L' APOCALYPSE DES ANIMAUX (OST)

The short opener and title track of this album is probably the first of the many Vangelis tarcks to be used by TV in my country. In this case for a daily news. Effectively this album is made of short soundtracks for documentaries about nature and wildlife created by the French director Frederic Rossif. This is also the reason of the French title.

"La Mort Du Loup" (The Death of the Wolf) and "La Petit Fille De La Mer" (The little daughter of the sea) are slow, athmospheric and sad. The glockenspiel sound of the keyboard will become one of the typical sounds used by Vangelis for this kind of evocative music. A famous one is on "Chariots of Fire".

"L'Ours Musicien" (The musician bear) is grotesque. The drums remind to a circus while the melody is bluesy.

On "La Single Bleu" the trumpet sound is the same used for Blade Runner Blues, that's probably the best track of that celebrated soundtrack. This one is less dark, but I can't avoid thinking to Harrison Ford under the rain when I listen to it.

The longest track of this album "Creation du Monde" (creation of the world) is probably the first example of the kind of compositions for which he's most known. No rhythm, square waves and very slow melody. Who like the floydian period of Tangerine Dream would surely love this track.

"La Mer Recommencee" (the sea's rebirth) is on the same line, even more spacey of the previous.

As the previous The Dragon and Hypothesys this album is very short. The reason is mainly technical. In the vinyl age shorter albums were meaning in general higher sound quality.

This album represents the birth of the evocative and less experimental side of Vangelis. It can easily appear in any prog collection.