CAN YOU HEAR THE DOGS BARKING? [AKA: IGNACIO] (OST)

A soundtrack album.......my original LP was titled "Can You Hear The Dogs Barking?", and I remember buying the "Ignacio" LP later, only to find out it was one I already had. Although the release date says 1977, this album sounds like early-70's Vangelis: few synthesizers, so-so sound quality, and a pretty ladi-back feel. The final track is my favorite, just because it has a very Mediterranean feel, with fake mandolins done on keyboard. It sounds like something from his album "Earth". The rest of the album is a mixed bag, with a lot of mediocre material that was probably improvised in one take, rather than composed and orchestrated. I'd give it two stars, but that last track always makes me forget what came before.

This scores high on atmsphere which is why I consider it to be worth 4 stars.Very surreal music that is especially good on the headphones.Excellent synth work throughout although Vangleis never burdens the music with too much in the way of electronic effects.The compositions are strong.Undeservedly overlooked Vangelis album in my eyes.

On the first side, there are fast piano notes through tymbals and low frequency keyboards: it is quite interesting, but a bit scattered. Some bits are really floating and melodic, and music here is rather loaded. This album is not very well known, but it surely contributed to Vangelis' particular sound and approach of the melodic New Age style. There are some choir-like arrangements, which contribute to give grandeur to some bits.

The other side is completely different: it is made of totally experimental, scary & dark sounds, which will give you disorientation. It could be an horror movie music. I do not like this side of the album. It is ended with a "beach xylophone" atmosphere.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Quite an unusual release from Vangelis. One side being typical Vangelis theme based pastoral soundscapes and the second side almost ambient, abstract more untenable sounding music. Overall though the music is not too bad at all. The CD version has the complete song of ' Ignacio' all 39 minutes of it. Interesting to note this album is hinged between the excellent La Fete Sauvage and equally good and more progressive Spiral albums. Recommended to any Vangelis fans wanting to fill up their back catalogue with good structured material from an enjoyable work.

This was Vangelis' third soundtrack album release. The album has been released on several different occasions, with different artwork and even with different album titles. Although, this edition of Ignacio was released in 1977, the music contained within is clearly from an earlier period. The music comes from the film No Oyes Ladrar Los Perros?, which translated in English means, Can You Hear the Dogs Barking?. Ignacio is the name of the boy featured in the whole of which the film is largely based around. The music dates from 1975, and in fact the album originally appeared in France as Entends tu les chiens aboyer during that year. The instrumentation on the album neatly places the album in between Earth and Heaven and Hell. Ignacio contains much of the Mediterranean feel of the former album together with its slightly lower production values, yet also contains some of the grandiosity and instrumentation of the latter album. As it turns out, the album is a pleasant mixture of old-style Vangelis, and the later Nemo years, and must be recommended to fans of both periods.

Vangelis again does not uses titles to divide up the music on the album, and the LP lists the music simply as Entends tu les chiens aboyer Parts 1 and 2, while the CD edition classes the whole album simply as one 39 minute track. The music however is clearly divided into seven sections; three for side one, and four for side two. Sections one, three and seven are essentially the main theme played in different variations. Version one is the very still, and atmospheric, and is a typically beautiful piece of music by Vangelis. The instrumentation is simple droney monosynth, ethereal fender rhodes piano playing the melody backed by a melodic monosynth line, and Vangelis' hammond organ providing the chordal accompaniment, but as per usual, not sounding like a hammond organ at all. Version two is far more dramatic, with the addition of what on first hearing sounds like a church organ, but is actually a Tornado keyboard - no doubt another cheap keayboard Vangelis picked up and got some amazing sounds out of. It is the same instrument making the church organ sounds at the beginning of Nucleogenesis 1 off the Albedo 0.39 album. The third version is a very Mediterranean-sounding variation, with clavinet-like synths imitating the sound of a bazouki. The music here is very laid back, but very wistful at the same time.

The rest of the music on the album is quite a bizarre mix. Section two takes up some thirteen minutes worth of time on side one, and sees Vangelis glide from one style of music to the next. The piece starts off very darkly and meditative, with a male voice singing a slight variant on the main theme, with droney synth underneath - the same synth drone sound that can be heard beneath the main theme from Cosmos off the Heaven and Hell album - and sporadic percussion. The percussion builds up in intensity, with quick stuttering flurries on hammond organ, piano, and synthesizer. The music gets faster and denser as these quick flurries slowly take over the music, before collapsing into a wistful and sad orchestrated synth melody. The intense flurries return again before finally breaking down into another beautiful melody, which sounds like it could have comfortably come off the Heaven and Hell album. There is certainly a lot going on in those thirteen minutes of music, and yet as ever, it sounds completely improvised on the spot by Vangelis.

Side two is even more experimental. The side opens with the most rocky and bluesy track on the album, and yet all power comes from some very basic-sounding monosynths. To me, it sounds like the sort of music you would have got on an Amiga 500 game in the late 1980s - that is not a criticism!! The whole thing is powered by a single note throbbing bass line, and lots of percussion. The track is very busy and unfortunately fades out after four minutes. It certainly creates a jolt in the atmosphere, and prepares the listener for the stranger sounds still to come.

The second track on side two sounds almost like an extended version of Intestinal Bat off Heaven and Hell, but is probably even more experimental. A very dark and unnerving atmosphere is created out of a collection of found sounds. The music sounds like it could have been part of John Cage's Construction in Metal series, or perhaps, Edgar Varese's Ionisation. The music is provided by crashing metallic percussive sounds, fed through lots of reverb, mixed with Vangelis experimenting with the strings inside a piano. Washes of spooky electronics are added over the top. This is very dark and intense music - miles away from the opening theme of the album. The next track again has a similar feel to the static parts of Heaven and Hell - the ending of Intestinal Bat, or A Way at the end of the album. The music here is droney monosynth with an almost theremin-like sound on top of it. Again this is very eerie, but much more lighter and spacey than the track which preceeded it. This leads directly into the Mediterranean feel of the final track.

As with the other Vangelis soundtrack albums of this period, the music contained on Ignacio does not hang together as well as his fully-fledged albums, but the music is strong and dynamic, and is well worth a listen. There is little here that would please the progressive fans out there who like their music to rock, or to be rhythmically challenging. But for those whole like the atmospheric side of prog, this album is certainly a recommendation. And this album is certainly recommended to Vangelis fans who have not heard it yet, particularly those who appreciate Heaven and Hell and the work of the early Nemo studio period. I would give this album 3.5 stars overall - solid, but not as important as Heaven and Hell, Albedo 0.39 or Spiral.

Yet another soundtrack album, Ignacio covers ground similar to its predecessor, La Fete Sauvage, but in reverse order. Here, the first side/half is the slow and sonorous one, while the second part is the lively one. The music enters like a cathedral emerging out of the fog - tentative at first, then inexhorable in its presence, haunting and hinting at a reality just beyond perception, dark and beautiful. It builds to a crescendo, still slow, and the returns to the original theme. Then there is a vibrant organ break and we return to the slow sonorous section. The sound fades away, as the pilgrim steps back out of the cathedral and resumes walking. The second part could not be more different. On lp, this transition was softened by having to flip the record over, but on CD, it is jarring. The listener' soul is soothed, the mind calmed, and then the skies rip open and we are right in the middle of an absolutely rippin' free form jam; the beat is in overdrive and Vangelis screams on the keys. This fades out after several minutes, just long enough to get used to it, and then a section of irregular percussion and sharp chords begins, a style that descends from the most ancient Greek music. We get a variation on the first section and then the album ends with a melodic instrumental that is unlike anything else on the recording. I think the whole thing was designed to convey an evening mood - the gentle atavism of twilight followed by revels, followed by struggle, and then reflection. I am continually amazed by Vangelis' eclecticism and the way he ties together disparate musical styles, styles that should not (in the mind of many) be combined. In this way, Vangelis is one of the innovators of world music. My normal standards dictates I give this one three stars, being the album is uneven, but so moving is the first part, I will give it four. If it were split into two tracks rather than one, that would work much better for me.

I just don't understand why this one is so low rated.Of course i'm a VANGELIS fan but i'm able to hear when it's not that good.I got the first release of this record, it was french titled ENTENDS TU LES CHIENS ABOYER ? and as soon as i heard the first side of the vinyl lp i've been captived by the beautifull theme and the sound,typical of VANGELIS at that time, that special sound he created,only with hammond,clavinet and a lot of echo and effects.I don't listen to it every week of course (i've got three thousand albums) but each time i try again i think it's a very good VANGELIS album.The flip side is a little bit different more avantgarde with a lot of search with sounds on keyboards and percussions.the ending track is very romantic in a greek mood and a little bit strange after what came before but so is the VANGELIS world,various and impredictable.I give 4 STARS.

I quite like the Vangelis's progression since "Heaven & Hell". After the very good «La Fête Sauvage" which is my favourite Vangelis album so far in his discography it was a challenging task to follow up. I fully agree with "Progosopher" (aka Robert who sounds as a Vangelis specialist) while he is depicting this work as similar but in reversed order compared to "La Fête".

I would add though that while the previous effort featured sublime melodies and poignant musical moments, this Ignacio" is not so powerful or melodic. More biblical is my feeling (especially the church organ and choir-like during the last section of Part I). The music leans nicely towards a more electronic prog and I am quite keen on this. The first part is the soft side of this album, and also my fave. There are some fine combinations between keys and percussion and the short intro is the most captivating part IMHHO.

After almost twenty-minutes, the mood is totally different: it sounds as a furious moog ballet sustained by a strong and hypnotic beat. Quite a change! At times, it sounds experimental as well (mainly percussions) and conveys some scary atmospheres. It is less accessible than the melodic first half but it has its own merit as well although I am not sure that the closing marimba-like part is the best idea.

I am missing the presence of a recurring theme as during "La Fête"; but some reviewers found that it was too repetitive. In my view it was a wonderful asset and cared for a great album. This work should please fans of bombastic and electronic prog music. It is probably not a superb work but good enough to deserve a three stars rating.

In Italy this album was released in a double compilation together with La Fete Sauvage. The compilation was simply entitled "Vangelis Papathanassious" and the cover was totally black with a photo of the artist in the internal sleeve.

Even if the package was quite poor, I have to say that the two albums listened together are better than taken alone. I have given a low rating to La Fete Sauvage, but listened together with Ignacio (aka "Entends, Tu Le Chiens Aboyer") the effect is enhanced. They are more than the sum of the parts.

The side A of this album is dark and symphonic. Maybe for the low pitch choir, maybe because of the deadly bells, a great part of side A is like a journey into the ancient Greek "Ade". Close to the infernal part of Heaven and Hell. There are no demons. Only lost souls. When it pauses from being dark it becomes celestial but it's just question of "moments". As on La Fete Saucage there is a central recurring theme that comes and go several times, but unlike La Fete Sauvage, this central theme is good enough. It closes the Side A.

What next? the B side is totally different. It opens jazzy. It has rhythm, something that is totally absent from Side A. 6 minutes of this jazzy part and it stops. What we have now are "noises" of the kind that Vangelis will exploit more on his controversial "Invisible Connections" eight years later. I remember a review on a magazing of that time comparing Ignacio, and in particular this noisy part to Ummagumma. I totally disagree. Ummagumma was usually taken as a reference for each "noisy" music by some reviewers without a prog background.

However the problem with this album, as well as for La Fete Sauvage, is that the two sides are totally disconnected. This noisy part is not bad, but there's not a fall and a rebirth, as on "Echoes" or on "Saucerful of Secrets" (just to speak of noisy Floyds). We move from the jazzy start to a noisy, then to a spacey and psychedelic section that apparently doesn't lead anywhere. The spacey part is very good and people who likes Tangerine Dream will really appreciate it.

The last five minutes with a mandolin and minor chords don't have anything to do with the rest. The taste is Mediterranean, more Italian than Greek maybe. I personally don't like this genre, even when played by Vangelis. A bad filler to reach about 40 total minutes.

Having rounded down "La Fete Sauvage" I will now round up its twin that's a bit better. 3 stars for the dark, the noisy and the spacey parts. Let's ignore the rest.

Here's a little Progressive Electronic trivia to start your day: how many degrees of separation connect Greek keyboard maestro Vangelis Papathanassiou with Krautrock's Florian Fricke, the enigmatic leader of Popol Vuh?

Only four, surprisingly. Arranged like this: in 1977 Vangelis released his album "Ignacio", a soundtrack to the 1975 François Reichenbach movie "Do You Hear the Dogs Barking?"...the film was a nominee at that year's Cannes Film Festival...at which the big award winner was "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser", directed by Werner Herzog...featuring (in a small but memorable role) Herzog's friend and collaborator Florian Fricke, as a blind pianist.

All pretty much useless information, I know. And totally beside the point of this review. But arguably still part of any wider appreciation of a neglected minor gem hidden within the larger Vangelis discography.

"Ignacio" was released soon after the conspicuous success of "Heaven and Hell" and "Albedo 0.39", and before the relative blockbuster "Spiral" and "China" albums. So it's no surprise that the soundtrack to an obscure European film was somewhat lost in the shuffle. And yet it features some of the keyboard wizard's best music from his '70s heyday, organized over two side-long mini-suites filled with quintessential cinematic synth and percussion atmospheres.

Part One introduces one of his trademark simple-yet-familiar themes, instantly recognizable even if you've never heard it before (selections were featured in the Carl Sagan PBS show "Cosmos"). The music develops in slowly overlapping waves over the album's first half, showing more taste and sensitivity than Vangelis often exhibited in his more popular work. Imagine "Heaven and Hell" without the extremes of bombast and occasional tackiness, and you'll find a pretty close approximation of "Ignacio".

Part Two opens with an assertive, almost techno-rock jam, before (thankfully) moving into more abstract and eerie territory, totally percussive at first and then drifting into ambient space. The unexpected coda borrows a wistful melody from Side One, arranged over a melancholy rhythm box and what sounds like a synthetic bouzouki. It's one of the rare moments of genuine Greek flavor on a Vangelis album, evoking the Arcadian ruins of a Hellenic temple in an ancient grove of olive trees.

I'm getting carried away now. But in its own quiet way this otherwise low-profile, throwaway effort stands taller than you might expect among the bigger, better-selling Vangelis albums of the era.

This is a fairly unknown album from Vangelis that was actually music from a French film entitled "Entends ? Tu Les Chiens Aboyer?" which means "Can You Hear the Dogs Barking?" Well, I couldn't hear any dogs (except for the neighbor's) and I haven't seen the film, but I can still rate the music. This is made up of a single track (divided in 2 for the vinyl version: Part 1: 20:42 and Part 2: 17:45), but the actual music is separated by occasional track breaks, so it could have been intended to be individual tracks.

As for Side 1, you get a nice, beautiful and melodic sound. Of course the music is electronic, but there is an abundance of piano throughout the side with a lot of atmospheric keyboards sometimes taking the lead and at others providing the atmosphere surrounding the piano. This side is some of Vangelis' most beautiful work and would appeal to many listeners. Side 2 is a lot more experimental, but flows nicely. It is not experimental in the same vein as "Beaubourg" or "Invisible Connections" because it is not sparse or non-melodic like those albums were. One section consists of a lot of percussive sounds but they are arranged in a way to not be considered avant-garde. The flow is constant and easy to listen to, nothing too challenging, but still very interesting and moody. At other sections, the music becomes more tense, but throughout the record, things don't stray too far from the norm. This is more of a psychedelia sound than it is unconventional.

All in all, this is a very good album with enough variety between the two sides to make it interesting throughout. Not necessarily essential, but still excellent and I believe it should appeal to the fans of Vangelis' more conventional sound like "Chariots of Fire" or "Spiral" and venturing a bit into "Albedo 0.39", but not commercial as was "See You Later". 4 stars. Worth searching for.