L' APOCALYPSE DES ANIMAUX (OST)

One of my favorite Vangelis albums. Side One of the original LP sounds somewhat like his later solo work (this is one of his first post-Aphrodite's Child releases), with some gently- flowing electric piano, and even some laid-back trumpet(!). Side Two consists of two long drone pieces which pre-date the whole "New Age" drone genre (think Brian Eno, Steve Roach and a host of other "Music From the Hearts of Space" artists) by more than ten years. These two pieces simply blow me away. I can't think of anyone before him who did anything like this, so I'd have to give him the award for starting the genre. Prog fans may be put off by the static nature of drone music, but I have a large collection of the stuff. I guess I appreciate the sounds themselves as much as the notes being played. Great music to "zone out".

Yep this has some definite new age tendancies but also has some startlingly good melodies especially La Petit Fille De La Mer.Most of it is acoustic.Vangelis didn't start using synths until 1975 so anything released pre Heaven and Hell is very different to that or subsequent albums.Not that interesting overall so probably not worth more than 2.5 stars but I'll be generous and round up.

Despite the record is not very well recorded, it contains good songs. The overall moods are floating and melancholic, and the whole is very accessible. The trumpet on "Singe bleu" is quite relaxing. It is a smooth album that will probably generate emotions inside the listener. The tracks are relaxing, non linear and non monotonous. If one thinks about the origins of New Age, then this record should seriously be taken in consideration.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Some great melodic work from Vangelis. Side one comprises more sparse accoustically laden songs but even at such an early stage in his career it was evident firstly of the uniqueness this artist displayed but secondly that he was embarking on breaking new grounds in the New Age genre folds. By doing this he openly challenged boundaries and has done so even into the new millenium with works like Mythodea. L' Apocalypse des Animaux is a makeshift work but all the material is good quality even the minimalist ' Creation Du Monde' playing out towards the end of side 2. Two other great pieces are ' La Single Bleu' and La Petite Fille de la mer. Hints at new horizons. A very good album.

This is one of the weaker VANGELIS albums I've heard, though it has some fine moments. But then again, it's the shortest (34:34) and also the oldest album I've heard (if the dreadful Dragon preceding this one is not counted: my friend played parts of it in '91 to my torture). So in that sense maybe I shouldn't use the word weak but to point out that I get less from this than from other Vangelis albums. It's a soundtrack to a Frederic Rossif film of the same name, a film I know absolutely nothing about, sadly. It seems interesting in the light of its music!

The melancholic track called 'La Petite Fille de la Mer' is often included on Vangelis tribute compilations (by Ed Starink for example) and it's the most melodic one here. The next track, 'La Singe Bleu', is another highlight, beautifully melancholic and calm tune with a breathy, soft trumpet sound. Also 'La Mort du Loup' is OK. The rest is pretty boring stuff. Nearly 10-minute unprogressive soundscape 'Creation du Monde' sounds nice but frankly three minutes of it would be enough.

One could give some extra merit for the album's acoustic nature - which was to change with the seminal Heaven and Hell album in 1975 - and against its time when New Age kind of music wasn't actually born yet. For a fan of VANGELIS it is therefore an album of some importance, but these facts aside, the enjoyment listening to this album remains too little.

It might be worth seeing the documentary with the music, which I didn't. When I listened to the audio only, I have to say that most of it is not captivating (to say the least).

Extremely tranquil and peaceful moments, yes. But this is a bit short in my opinion. I really had to wait the long track from this album "La Mer Recommence" which clocks at just over ten minutes to be moved somehow.

Before this one, a track as "Le Singe Bleu" displays a repetitive and melancholic jazz atmosphere and features some sweet trumpets. But it sounds quite sad and uniform after all. No track is frankly poor, but where are the highlights? As I have said, only "La Mer?".

It is some sort of a spacey odyssey, quite relaxing as the parts of this work but more harmonious, elegant and peaceful. Such an album is quite alright when you are looking for some meditation, peace of mind. It definitely plays its role.

On a global scale, I would say that "L'Apocalypse des Animaux" is an average album (five out of ten) but I'll upgrade to three stars. But be ready for an extreme quite affair.

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.

An extremely early Vangelis solo album - it was actually recorded in 1970 for a wildlife documentary on French television - L'Apocalypse shows Vangelis's talents already fantastically developed. A spacey album which at point drifts into proto-ambient territories, dominated by keys but with several other instruments in the mix as well, if I had to point to any connecting factor between the tracks it'd be the delicacy with which every instrument is played, from the fragile, glassy tones of the keys to the quiet and gentle guitar lines. This, I suspect, is deliberate on the part of Vangelis; I've not seen the documentary in question, but the title suggests an ecological theme focusing on the plight of endangered species, so a soundtrack emphasising the fragile balance of nature would be entirely thematically appropriate.

Not an absolutely indispensable effort from Vangelis, but certainly an important early work from the man, and it's good enough to make me want to see the TV series it comes from - if the wildlife footage is anywhere near as good as the music it'd be quite a show.

Even though this album, which is officially Vangelis' 2nd album after leaving Aphrodite's Child, was released in 1973, the same year as "Earth", the music was actually recorded in 1970, the same year that he recorded the music for "Sex Power" (another soundtrack), "Hypothesis" and "The Dragon" (the latter two released without his approval and later withdrawn). During this time, Vangelis was in an experimental mode, searching for his signature sound by trying out different technology and playing around with musical styles. All of the above mentioned albums (except for "Earth") were recorded while he was still a part of Aphrodite's Child, meaning that he was quite prolific at the time.

As far as "L'Apocalypse des animaux", the music for this album was specifically written as another soundtrack, this time for a French TV series, a documentary about animals. There was quite a bit of music written for this series, much of which does not appear on the album, but is still in the documentary. Usually, when Vangelis writes music for a soundtrack, he does it after watching the film and composing for it. This time, however, he simply wrote music based on the fact that it was an animal documentary and then left it up to the showrunners to use what they needed.

The album consists of 7 tracks with the shortest being just over a minute and the longest at over 10 minutes. The overall album is quite short at about 33 minutes, so there was obviously more room to include more of the music he composed. Why this was left off is anyone's guess.

The first side of the album concentrates on simple melodic music, lovely, expansive and indicative of the style that Vangelis would become famous for. Starting with a short, upbeat track that has a nice tropical feel, the listener's attention is grabbed right away. The short track is named after the TV series. After this, "La Petite Fille de la Mer" (The LIttle Girl of the Sea - 5:54) is a delicate and beautiful waltz-like melody, reminding one of the music from "Chariots of Fire". It's airy and light with soft layers flowing around the melody played by the treated electric piano. "Le Singe bleu" (The Blue Monkey - 7:39) sees the light keys with a slow vibrato added but soon a very realistic trumpet effect takes the melody which is surprisingly pensive for a track representing a monkey. I'm thinking it's indicative of a sad monkey, not a monkey of the color blue, which would fit the bluesy feel of the music. On my edition, the next track is the short "L'Ours musician" (The Musician Bear - 1:03) which is a short, playful and lumbering track accented with loping drums and effects. On my edition, strangely enough, is the track "Mort du Loop" (The Death of the Wolf - 3:03), which all other track lists show these two tracks in reversed order from my album. This track has a nice piano and acoustic guitar effect, very spacious and lovely, similar to a European ballad.

While the first side of the album centered more on melody, the 2nd side concentrates on atmosphere and ambient style. "Creation du monde" (Creation of the World - ?) is the longest track on the album. However, the exact length is up for question as different sources show different timings. The album jacket claims it is 11:25, while the label says it is 17:45 (which this is an obvious misprint), Wikipedia says it is 10:03, and Discogs says it is 9:51. Either way, the timing on this one allows it to ebb and flow, being experimental and atmospheric with a lot of spacial feel. There is definitely no melody to worry about here or on the next track "La Mer Recommencee" (The Sea Again - 5:30). Continuing with ambience and atmosphere, there is also a clanging effect that randomly sounds out. Rolling drums and cymbals symbolize the waves and percussive noises will remind you of chattering seagulls.

This album was the impetus for Jon Anderson to contact Vangelis which led to a meeting of the two, and the beginning of the eventually resulting Jon & Vangelis albums. It definitely foreshadows the style Vangelis became famous for, thus making it a worthwhile album for almost anyone, though it's not his best, it's still very nice and relaxing and you don't need to see the visuals that go along with the music to enjoy it. The songs stand alone quite well. While the previous album "Earth" centered more on a popular, song-oriented style, this one works more for atmosphere, and it is a much better album because of that.