EARTH

Generally seen as Vangelis' best 70's album, Earth might just surprise some that knew him from the Aphrodite's Child group or his 80's collabs with Yes singer Jon Anderson or his other movie musics. Earth is his first solo album after the demise of Aphrodite's Child, whose career abruptly stopped after the stupendous and arresting 666 concept album. Some (many, actually) see Earth being the logical (but debatable) continuation of the concept, especially that another ex-AC member (guitarist Koulouris) is also present on it. Like most of Vangelis or AC album, the concept was born and constructed in France at Europa Sonor Studios and included bassist and singer Fitoussi, but strangely enough Vangelis did not write the lyrics, as he delegated that to Dassin.

Opening on the well-known Come On, a catchy energetic but shallow piece, the album plunges in the atmospheric Uprooted, where a short narrative indicates that the subject is about to get deeper. The album's general mood is slightly mystic or shamanic, may even have an ecology avant-la-lettre slant and many instruments of world music are used in the duration. It's also quite instrumental in nature, since many of the vocals are chants that are reminiscent of shamanic incantations, giving a light psychedelic mood, further enhanced by slightly- haunting lengthy raga passages. The succession of tracks is flowing smoothly, and it would sound almost awkward to extract a single track out of the remainder (well maybe the opening Come On) or even play the album in the shuffle mode. Outside the few striong vocal melodies, the album is fairly even, with no major highlights, but Face In The Rain is relatively weaker with its near new age feel. Shame it ends without a bang and in a minor mode, though. While I certainly wouldn't call the album essential, it is definitely worth an investigation, even if Vangelis would create more fairly similar works in the future.

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