HEAVEN AND HELL

There are two albums of Vangelis that I consider masterpieces and this is one of the two. It's also the first Vangelis album that I have purchased. The English Chamber Choir which plays an important role on Side B is the same which played on Wakeman's Journey to the Center of the Earth and is a singular coincidence that I have purhased the two albums the same day....

However, the side A is opened by a chaotic "sub-track" its title is Bacchanale. This word is the name of an "Ellenistic (from Greece) ritual in use in the ancient Roman empire. An orgiastic ritual in honour of Bacchus, god of wine. The Roman equivalent of "sex and drugs and rock and roll". I think the compulsive percussions and the brass keyboard describe it very well.

On the second part of the suite, regardless the title, we have the first appearence of the English Chamber Choir. I don't know what they sing. It's probably a sequence of meaninless words as Pink Floyd did on Atom Heart Mother. Those words sounds latin anyway.The piano interlude is short but very good, then the initial organ is back and the choir restarts. There is a progression. The music is sometimes "triumphal", very symphonic. I have the vinyl copy so I can't say when the "Movement 3 starts or ends, It's possible that the impressive piano solo is still part of this subtrack. There's no solution of continuity but it's likely that the soft and melodic fender piano on which a female voice and later the male choir and "violins", and finally brasses perform a crescendo and a fadeout.

It ends on "So Long Ago So Clear". It's the first appearance of Jon Anderson an a Vangelis album. His heavenly falsetto voice is very appropriate here. A great melodic song of which Jon wrote the lyrics.

Now let's go to Hell for a while. The opening of side B "Intestinal Bat" is very dark. Few piano notes over random noises in the background, sometimes emerging. Compulsive percussions in the background come and go. There's plenty of tension. What happens after is not so bad as one could expect. The second subtrack of side B is based on a bass scale of C. In PA terminology: good but non essential.

What is really the core of Side B comes after. A male choir brings us back to the obscurity of hell. It looks more similar to the Greek concept of "ade". The choir is overwhelmed by noises and percussions. It's like the bacchanale of the opening, but it's in the Hell this time. The percussions are parossistic and the distorted sounds are grotesque. When the chaos ends the male choir restarts while a deadly bell resounds in the back. the female part of the choir joins on the same melody then Vana Veroutis performs her great soprano work.

The final is a sort of anthem. On the vinyl edition it's called "Heavy-Aries-Heaven" I don't know if "A Way" is an addition on the CD or it's just Vangelis who decided to give different names to the various parts of the suite. After the rhyitmic part a quite long keyboard coda disappears slowly.

It's a highly evocative album. You can keep the headphone on, close your eyes and enter into this music. After this album I became a fan and I'be been so lucky to purchase Albedo 0.39 immediately after it.

Masterpiece is the right word.