[Nils Jacob Holt Hanssen]

I developed an ear for electronic music a few years after I’d gotten into orchestral music (so, we’re talking about the early 80s here), and Vangelis was one of the first artists that caught my attention. I don’t remember my Vangelis “origin story” exactly… it could have been BLADE RUNNER, or it could have been the track from HEAVEN AND HELL that was used as the title music for COSMOS (which was on Norwegian television around that time).

Anyway, for quite a few years I bought all the Vangelis albums I could find. 17 LPs in all, from L’APOCALYPSE DES ANIMAUX (1973) to THE CITY (1990). Looking at his discography now, it looks like that covers most of his official releases during that period. But then I didn’t buy much for a while… not exactly sure why, but it seems he didn’t release much for a few years after 1990. I did get some of his soundtracks on CD (CHARIOTS OF FIRE, BLADE RUNNER, 1492), as well as the wonderful THEMES compilation and his VOICES album (1995). But some disenchantment crept in after I got his MYTHODEA album (2001) which didn’t engage me at all. It sounded a bit mechanical to me, lacking the emotion and organic sound (to steal an expression from an earlier post by Nick) of his earlier music. But it’s possible I’ve missed out on some great stuff from him after that.

Any recommendations for post-1990 Vangelis albums worth checking out?