Vangelis
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Great album. “Dawn” and “Twilight” sound like leftovers from BLADE RUNNER, but the rest isn’t anything like that. If BLADE RUNNER connotes the poetry and decay of the city, this is more about the hustle and bustle of everyday activities.
OK, Nils, as you mentioned this series earlier, you might have to fill in the blanks here.
I actually didn’t know that Vangelis wrote original music for COSMOS! (Or, if I did hear about it at some point, I had completely forgotten it). Fascinating!
What to say about this eternal classic that hasn’t been said before? Perhaps the Vangelis album with the greatest crossover appeal, you’ll find it in many “normie” households, even. The radio-friendly title anthem still packs a punch all these years later, but there are other tracks that mean more to me, especially “Monastery of La Rabida”. My fourth favourite Vangelis album.
My fifth favourite Vangelis album. Some of the indigenous chanting, I could be without (not a big fan of the title track), but when he’s broad/spacey and melodic, I’m sold. “Ask the Mountains”, featuring Lisa Nordenstam’s beautiful voice, is the most introspective he’s ever been. And all the better for it. Soft, warm and big in sound. “Echoes” is kind of a new CHARIOTS OF FIRE theme.
It’s funny, I saw this CD several times in record stores when it came out in 1996, but never picked it up. Again with that apprehension when it came to properly investing myself in his work at the time. But over the years, it’s become not only a favourite, but my THIRD favourite Vangelis album (no. 1 and 2 are BLADE RUNNER and L’APOCALYPSE DES ANIMAUX, respectively, in case you were curious). Pure, undilluted New Age, which will alienate a lot of people (it was definitely uncool to like at the time, and probably still is), but which I embrace wholeheartedly now. “Spanish Harbour” remains the favourite track.
I struggle with this, as I often do when Vangelis goes more hardcore folk music; or really any kind of music that isn’t the sweeping New Age stuff. In this case it’s medieval tropes, with that synth lute or harp or whatever it’s supposed to be that becomes kinda grating eventually. But it does have some highlights here and there – some of it would fit quite neatly into Horner’s IN THE NAME OF THE ROSE.
LISA Nordenstam?
IN the name of the rose?Lots of errors now. 😅😅
I think “Pinta, Nina, Santa Maria” is my favourite Vangelis track ever.
Hehe, yes moving a little quickly for my own good, perhaps. STINA, of course. In the name of the father and the rose.
Hey, I listened to OCEANIC today, too, after Jon’s recommendation earlier in the thread. 🙂 And it’s good, yes. Pretty classic Vangelis, soundscape-wise, but leaning towards, as you say, a pure New Age feel – perhaps more so than a lot of his earlier work. Very enjoyable.
I think “Pinta, Nina, Santa Maria” is my favourite Vangelis track ever.
Always thought that CONQUEST is wrongfully reduced to that crowd pleasing “dum dum track” everyone knows. Still have so much to explore regarding Vangelis.
My colleague, who’s a big defender of this film, was so frustrated that much of the music was left off the OST, including the central Alexander theme. I can understand that, to some degree, but I still think it’s a fabulous concept album across its relatively generous 57 minutes. Appropriately big and epic, very broad paint strokes, but love those intimate moments more, like “Roxane’s Veil”.
This 2007 score is in my opinion a much more interesting and rewarding work than the 1998 album about renaissance man El Greco. Love those choral bits — there are some that remind me of Zimmer’s CRIMSON TIDE here, of all things. Lusher, less of the thin synth lute and other period-specific shenanigans.
I found ALEXANDER a great failure in total, weird casting (Jolie as the mother of a son nearly her age?) and never like the score, primarily the snythy sound…
Fun story: I saw the movie in cinema by accident as I wanted to watch something else with friends. We had tickets with seat numbers in a multiplex cinema and somehow accidentally entered the wrong projection room even forcing people out of “our seats”. When we realizeed we were in the wrong movie we didn’t dare to leave 😉
I found ALEXANDER a great failure in total, weird casting (Jolie as the mother of a son nearly her age?) and never like the score, primarily the snythy sound…
It’s a film with problems, no doubt. But in the latest cut (the Ultimate Cut?), the quality rises considerably for large portions of the film. It’s really the ultimate grand folly for Stone, and I always have a soft spot for those (same with Coppola’s MEGALOPOLIS and certainly Cimino’s brilliant HEAVEN’S GATE), where ambitions go nuts. I’m not a big fan of Vangelis’ big ANTHEM pieces in the film, but other bits are nice.
Cute story about the screening! 🙂
Pretty good comeback album, 9 years after EL GRECO (in 2016). Big and spacey, befitting the universe. There are bits where it meanders a bit, but mostly it stays focussed.
Bit of a curiousity, this album from 2019. Half new compositions, half new piano versions of famous themes. It’s pretty nice, but it’s also a bit samey over the course of 76 minutes. But it helps that the piano renditions are in Vangelis’ own hands, and not by someone else.
So here it is, the final one of this mini walkthrough. His last album, from 2020. It certainly has some highlight tracks in the style of ROSETTA and COSMOS, but can’t stand those Irene Papas-like soprano tracks (or more precise, Bianca Castafiore from TINTIN). Then again, if you weed those out, you get a more succinct album as bonus (instead of the excessive 73 minutes).
By the way, although no one asked, this mini walkthrough wasn’t ALL the Vangelis works I own, just a selection. I’ve posted a screenshot of my entire Vangelis collection below. I’m still missing a bunch of stuff, and there is a lot that isn’t available in any form, not even bootleg. He has an enormous catalogue, going all the way back to the 60s and Formix, via Aphrodite’s Child, and then into solo film music and studio albums – and a bunch of ballets, theatre music, short films etc. etc. Thankfully, though, I’m not a completist, just a big fan. 🙂
My colleague, who’s a big defender of this film, was so frustrated that much of the music was left off the OST, including the central Alexander theme. I can understand that, to some degree, but I still think it’s a fabulous concept album across its relatively generous 57 minutes. Appropriately big and epic, very broad paint strokes, but love those intimate moments more, like “Roxane’s Veil”.
It’s starting to look like I’m just mimicking Thor in this thread – I just listened to ALEXANDER, too (but hey, I’m also in a Vangelis mood these days 😉 ).
This was actually the first time I’ve listened to it, as was the case with OCEANIC, and I quite liked this one, too. Thematically very rich, with some surging rhythms, well-done anthem-like tracks (disagreeing a liiittle bit with you there, Thor 🙂 ), and attractive quieter moments. Quite commercial-sounding, I would say, but it seems that’s the way Vangelis’ style developed during the later part of his career. But I don’t mind that. This is a great album.
You can start with the ones I’ve gone through in this thread. Not a single bad apple among them!
Yeah, good list, primarily a time issue 😉 And maybe I even re-listen to ALEXANDER on occasion, perhaps I am more forgiving now…
It’s a good space to be in, Nils, the Vangelis space. Once I go into it, I can really stay there forever.
While it hasn’t been released, Vangelis’ final film score, the Oliver Stone pro-nuclear energy documentary NUCLEAR NOW (released posthumously in 2022), is great. I believe I mentioned it earlier in the thread. Yes, it reuses some old Vangelis, but the new bits are absolutely delicious. And very much in the 90s style I dig so much:
And, while I’m at it, also a shout-out to his goosebump-inducing “Indonesia” theme from the COUSTEAU series, also sadly unreleased commercially. Could fit right into 1492 or something.
Listening to SUMMON THE HEROES again, and wanted to do a “poll”.
John Williams does Vangelis. Yay or nay?
I’m leaning towards ‘nay’.
I don’t think my fondness for Blade Runner would have been the same without Vangelis. His score, or Vangelis’ perspective on the movie, has actually changed the whole tone of the film.
That being said, I was a fan since Spiral, but I kinda stopped following him after not long after Blade Runner. Side 1 of Soil Festivities is great though …
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