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Vangelis: Prog-Related or Progressive Electronic

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richardh View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 27 2021 at 13:31
El Greco and Voices are also 'hidden' gems in my view but he has so many! Probably my favourite is Direct though. Just perfection from start to finish. If I recall correctly that was his first recording after returning to Greece in the 80's . Perhaps not so well known that most of his albums from 1975-1985 were recorded in West London (Shepherds Bush) . I remember reading a very interesting article online from his recording engineer at the time. Apparently they had to be very careful not to upset the local residents as the studio (which no longer exists sadly) was very close to a block of flats! 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote moshkito Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 27 2021 at 13:45
Originally posted by ExittheLemming ExittheLemming wrote:

... but like me, he needs to ditch the beard and put down the fork.

Hi,

AND bring up the t-spoons more! Wink
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote verslibre Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 27 2021 at 13:58
Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

El Greco and Voices are also 'hidden' gems in my view but he has so many! Probably my favourite is Direct though. Just perfection from start to finish. If I recall correctly that was his first recording after returning to Greece in the 80's . Perhaps not so well known that most of his albums from 1975-1985 were recorded in West London (Shepherds Bush) . I remember reading a very interesting article online from his recording engineer at the time. Apparently they had to be very careful not to upset the local residents as the studio (which no longer exists sadly) was very close to a block of flats! 

Rosetta (2016), which was his first full album since El Greco, is really good. 

When Direct arrived, we visited multiple Wherehouse (FYE) locations so our "crew" could get it. I was the only one who at first bought the cassette (not the CD), as I was really into my brand new Aiwa portable at the time. The tape sounded really good, fidelity-wise. The stores thought they had a hit on their hands, because we cleaned them out. Luckily for them, we helped sell another copy every time we demo'd "The Motion of Stars" and "Dial Out" for somebody who only knew Vangelis as "the Chariots of Fire guy."

I've yet to pick up his 2019 piano album Nocturne, but it's on the list.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 04 2021 at 01:06
Originally posted by verslibre verslibre wrote:

Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

El Greco and Voices are also 'hidden' gems in my view but he has so many! Probably my favourite is Direct though. Just perfection from start to finish. If I recall correctly that was his first recording after returning to Greece in the 80's . Perhaps not so well known that most of his albums from 1975-1985 were recorded in West London (Shepherds Bush) . I remember reading a very interesting article online from his recording engineer at the time. Apparently they had to be very careful not to upset the local residents as the studio (which no longer exists sadly) was very close to a block of flats! 

Rosetta (2016), which was his first full album since El Greco, is really good. 

When Direct arrived, we visited multiple Wherehouse (FYE) locations so our "crew" could get it. I was the only one who at first bought the cassette (not the CD), as I was really into my brand new Aiwa portable at the time. The tape sounded really good, fidelity-wise. The stores thought they had a hit on their hands, because we cleaned them out. Luckily for them, we helped sell another copy every time we demo'd "The Motion of Stars" and "Dial Out" for somebody who only knew Vangelis as "the Chariots of Fire guy."

I've yet to pick up his 2019 piano album Nocturne, but it's on the list.

Rosetta is really good indeed. What about the soundtrack for Alexander?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote verslibre Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 06 2021 at 12:56
Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

Rosetta is really good indeed. What about the soundtrack for Alexander?

I prefer 1492.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 09 2021 at 00:53
Originally posted by verslibre verslibre wrote:

Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

Rosetta is really good indeed. What about the soundtrack for Alexander?

I prefer 1492.

yes me too
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 10 2021 at 12:53
Thanks to Steve Wyzard for this entertaining thread. It's inspired me to check out all of Vangelis' albums and share them with everyone here. I always like to start from the beginning, before things Spiral out of control, so here's the first Vangelis album and I'll See You Later. By the way, it's a spooky coincidence that my points are currently on 14492, which brings to mind Bounty coconut bars and the Conquest of Paradise.  Wink
 

 
 Hard to believe this is Vangelis' debut album when you listen to the power of the magnificent, Wild and Beautiful track below, which has all of the trademark synthesizer magic of the epic Chariots of Fire soundtrack. Thumbs Up
 


Edited by Psychedelic Paul - June 10 2021 at 15:44
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Logan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 10 2021 at 20:48
I've heard the original soundtrack for that album, and I'm sure that was not on it.  That clearly has that 80s Vangelis sound to it and is not of his early period.  It seems that an unofficial and unauthorised release from I think 2013 of Sex Power included it.  "Sauvage et Beau"  had been a previously unreleased track that appeared on his 1996 compilation album Portraits (So Long Ago, So Clear), he might have done it for a documentary.  When I started listening I wondered if Vangelis got his hands on a piece I forgot from Sex Power and re-worked it,  as some do like Kitaro with generally poor results imo, but no, I think it has nothing to do with the original.  Discogs even banned the Sex Power that included it from being sold on its site (piracy, unauthorised use stuff).

By the way, I don't think it would be appropriate to turn this into another of your playlists topics.  Having links to full albums (whether as one video or as a playlist) could get us into trouble if not approved.    Yeah, I embedded an unauthorised thing in this very topic. Embarrassed  

I think that keeping this to the conversation it started with while including the most pertinent examples to back up whatever one is trying to demonstrate is better.  Even the OP seems to have lost interest in getting into a deep discussion dive on this topic, and I don't think we should be taking over his topic in such a  way even if he lost interest in the discussion.  Maybe he was satisfied with the answers.

I'd call the first album mostly a kind of folk, with field recordings.

By the way, I really dislike Chariots of Fire, maybe because I had to play it in band.


Edited by Logan - June 10 2021 at 20:57
Just a fanboy passin' through.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 11 2021 at 09:06
^ A small correction Logan. 'Chariots of Fire' (the suite on side 2 of the album which is not part of the soundtrack) is brilliant but often people refer the piece of music called 'Titles' as Chariots of Fire.

Anyway Vangelis didn't start using traditional modular synths until about 1975 that were housed in a customised recording studio in West London. It was either Ignacio or Heaven Hell that was his first 'proper' electronic synth album.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Steve Wyzard Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 11 2021 at 09:35
Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

^ A small correction Logan. 'Chariots of Fire' (the suite on side 2 of the album which is not part of the soundtrack) is brilliant but often people refer the piece of music called 'Titles' as Chariots of Fire.

I'd like to reiterate richardh's shout-out on "side 2" of the Chariots of Fire album. It's a masterful side-long suite where the composer improvises on the famous themes heard on "side1". It was hearing this piece that made me realize "maybe there's more to this guy than art-house soundtracks". Yes, we all heard "Titles" over and over and over again in 1981-82, but for a lot of us, that became our "gateway drug" to the world of Vangelis!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote verslibre Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 11 2021 at 09:48
Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

Anyway Vangelis didn't start using traditional modular synths until about 1975 that were housed in a customised recording studio in West London. It was either Ignacio or Heaven Hell that was his first 'proper' electronic synth album.

Heaven and Hell was the very first. Vangelis backed out of his audition for Yes due to a reluctance to being a "touring musician," and relocated from Paris to London and set up his new BoO, Nemo Studios. H&H was the first record he made there. The next was Albedo 0.39 (still my #1), followed by Ignacio.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote verslibre Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 11 2021 at 09:57
Arguably the best piece from the score.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote progaardvark Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 11 2021 at 10:13
Unlike Chariots of Fire, the Cosmos TV series narrated by Carl Sagan was my gateway to Vangelis. Excerpts of Pulstar, Alpha, and Movement 3 were used in the series. Albedo 0.39 is also my favorite album from him.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hrychu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 11 2021 at 11:50
I don't think Vangelis is prog at all.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Progishness Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 11 2021 at 12:42
Originally posted by Hrychu Hrychu wrote:

I don't think Vangelis is prog at all.


I'm not so sure Aphrodite's Child are either, to me they sound poppy with psychedelic leanings.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote verslibre Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 11 2021 at 13:25
Originally posted by Hrychu Hrychu wrote:

I don't think Vangelis is prog at all.

Albedo 0.39 will change your mind.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 14 2021 at 04:43
Originally posted by Progishness Progishness wrote:

Originally posted by Hrychu Hrychu wrote:

I don't think Vangelis is prog at all.


I'm not so sure Aphrodite's Child are either, to me they sound poppy with psychedelic leanings.

I doubt you've heard their 666 album then?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guldbamsen Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 14 2021 at 05:10
Love Vangelis - as a solo artist but also with Aphrodite's Child.
Vangelis has always been a very progressive artist..but very rarely prog rock.
On Hypothesis and The Dragon though he is fullblown pork imho.
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Shakespear once wrote a smart little paragraph about a rose. It applies here as well.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote moshkito Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 14 2021 at 07:56
Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

...
Anyway Vangelis didn't start using traditional modular synths until about 1975 that were housed in a customised recording studio in West London. It was either Ignacio or Heaven Hell that was his first 'proper' electronic synth album.

Hi,

And that is very clear when comparing the material, although I think that the electronic synths used were not used as far, or as much as they did later. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dr wu23 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 14 2021 at 08:20
Vangelis is certainly as prog as Oldfield.....  Wink
Aphrodites Child- '666' fits well in 'proto prog' imo....found an original on Vertigo some years back...collectable these days.
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