Vangelis interview 2013
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Topic: Vangelis interview 2013
Posted By: Chris S
Subject: Vangelis interview 2013
Date Posted: November 28 2013 at 00:18
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Great interview of such a humble musician/artist from Al Jazeera
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAgZ-dv9uyw" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAgZ-dv9uyw ------------- ...As I venture through the slipstream, between the viaducts in your dreams...[/COLOR] |
Replies:
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: November 29 2013 at 10:06
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Hi,
I hope that film about him gets released some day before we all die!
The weird thing is that according to Vangelis himself he is very much a person that composes things and does not second guess a lot of his work, so seeing a film take this long is scary and ... pathetic! Makes me think that the film maker is an idiot and can not do a film in the Hollywood style that would not show Vangelis as well.
I'm looking forward to seeing this! ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: aapatsos
Date Posted: November 29 2013 at 11:14
Brilliant and honest, and a bit philosophical - thanks for sharing Chris 
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Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: November 29 2013 at 11:26
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I'll have to watch that when I get home. Long time V fan. Thanks for sharing. ------------- Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened... 
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Posted By: Chris S
Date Posted: November 29 2013 at 16:42
Yes , incredible to think that at this juncture in life he still does not read or write music. No wonder he relates to music as a universal medium as in nature, the language we can all understand. A wise and content older man springs to mind  ------------- ...As I venture through the slipstream, between the viaducts in your dreams...[/COLOR] |
aapatsos wrote:Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: November 29 2013 at 21:47
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have to check that |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: November 29 2013 at 22:22
Hmmm.....can't read or write music. Is this the same humble man who once told Howe and other members of Yes that the guitar was not a proper musical instrument?
 ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: Prog_Traveller
Date Posted: November 29 2013 at 22:46
Did they ask him if he ever made up with Jon Anderson? 
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Posted By: verslibre
Date Posted: November 30 2013 at 02:29
That was the one question they weren't allowed to ask him. He's still waiting for Jon to send him a cheque for Page of Life.  ------------- https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ipg=50&_sop=1&_rdc=1&_ssn=musicosm" rel="nofollow - eBay |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: November 30 2013 at 02:57
they should give me a refund first though  Listened to a bit of Beauborg this morning. Only Vangelis makes this sort of stuff compelling. I'll listen to the interview later
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Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: December 01 2013 at 10:54
I don't think he means "read and write music" in a classical sense.
But in a previous interview that I have heard, he described his composing process as just a painting, where you now add another color, and then another line and a different color and sometimes things become a bit different in the end!
If all he did was write note per note, in the conventional style, I doubt that he would be well known. It also explains why he does not do concerts for the most part. He's too intuitive and creative and wants to do different things all the time and the strength it takes for him to do something that is not a part of his creative process, is not likely to be helpful or required for him to do his work!
Again, we distrust people that say things like this! And there are many people that work off a sound, instead of a note, and we still don't believe it, even when we hear someone talk about it. More than half rock music is off a sound, not a note or chord!
This is one of the elements that the 20th century added to music ... recording ... that was not available before and the only way you knew that someone played something this way or that, was if someone showed it to you, and now you don't have to wait ... you can hear it!
Vangelis, is a modern day composer! ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: December 01 2013 at 15:18
The point was Vangelis was being a 'jerk' when he called another person's instrument a non musical one when he isn't even a trained musician himself. ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: December 03 2013 at 08:21
So the possibility that he made a joke about the guitar is not acceptable? He started in a band that had a guitar, but I would think/imagine that his point is that he doesn't need the ego that comes with it, which is an acceptable comment about the guitar players, not the instrument itself.
I have 3 different interviews with Vangelis, and that would be his humor in my book. It's no different when I mention the teaspoons and folks here go ... what? How can progressive music have teaspoons? .... well, Vangelis DOES!
But remember, just like here, foreign humor is not allowed because the English speaking world invented it! And they are the only ones allowed to talk about it, and discuss it in a public bulletin board! ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: December 03 2013 at 10:36
 ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: December 04 2013 at 09:24
Doesn't add up! Vangelis still says very nice things about Jon and he says the same about Vangelis!
But in reality, a "guitar" as we know it, is NOT a part of most orchestra designs, and still does not have a thread in Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky ... so hearing Vangelis say that is even funnier ... but then, they didn't have the thread for teaspoons either!
It's too easy to mis-understand foreign peoples that do not speak English, but we automatically assume that it's wrong! ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: December 04 2013 at 09:44
 ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: December 31 2013 at 09:22
Let's see ... the Portland Orchestra just did a thing and I looked. No guitars or amplifiers except for the microphone so you could hear the conductor say Good Evening and Good Night!
Because it is frustrating as all hell being in an English speaking board, and every one thinks you are the debil and can't speak engrish and your opinions are totally screwed up, because the English speaking world invented the media and still acts like they own the world for it, and invented progressive music, and rock music, and jazz and war, and bullsh*t and everything else! And to this day the "progressive" definition is an "all-english" affair, with not appreciation or mention of the other relative areas and things that inspired it.
If you think Vangelis has opinions, wait until you hear from Edgar Froese. Or Klaus Schulze! They are merely being polite by not saying anything, because folks like you won't get it, and will go on a tirade that Mosh is a pit and has ideas up his as$.
You have to stand up for your work. But a lot of people do not "believe", and further more "understand" where the work comes from, and that in itself is an issue that we are not willing to study and appreciate, which is what the history of the arts, for the most part, has been all about! ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: January 02 2014 at 12:28
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Hi, Excellent video. The hard part, is discussing what he considers "music" and then calling what he does "nature". It's the difference between being 100% intuitive, and what we consider "music". We have come to the point that we believe only this and that and done this way is "music" and no one else can think otherwise, or do something different. THAT is the clue that it has become so commercialized and we need another 60's revolution to wake folks up to the fact that we can't explore anymore and we're not allowed to learn different things, except the same different chords and this time we will call it differently than the other one because you used the pinkie backwards instead of not! We have become such a dis-disillusioned society that we can not even believe that someone can do something different, or that someone is not interested in the social belief and life that we're stuck on! And the worst part ... they are creative and we aren't! As Jim Morrison would scream .. .WAKE UP! HAS THIS DREAM STOPPED?
------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: January 02 2014 at 13:08
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I remember reading about him being self taught in a Keyboard magazine interview in the late '70's. Certainly one of my inspirations.
------------- Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...
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Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: January 03 2014 at 01:48
BUT Vangelis was a commercial artist. When he moved to England he was put forward as the next Tomita with a dash of Rick Wakeman and a touch of the ELP's. I think he slotted readily into this with Heaven and Hell and Albedo but then Beauborg was maybe his 'rebellion' against record company expectations. All popular musicians in the seventies had to work within parameters. This supposed freedom of expression you always allude to has rarely ever existed imo.
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Posted By: King Only
Date Posted: January 03 2014 at 02:56
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I think that Vangelis' desire for musical freedom was what motivated him to set up Nemo Studios in London. It was his own studio so he could experiment however he liked, whenever he liked. So he had complete freedom and he recorded many hours of music that was not commercially motivated and was never released on any albums. There are several youtube videos of him just improvising and recording in the studio, and he's just playing freely and really enjoying himself. But of course he had to pay for the rent of the building, buying and maintaining equipment and paying the engineers. So he would license his music for TV commercials, sometimes lease the studio to bands that his brother managed, do soundtracks and of course also do the official album releases.
The only problem he had was with releasing music, because the labels usually only want to release one album by an artist per year. And of course the record labels want something 'marketable' (because they want to make a return on their investment, they are not charities or non-profit organisations). So the music that was officially released is not necessarily representative of all the music Vangelis was making privately. But I still think that albums like "See You Later", "Soil Festivities" and "Mask" are obviously what Vangelis was personally interested in, rather than what he thought would be popular. If you look at Vangelis' discography it's usually obvious which albums are his "personal" releases and which albums were released to "pay the bills".
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Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: January 05 2014 at 11:21
I think the economic disparity is the difference here, though. At first London was appealing, because it looked like where all the work was, but then, I think the expenses became too much and probably were forcing him to take on work he didn't want to do.
Eventually though, he found his peace back home, and I'm glad for it, but his London days and studio also produced magnificent work. ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: Chris S
Date Posted: January 05 2014 at 12:34
I am not sure I agree entirely. The 70's allowed for far more creativity than later on. Especially the early 70's. Vangelis may allude otherwise but there has rarely been such a prolific artist and his releases fluctuated widely in terms of output. Yes we have Wakeman but my guess his dirge of releases occurred after the 70's and IMO were largely crap. Vangelis was commercial in the 70's and had the license to be creative, which he did
------------- ...As I venture through the slipstream, between the viaducts in your dreams...[/COLOR] |
Posted By: verslibre
Date Posted: January 05 2014 at 14:44
Soil Festivities is brilliant, IMO. And when Direct came out, it sounded like he just felt like doing a prog-electronic album. Vangelis has certainly always played literally to the beat of his own drum (Beauborg, for instance). ------------- https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ipg=50&_sop=1&_rdc=1&_ssn=musicosm" rel="nofollow - eBay |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: January 06 2014 at 01:37
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Agree with most of the above. I don't dislike his commercial releases , in fact I love most Vangelis and own pretty much everything he's ever done. Voices was a commercial release but also contains some of the most beautiful music he ever recorded imo. There are also those wonderfull albums with Irene Papas. Odes ticked the commercial boxes and artistic boxes especially. I think the point I was trying to make is that no musician have complete freedom to release whatever they want whenever they want. I didn't say he was 'commercially motivated' and wasn't trying to suggest that..
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Posted By: Chris S
Date Posted: January 06 2014 at 02:57
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^ I agree with you re Voices. Unbelievable atmospheres and the follow up Oceanic. For me his pinnacle was El Greco. It is peculiar how we pigeon hole art. For example I would not say Heaven & Hell was commercial but in 1975 or whenever it was released perhaps it was!. The only commercial works in my opinion/perception were the Soundtracks Blade Runner , Chariots Of Fire, and 1492. Perhaps to a lesser degree Antarctica. And most of us know the history regarding Blade Runner and Ridley Scott.
------------- ...As I venture through the slipstream, between the viaducts in your dreams...[/COLOR] |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: January 06 2014 at 03:01
| Anyone who creates a track such as 'Reve' (from his Opera Sauvage album) has got to be touched by a God..... |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: January 07 2014 at 01:21
El Greco is his most pure artistic work indeed Chariots of Fire as it was on side 2 of the original album release was a beauty. That album is the 2 sides of the artistic coin. Sadly the recent reissue based on the stage play loses the suite. Perhaps a commercial decision as the download market doesn't like long tracks
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Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: January 07 2014 at 08:18
Actually we need to clarify this. The commercial decision is that $1.99 makes more money with short cuts than long cuts! It sells "more" for the amount of time. And this is the greed factor that no one will talk about, up to and including Apple, when these folks do not give a damn about music.
But you can do what Pink Floyd did. You can't cut up the long songs! But only a handful of bands can tell Apple to ____ off! And if you don't have control of your own music, you are hung out to dry and die!
That's my single greatest disappointment, that even Apple will not do SERIOUS classical music, and sell it. Meaning they don't give a damn about music. They just want the numbers, and it is obvious in their stock and rip-off stuff that is over-priced. The other online services that offer music are the same! ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: January 08 2014 at 01:25
yep I was gobsmacked what was done with the reissue of Tulls TAAB. |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: February 26 2014 at 09:09
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Hi,
And that interview/movie that was supposed to be made is STILL not out.
I think that someone is waiting for him to die, because then, the release of the film/special will get a lot more attention. I just find the whole thing tasteless and sad and pathetic and I'm tired of people taking advantage of artists.
I saw this with Salvador Dali and already with 2 other artists in my life, and it ain't pretty! ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: February 26 2014 at 16:11
| depressing thought but you might be right. |
Posted By: mwood
Date Posted: February 26 2014 at 19:49
Sad commentary, but true. Warren Zevon, anyone? The vultures started circling right after he was diagnosed with mesothelioma. |
Posted By: brainstormer
Date Posted: February 26 2014 at 21:04
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There is a longer documentary on Vangelis on Youtube, about an hour. He's the tops in my book, as far as these kinds of composers/prog rock stars. When I discovered Heaven and Hell, after being exposed the the big English prog bands, I really felt like I had arrived at a different kind of animal. Probably too early to tell who the greatest living composers are, apart from Arvo Part, but Vangelis is certainly the cream of the crop when it comes to prog rock/crossovers. ------------- -- Robert Pearson Regenerative Music http://www.regenerativemusic.net Telical Books http://www.telicalbooks.com ParaMind Brainstorming Software http://www.paramind.net |