GIFT: GREATEST HITS

Quite a nice compilation of Vangelis from Heaven and Hell (1975) to Direct (1988). I had Direct taped and all its included tracks helped to make the buying decision. Other tracks I already knew were 'Pulstar', 'Alpha' and 'So Long Ago, So Clear' - my favourite Jon & Vangelis song. Not as dear CD to me as El Greco, Voices and 1492 (all from 90's) but a good addition, including finely chosen excerpts from Heaven and Hell and two more Jon songs, 'Page of Life' and 'Shine For Me'.

Fond memories related to Direct make those tracks my favourites here (don't believe the low ratings of Direct, it's a wonderful bridge between progressive Vangelis and sensual Vangelis). If you own that album it's of course quite useless to have this one, or if you prefer Vangelis of 70's, you surely have those selections already and regard the rest less up to your taste. But a very suitable introduction to new listeners, who then can choose direction to carry on.

This album, along with "1990-1999 reprise" can effectively give you an overview of all of Vangelis' best music. "Gift" gives one some of, in my opinion the best 70's Vangelis material including stuff from "Heaven and Hell", "Albedo 0.39" and many others. "1990-1999 reprise" provides one with material from the man's new age era including "1492 - Conquest of Paradise" as well as "El Greco" and some others. So, together these CD's will give a general overview of Vangelis and will set you up for his fully-fledged studio albums. The best thing about these two albums is that they are very inexpensive (well, for me anyway) and the combined price of the two will, I wager even that of a regular album. Better still they are quite easy to acquire and will provide you with hours of listening pleasure! The songs contained on "Gift" aren't as popular as Vangelis' later works but in my eyes they are more experimental and interesting. I will keep this short.the end. Good, but non-essential