EARTH

This one still stands as one of his most eclectic albums. It starts with a rousing pounding drum-driven tune called "Come On." It seems to be an invitation to rock out, but the next piece, "We Were All Uprooted," is about a semi-biblical group wandering the desert. The rhythm moves the piece forward steadily with a mid-tempo. The vocals here are spoken. And this is one of the odd things about this album; most of the songs have vocals, a quality almost completely ignored in the rest of Vangelis' work. Going back to the first song, it is somewhat reminiscent of both Aphrodite's Child and The Dragon without sounding like either. The same kind of bouzouki guitar appears on Earth as on The Dragon but again, the music is completely different. This album does change mood. Sometimes we are in a fast-paced instrumental, sometimes in a gentle vocal, sometimes even in the realm of pop. There is a strong element of life on Earth here, as if this were an expression of human existence on this planet. There are plenty of moods and emotions depicted, much of it melancholy, but not all. One song, "Hey Ho," is about a mysterious man coming to the singer's door, but since the singer wasn't there he didn't know the man had come. Again, a semi-biblical tone and absurd as well. This early Vangelis is mining a spiritual tradition that he has worked before, yet here it works to a different effect. There are moody pieces recognizable as Vangelis, but none have that layered quality found in Aegean Sea, Stuffed Aubergine, or most of his later work. It is a bit of a rarity; for one, yes, it is difficult to find, especially on l.p. but also for its unusual nature. My copy is an Italian re-release under a series called 'Superstars.' The title Earth does not appear on the album yet there is a mention of it in a list of Vangelis releases up to 1980. There is a very nice booklet attached, with pictures and everything, even stills from Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner, but the text is all in Italian, which I cannot read. How do I know this is the album Earth? The track list for that album exactly matches the track list on my copy. And I bought it at a discount record sale where the labels were clearly bottom shelf, and the prices matched. Still, I had found some good records at these sales, and this one is the best of the bunch. An excellent album, albeit different for the artist