, all the while accompanied by some quality drum-pounding and bass-walking.

Vangelis fans aren't guaranteed to enjoy this album but they owe it to themselves to at least give it a chance.

This music is iconic. Just as the movie is. The movie and the music are one. As a soundtrack, it is one of the best ever.

But does it hold up to its own? Frankly, I can't tell. Because I am a fan of the movie. So I will always have the movie in mind when listening to this album. Or reading the track titles. I'm spoiled by the movie when listening to this music.

As an experience of reliving the movie, I highly recommend this soundtrack. The music is of high quality and engaging to set the right scene. As a music piece, it is good. But nothing extraordinary in my book.

Reviewing this as a piece of music, I can't push it above 3 stars. It is good, but certainly not essential for prog fans. And this is a prog site after all.

This is one of the earlier works of Vangelis before he became a superstar. It is an interesting album on many fronts.

It shows us a progression of Vangelis from his work with Aphrodites Child to his staple work. It has a palette of sounds, making it very varied. We hear some glimpses of where he eventually would go. It even has an appearance of Jon Anderson!

For me, this album marks the moment of the perfect storm. I believe this is the Vangelis that appeals to me most. It's not only dreamy musical landscapes. There's more, it's punchier.

Heaven and hell is a great album. I give it 4 stars.

In the fond memory of VANGELIS, 29 March 1943 -- 17 May 2022. The yesterday's news of Vangelis having passed away at the age of 79 really made me sad. A great deal of his output definitely belongs to the soundtrack of my personal history, or the emotional landscapes of my soul itself.

I have reviewed the album that these two instrumental pieces were taken from and rated it with three stars only (in the Vangelis scale). Opera Sauvage, the score for the nature documentary of the same title by French filmmaker Frédéric Rossif, is one of his most succesful albums, but it isn't among my biggest favourites personally. That certainly doesn't mean I wouldn't highly appreciate it as a beautiful work, and recommendable especially for those newcomers who seek for accessible and soothing instrumental music. Ok, we could use the term New Age although I have certain reservations against it.

'Hymne' is well known and it has also been used on TV ads. The short piece is carried from start to end by a serene theme with some delicate progress in the delivery. At the time Vangelis used mainly Yamaha CS-80 to orchestrate his warm melodies.

'Irlande' has rather similar calm atmosphere. It's slighly more introspective, played in a slower tempo. The sounds are a bit more varied on top of the silky synth layers, including details reminiscent of bells, harp and flute. I like this one even more than 'Hymne', so my rating for this single is one star better than for the main album.

Listening to Juno To Jupiter after hearing only the most iconic Vangelis releases such as Heaven & Earth, Chariots Of Fire and the Blade Runner soundtrack and nothing from recent times, you might be forgiven for thinking "Yes, he's still got it!" after arriving at the second track, "Inside Our Perspectives", a mighty synth anthem that just refuses to leave my head and hearkens back to the most imposing, anthemic pieces of Vangelis's past. The praise for this track is well-deserved (in fact, after listening to Juno To Jupiter the first time, despite not having a clear opinion about its quality yet, I recommended this album on the forums based on the strength of track two alone; that should tell you something), but I was sadly mistaken in believing that it sets the tone for the rest of the album because pretty much everything from this point onward falls hopelessly flat.

This is an album that's built upon quite an ambitious concept: An instrumental suite depicting the Juno space mission to the planet Jupiter, drawing parallels to their Hellenic counterparts, comprising a musical synthesis of late-Romantic classical music and Vangelis's old-school progressive electronic music from the 70s and early 80s. What does it end up sounding like? A load of painfully mediocre new age muzak that's fit for the background score of a cheap pop-scientific documentary series on the National Geographic channel. Some chimey celestial ambience to emphasize the beauty of space, some vaguely threatening synth drones to accompany an asteroid racing towards earth or something, you get the idea. The electronic tracks are generic and forgettable, and the lengthy classical passages are just muddy, nondescript filler occupying a void where inspired, intricately written music should exist but plainly refuses to: pure ostentation with no substance. Alright, some of the wordless vocal tracks featuring opera singer Angela Gheorghiu such as "Juno's Tender Call" and "Juno's Accomplishments" (love songs from the satellite to the gas giant it orbits?) are of a bit more merit but offer only a small respite on an album that drags on for over 70 minutes. You won't miss anything important by forgoing a physical release and listening to this on a streaming service so you can just turn it off after the second track.