1492 - CONQUEST OF PARADISE (OST)

At the 90's Vangelis finally reached his peak. With a more romantic approach, where emotion is more important than technique, this amazing electronic music artist finally faced the line of perfection after 20 years of career. There's no words to describe how great and deep Conquest of Paradise is, you just have to listen to it from start to finish to realise that this is definitely one of the best instrumental albums ever released. Within songs like Hispanola, the title track and Pinta Nina Santa Maria are contained several different emotions and rooms that will blow the various corners of your mind away. It is impossible to not get touched by the beauty contained on each of these twelve songs (perhaps an exception would be the intro of Eternity and the several whistle sounds announcing it - but even though i once hated this short moment on the album i now see that it is excellent with the rest of the tracks and i don't mind it anymore at all, since it only increases the intensity of the experience).

The properly named opening track with its ship-like sounds is a shiver-your-spine intro showing that something GREAT is going to arrive...and in fact it leads to one of Vangelis most popular and beautiful compositions: "Conquest of Paradise". This title number is very touching since it has a choir driving the song with a repeated violin- synth sound at the background and some piano. After these amazing initial six minutes we are led to the third song, "Monastery of la Rabida", which is the song that most affects me emotionally on the album. I do avoid to listen to it when i feel sad because the music here is very very influential on the mood, and if you have depression problems just don't listen to this because it can make you feel with even more angst. Actually i love this song and would rate it as one of the best of the album. "City of Isabel" is very different from the preceeding song but mantains the flow very well, and remains interesting during its short lenght despite even if it is a bit repetitive. But this album has to be appreciated in my opinion, and if you have a problem with songs being sometimes repetitive you should give them a chance since they are all masterpieces on their own. "Light and Shadow" brings the choirs back and sounds like a prayer. Absolutely beautiful! The next two tracks are very mesmerizing and add a lot to the "voyage" factor. "Eternity" kicks in and if the whistles don't annoy you then you'll love the following melodies of the song which are almost as deep as the ones on "Monastery". Both "Hispanola" and "Moxica" show the album's most angry face, very opposite to what has been featured until "Eternity". "28th Parallel" repeats the title song's melodies in a piano instead of a choir, and then there's the closing track which is the album's best which will literaly fix your ears to it while you listen to it. "Eternity" returns and closes the album with glory. An amazing and emotional album, please try this and forget any prejudice against Vangelis and New Age music in general, you won't regret it.