"ELSEWHERE": Vangelis albums

Alexander (2004)

The spectacular new soundtrack album for Oliver Stone's movie about Alexander the Great. Please for now, follow the developments in this site's news section.

1 Introduction 1:32

2 Young Alexander 1:36

3 Titans 3:59

4 The Drums of Gaugamela 5:20

5 One Morning at Pella 2:11

6 Roxane's Dance 3:25

7 Eastern Path 2:58

8 Gardens of Delight 5:24

9 Roxane's Veil 4:40

10 Bagoas' Dance 2:29

11 The Charge 1:41

12 Preparation 1:42

13 Across the Mountains 4:12

14 Chant 1:38

15 Immortality 3:18

16 Dream of Babylon 2:41

17 Eternal Alexander 4:37

18 Tender Memories 2:59

Plus, only on German and Borders Limited Editions:

19 Bizarre Bazaar 3:52

Mythodea (2001)

Vangelis' first release on his new label, Sony Classical is indeed as one might expect, more classical than ever before. It may seem a more elaborate continuation of El Greco, or a more traditional take (in the orchestral sense) on some of 1492's passages. Whatever one might feel the need to compare it with, be prepared to find the album to be something else all together.

It's commendable that Sony put their commercial faith in a work with - relatively speaking - so little easy hit potential. The strenght of this work will not be found in accessible sing-along melodies or recognizable tunes. However, anyone who's looking for more than that will find everything he hopes for. With amazing grace Vangelis leads an orchestra, a large mixed choir, two perfect sopranos and of course his own synthesizer setup through a world of Greek mythology and outerspace Mars exploration. After an introduction with electronic sound effects, the bombastic opening theme uplifts the spirits to prepare for the more sedate and reflective parts that occasionaly build up to the album's dynamic highlights. The sopranos enter somewhere during the fourth track and sing beautiful, slow but also surprisingly complex solos and duets throughout most of the one hour long work.

Choirs, opera vocals, strings, windblown instruments, harps and orchestral percussion dominate the sound, but some of those parts are still played on - or doubled by - synthesizers. The style is pleasantly consistent, often slightly "Greek", always very serious but warm and full in sound. Sometimes dark, sometimes light and bright. But always in tune with the rest of the music.

The music is based on a concert that Vangelis performed with choir and harpists at the Herodium theater in Athens, 1993. For this release the work was revisited, certain tracks and cues added and many of the parts rerecorded, this time with the full London Metropolitan Orchestra, using the efforts of orchestrator / conductor Blake Neely. Amazingly enough the result feels as "Vangelis" as ever in both performance and sound, so that any sour memories of previously orchestrated cover versions are swiftly washed away after hearing this particular recording.

Both sopranos, Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman - true divas in all senses of the word - provide the album with extra momentum, performing with as much sensitivity and power they could draw on.

The release of this album was preceeded by a new live performance: a spectacular show at the Temple of Zeus in Athens, with the entire orchestra and choir present, fronted by Vangelis, Battle and Norman. The show was used in the promotional campaign by means of television broadcasts, a web site, and many newspapers and magazines wrote about the event.

Both the concert and the album are closely tied with a mission NASA was undertaking around Mars. They used the music in their educational program, while the concert used NASA's Mars imagary combined with elements of ancient Greek mythology among the projected imegary, resulting in a surprisingly focussed combination.

The album appeared on CD and the concert was released as Vangelis' first official concert registration on DVD and VHS.

German (plus some) release: International version:

1. Movement 1 2:43 1. Introduction 2:43

2. Movement 2 5:41 2. Movement 1 5:41

3. Movement 3 5:39 3. Movement 2 5:39

4. Movement 4 5:51 4. Movement 3 5:51

5. Movement 5 13:42 5. Movement 4 13:42

6. Movement 6 6:35 6. Movement 5 6:35

7. Movement 7 6:27 7. Movement 6 6:27

8. Movement 8 4:58 8. Movement 7 4:58

9. Movement 9 3:07 9. Movement 8 3:07

10. Movement 10 5:00 10. Movement 9 5:00

11. Movement 11 3:03 11. Movement 10 3:03

12. Mythodea Special Edit 3:57

At the concert a special pre-release of the album was given out to guests, housing Mythodea in a luxurious box.

El Greco (1998)

See also below:"Foros Timis Ston Greco" (1995)

New commercial version of the limited classic from 1995. The original album became legendary instantly upon its release in 1995, being hailed as superb, by the fans who managed to get hold of it. Three years later Vangelis decided to offer the music to the rest of the world in a slightly different version: a new track order with some altered transitions between the tracks, plus three new compositions, resulting in a total playing time of more than 73 minutes.

The three new tracks were recorded by Vangelis a few months before the release (1998) in Athens. They met with mixed response, being labeled 'too light', 'sloppy' or 'unfitting' by some, while being warmly welcomed by others. The new tracks are Movements 3, 5 and 7 on the new CD. The first two are light and playfull, the last being a short track featuring classical percussion and uncreditted input from a choir and classical vocalist, reminding of Vangelis' "Mask" album.

Since the track names consist of Movement numbers, the change in order and the insertion of new tracks caused most of the track names to differ from the original release. A comparison:

None of the old music has been notable changed or cut. Only the transitions between the tracks have been altered to fit the new order. Furthermore the first part of the new track Movement 3 (On the new album) has been dubbed over the ending of Movement 2.

1 Movement I 10:06

2 Movement II 5:19

3 Movement III 6:49

4 Movement IV 6:26

5 Movement V 4:26

6 Movement VI 7:54

7 Movement VII 3:20

8 Movement VIII 9:44

9 Movement IX 11:58

10 Movement X (Epilogue) 7:00

The music was presented to a celebrity audience in Athens' luxurious "Hotel Grande Bretagne", by having the album play over the speakers while the paintings were visually projected to accompany the music. The guests (Greek politicians, record company executives, etc.) were given a special custom made luxurious red box that contained sheets with information and the Greek print of the album.

Oceanic (1996)

This ode to the Oceans was reportedly written and recorded by Vangelis at a beach house in Greece. It's a calm and gentle album with many sounds of waves and water.
Vangelis was personally involved in the sleevedesign, as he used to be in the late seventies and early eighties. The album proved 'too light' for many old fans who prefer Vangelis' roots with progressive music, but was welcomed by many of the new age generation of his fans.
According to East West (the recordlabel) some of the music was originally written for a documentary project about whales, but in the end Vangelis has taken the subject far beyond that.

1 Bon Voyage 2:33

2 Siren's Whispering 7:59

3 Dreams Of Surf 2:43

4 Spanish Harbour 6:42

5 Islands Of The Orient 7:24

6 Fields Of Coral 7:44

7 Aquatic Dance 3:44

8 Memories Of Blue 5:40

9 Song Of The Seas 6:12

Foros Timis Ston Greco (1995)

See also above:"El Greco"

Within the same period of the release of Voices, Vangelis surprised the fans with this remarkable album. Only 3000 copies were made. Vangelis personally signed all of them. A book - dedicated to Vangelis - about Greek/Spanish painter El Greco accompanied the CD, and contained many pictures of paintings. All was presented in a nice blue box imprinted with Greek characters describing the title "A Tribute to El Greco".
The package was sold at only one place in Greece, the National Galery museum in Athens. The sales profit was used to restore and mainten paintings in Greek museums. It followed a fundraising project initiated by Vangelis to purchase El Greco's paintings and bring them to Greece.
The music itself is a slow but gentle and serious ode to El Greco. The synthesizer sounds are all reminiscent of classical instruments but only suggest their origin. The music sounds very Byzantine, but in a contemporary way.
Vangelis is joined by two opera voices: soprano Montserrat Caballé and tenor Konstantinos Paliatsaras; each on one of the seven movements.
All of this would have cost you about $150 US dollars if you would have bought it directly in Athens, where it was often told to have been sold out, but reappearing at a later date. It might even still be available at the museum.

In 1998 a new version of the album was compiled, with 3 additional tracks, being released commercially and not limited as a normal CD. The artwork was new and of course, no book, box or autograph were included.

1 Movement 1 10:08

2 Movement 2 5:25

3 Movement 3 6:26

4 Movement 4 9:46

5 Movement 5 8:12

6 Movement 6 11:52

7 Movement 7 7:00

Voices (1995)

Shortly after the commercial success of 1492, Vangelis released this album, which might be an ode to the human voice. But the main part of the music still seems to be instrumental, sometimes with choirs.

At first the album may seem to cash in on the Conquest of Paradise hype by opening with a bombastic (but solid) track that is reminiscent of the Conquest of Paradise single. The German advertising campaign claims Vangelis wrote this as thanks to Henry Maske for his part in the success of 1492, but that sounds more like a marketing trick. The rest of the album is calm and ethereal. Many passages are reminiscent of former works while three different vocalists (Paul Young, Stina Nordenstam and Caroline Lavelle) contribute in surprising ways.

1 Voices 7:00

2 Echoes 8:20

3 Come To Me 4:40 (Caroline Lavelle)

4 P.S. 2:05

5 Ask The Mountains 7:55 (Stina Nordenstam)

6 Prelude 4:24

7 Losing Sleep (Still My Heart) 6:41 (Paul Young)

8 Messages 7:30

9 Dream In An Open Place 5:50

Blade Runner (1994)

In 1982 Vangelis recorded the music for Ridley Scott's cultclassic "Blade Runner", which was released in 1983. For still unknown reasons (I will not quote any of the many speculations since non of them was ever confirmed by a directly involved party) the original music was never released on a soundtrack album. A replayed "orchestral" version by the "New American Orchestra" was released but it couldn't match the original at all.
Paul M. Shammon's book "Future Noir, the Making of Blade Runner" (ISBN 0-06-105314-7) mentions an extremely rare bootleg tape (60 minutes) that surfaced just before the film was released theatrically, covering a selection of the film's music in very bad quality.
In 1989 the Themes compilation CD was released featuring the endtitles (ending slightly different) and the love theme.
In 1992 a CD-bootleg appeared with the music of the film in bad soundquality, but looking very official ("unauthorized replication prohibited"). It contained most of the score plus some bonuses like the sound of the original trailer.
Finally in 1994 it happened: an official soundtrack album was released, perhaps to back up the theatrical re-release of the film in slightly different form. In this new version of the film Harrison Ford's voice-over naration was gone, a 10 seconds unicorn dream sequences was inserted and the ending was cut short (the car sequence - originally lifted from "the Shining" was cut off). That's all but it has changed the film's perspectives tremendously.

The music on this official album is sadly far from complete. Some major passages were left out, like the chorus accompanying the revenge by Roy on his creator, as well as the beginning of the opening titles. But what it does offer is FANTASTIC sound quality, well chosen included dialogs and a few extra tracks that were not included in the film, yet written for it or inspired by it. It cannot totally replace the bootleg release, but it is all the more unmissable on its own accounts.
Some prominent guest performances: Rachel's song is sung by Mary Hopkin (in crystal clear 'aah' style years before Enya popularized this art form), Don Percival sings "One More Kiss Dear", Dick Morrisey plays the "Love Theme" saxophone and Demis Roussos hums and chants on "Tales of the Future".

1 Main Titles 3:42

2 Blush Response 5:47

3 Wait For Me 5:27

4 Rachel's Song 4:46

5 Love Theme 4:56

6 One More Kiss Dear 3:58

7 Blade Runner Blues 8:53

8 Memories Of Green 5:05

9 Tales Of The Future 4:46

10 Damask Rose 2:32

11 Blade Runner (End Titles) 4:40

12 Tears In Rain 3:00

1492, Conquest of Paradise (1992)

This is the soundtrack to Ridley Scott's epic film about Christopher Columbus. The story focussed on Columbus' motivations, and uses his quest as a symbol for exploring the unexplored, doing things no one has done before. All this was brought to life with stunning visuals and a remarkable sense of detail. This movie needed an epic soundtrack, and Vangelis skillfully provided just that.
The recordings on the album differ greatly from those in the film. Some passages are identical but much of the music on the album can not actually be heard in the movie, or appears on the album in an entirely different form. Other music appears in the film but not actually on the album. This makes it seem more like a studio album than a soundtrack release. Many of the character themes as well as some passages for major turningpoints in the film (like the storm near the end) are not represented on the album.
What remains of the album however is not less desirable. A magnificent collection of melodic music, filled with choirs, appropriate synthesizers and ethnic imstruments make this album sound relaxing and exciting at the same time. It is often regarded as one of the favorites amongst Vangelis' fans.
It is also his greatest commercial success so far. Three years after its initial release it was used as personal theme by German boxing champion Henry Maske and re-released on CD single. This triggered a huge hype in Europe hitting the nr. 1 charts positions in Germany, Austria, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium and other countries, breaking many sales records (both single and album).

1 Opening 1:21

2 Conquest Of Paradise 4:30

3 Monastery Of La Rabida 3:24

4 City Of Isabel 2:08

5 Light And Shadow 3:31

6 Deliverance 3:20

7 West Across The Ocean Sea 2:44

8 Eternity 1:53

9 Hispanola 4:39

10 Moxica And The Horse 6:42

11 Twenty Eighth Parallel 4:47

12 Pinta, Nina, Santa Maria (Into Eternity) 12:37

Because the album was being awarded with many platinum records East West organized a celebration party for Vangelis, who wished to receive the awards in Greece. In February 1995 the ceremony took place in "Hotel Grande Bretagne", a luxurious hotel at the Constitution Square in Athens. Present were many famous people including Irene Papas, Milva and Mikroutsikos.
The score itself had already been nominated for a Golden Globe award. A pity that he didn't win this, since Vangelis collects globes as a hobby.

Page of Life (1991)

The fourth "Jon and Vangelis" album sounds rather different than the first three. Partially because of Vangelis' "new style", which he had been using since Direct, but also because their combined musical style seems to have changed. The album was not a big commercial success and they had no success in the single-charts either.
The regular European/Canadian release (top picture) of this album in 1991 was in fact a recompiled version. Before it was released there were a couple of differences, including an extra song called "Change we Must", extra nature sounds on Garden of Senses and a long instrumental opening to Wisdom Chain. Also there were a few tracks missing, including "Jazzy Box" and "Is It Love" (which is essentially not a Jon and Vangelis track, as Vangelis was not involved).

Arista version (Europe/Canada): Arista, 261 373

1 Wisdom Chain 5:22

2 Page Of Life 3:16

3 Money 6:07

4 Jazzy Box 3:14

5 Garden Of Senses 6:24

6 Is It Love 4:27

7 Anyone Can Light A Candle 3:44

8 Be A Good Friend Of Mine 4:13

9 Shine For Me 4:10

10 Genevieve 3:48

11 Journey To Ixtlan 5:50

12 Little Guitar 1:43

The second version (lower picture) released in the USA in 1998 by Higher Octave music on the "OMTOWN" label is closer to the original because it drops a few tracks ("Is It Love" (not with Vangelis), "Jazzy Box", "Be a Good Friend of Mine" and "Journey To Ixtlan") and returns to the 5 minute Vangelis intro of "Wisdom Chain" (with some new vocals and different editing) and the original recording of "Change we Must". This one however has been drastically cut: The unreleased original version had a delightfully subtle opening by Vangelis which ends in the waves you can hear as the start of this version.
Also the nature sounds and extra vocal inserts in "Garden of Senses" which were deleted on the European/Canadian release are back on this one. Finally the song "Shine for Me" is a bit different and "Money" is mixed differently.
Notice that the uncredited female vocals on "Change we Must" are by the lovely Mary Hopkin who also sang "Rachel's Song" on the "Blade Runner" release.

Higher Octave version (USA/Japan): OMTOWN, OMCD 45337

1 Change We Must 6:28

2 Anyone Can Light a Candle 3:43

3 Page of Life 3:17

4 Money 5:43

5 Little Guitar 1:42

6 Garden of Senses 6:32

7 Genevieve 3:45

8 Shine for Me 4:01

9 Wisdom Chain 10:44

The City (1990)

This moody album tries to capture the spirit of a day in a city from one morning to the next morning. Various musical ambiances represent different parts of day or night. "Dawn" opens with complex harmonics and set the somber mood for the rest of the album. The heavy "Nerve Center" features crunchy guitar sounds and electronic choirs. Twilight is a mysterious harp tune. Procession a simple but impressive hum along melody and a fitting finale to the work. Some of the music has a "jazzy" touch, showcasing synthesized wind and brass instruments. Many musical genres are used throughout, making it a versatile album. Its moody and generaly slow pacing makes some people call it depressive, others call it thoughtfull.

1 Dawn

2 Morning Papers

3 Nerve Centre

4 Side Streets

5 Good To See You

6 Twilight

7 Red Lights

8 Procession

Direct (1988)

Vangelis moved to a new label temporarily (Arista) and introduced a totally new style with this album. He started using more samplebased sounds and an impressive new style of production, giving this album an unmatched clear and diverse "sound". On top of that come the highly original but accessible "pop meets classic"-composition techniques as well as Vangelis' impeccable musical experience. This album seems to be one of the most popular amongst the fans.
The CD tracks "Dial Out" and "Intergalactic Radio Station" are NOT on the LP. The LP has CD tracks 1-2-3-4-6 on side A and CD tracks 7-8-10-11-9 on side B
Vangelis announced this album as the first in a series of interconnected albums that would explore a wide range of the musical spectrum. It is not known however which later albums can be counted to these series.
The operavocals on "Glorianna" were performed by Markella Hatziano.

1 Motion Of The Stars

2 The Will Of The Wind

3 Metallic Rain

4 Elsewhere

5 Dial Out

6 Glorianna (Hymn A La Femme)

7 Rotation's Logic

8 The Oracle Of Apollo

9 Message

10 Ave

11 First Aproach

12 Intergalactic Radio Station

Rapsodies (1986)

Vangelis' second collaboration with Irene Papas features music and text based on (or inspired by) Greek Orthodox liturgical chant. Papas sings the Greek Lyrics which are in fact Greek Orthodox Christian Hymns. Vangelis composed one additional song that blends nicely with the other material.
In most countries this album is hard to find.

1 Ti Ipermacho Stratigo 6:51

2 O! Gliki Mou Ear 8:40

3 Ton Nimfona Sou Vlepo 1:36

4 Rapsodia 5:24

5 Tin Oreotita Tis Parthenias Sou 4:39

6 Christos Anesti 7:20

7 Asma Asmaton 11:14

Read TRANSLATIONS to learn more about the texts and the meanings behind the songs.

In Greece, a remastered edition was released in 2007, with a partly translated track list:

1 To My Champion And Commander 6:52

2 Oh, My Sweet Springtime 8:41

3 I See Your Bridal Chamber All Bedecked 1:36

4 Rhapsody 5:26

5 The Beauty Of Your Virginity And The

Splendor Of Your Purity 4:41

6 Ressurection 7:23

7 Song Of Songs 11:13

Invisible Connections (1985)

This strange work was released on the legendary classical label "Deutsche Grammophon". It's hard to find in most countries, although asking in specialized classical shops might pay off even in countries where the album can never be found in the Vangelis bins.

"Invisible Connections" is an expressionistic piece that sounds more like a soundcollage than music. It consists of carefully blend dark sounds, providing an eerie atmosphere. There are no melodies or harmonies, or even rhythms, causing it to be one of Vangelis' less popular albums.

A CD released in Japan retitled the piece to "Meis?", which translates to the English "Meditation".

1 Invisible Connections 18:30

2 Atom Blaster 7:42

3 Thermo Vision 13:19

Mask (1985)

A work full of strange electronic sequences and choruses. The overall feeling is very classical, due to large movements of choirs, timpani, but the romantic approach that might be expected has been replaced with dark undertones. Melodies make way for repetitive motifs that create rather complex but hypnotic constructions. It follows very few of popular or classical music's usual conventions which, even though it's rather elegant in some passages, makes the music a bit less accessible for some people. One might need to acquire a taste for it.

Movement 1 10:18

Movement 2 3:26

Movement 3 6:38

Movement 4 8:41

Movement 5 10:00

Movement 6 4:22

Soil Festivities (1984)

This album marked the beginning of a slightly darker and more experimental era of Vangelis' style. "Soil Festivities" consists of 5 movements, each starting with a simple repetitive cue over which Vangelis starts to improvise long stretched melodies with both gentle and dark results. Although the production might feel rather cold, it's intimate at the same time, as if you're sitting right next to the synthesizer setup, listening along to the extended improvised session. Those who are looking for "Chariots of Fire" like hum-along hits should look elsewhere. Inspired by the life that can be found beneath the surface, the music breaths its own subtle organic feeling. This album deserves an equally close examination.
It's not everyone's favorite, but hailed by many enthusiastic fans.

Movement 1 18:20

Movement 2 6:20

Movement 3 6:06

Movement 4 9:54

Movement 5 7:20

Antarctica

The soundtrack to a legendary Japanese film by Koreyoshi Kurahara, which at the time of release broke all of the country's cinema records. It follows a number of snow dogs - due to circumstances tragically left behind on a camp at the South Pole - on their survival journey homewards. Most amazingly based on a true story.
For years, the soundtrack album was only available in Japan, popping up in other countries as a rare and expensive import, when in 1988 Polydor finally decided to sell the album also in the rest of the world.
Most of the music has been build around the strong and famous main theme, most prolifically arranged in the first track. Many calm and hypnotic renditions are heard throughout the album, which generally breathes a cold but enchanting atmosphere. The music is brilliantly paced and immediately awakens visions of wide snowy landscapes, mixed with flavors of the heroics of the movie's dog protagonists.
The cover design depends on which pressing of the CD you buy, with the white cover being the most seen throughout the world. But no matter which design you have, the other one is always depicted on the other side of the booklet.

1 Theme From Antarctica

2 Antarctic Echoes

3 Kinematic

4 Song of White

5 Life of Antarctica

6 Memory of Antarctica

7 Other Side of Antarctica

8 Deliverance

Private Collection (1983)

The third "Jon and Vangelis album" features 6 tracks. The sixth being the highly popular "Horizon" is particularly popular with fans, perhaps because of its impressive length of 22:53, or because there's a number of instrumental parts that are more remeniscent of Vangelis' romantic solo works. All tracks are tender songs with romantic influences, making the album more consistent in style then the previous Jon & Vangelis recordings... A number of tracks where released as singles, but none of them did very well in the singles charts, although "He is Sailing" celebrated quite some air play at the time.

1 Italian Song 2:53

2 And When The Night Comes 4:35

3 Deborah 4:54

4 Polonaise 5:24

5 He is Sailing 6:47

6 Horizon 22:53

Chariots Of Fire (1981)

This is the soundtrack to Hugh Hudson's Oscar winning film with the same title. The true story is about two contrasting British athletes who compete in the Olympic games in 1924. The catchy main theme and the stylishly contrasting understated sport action won Vangelis the prestigious Academy Award (tm), better known as the Oscar, for "Best original score". He was unable to attend the ceremony in Los Angeles, so the statue was accepted by the Academy on Vangelis' behalf.
Almost all the music on the album are rerecorded versions, compared to the music found in the movie. The main titles, for instance, sound much richer and more gratuitous on the album. Other themes, like "Five Circles", were totally rearranged. The film version of that track was piano dominated and sounded and developed rather differently.
Vangelis was accused of plagiarising the main theme from another Greek composer named Stavros Logarides, but a judge wisely decided it was an original composition in favor of Vangelis, when the matter was taken to court.
The album contains one track (Jerusalem) that was neither written nor performed by Vangelis.
Mobile Fidelity has released an ULTRADISC II version of this album. This means a digitally remastered version pressed as a 24KT goldplated CD (for durability) released only in limited quantities. It is hard to find, by now, but only interesting for collectors, because the sound quality was debatably worse than the original CD pressing.
During the Olympic Games of 2000 in Sydney, another remastered version of Chariots of Fire was released by Polydor in the UK. It had updated artwork by original designer Alwyn Clayden and contained rarely seen pictures in the booklet. The sound, remastered by Vangelis himself indeed improved slightly over both the original CD and the Ultradisc versions, sounding more clear and warm.
Finally, in 2006 Universal released another version, again remastered by Vangelis, to commemorate the soundtrack's 25th anniversary. Sound quality is comparable to the previous Vangelis remaster.

1 Titles 3:33

2 Five Circles 5:20

3 Abraham's Theme 3:20

4 Eric's Theme 4:18

5 100 Metres 2:04

6 Jerusalem 2:47 [Not a Vangelis track]

7 Chariots Of Fire 20:41

This is the soundtrack to Hugh Hudson's Oscar winning film with the same title. The true story is about two contrasting British athletes who compete in the Olympic games in 1924. The catchy main theme and the stylishly contrasting understated sport action won Vangelis the prestigious Academy Award (tm), better known as the Oscar, for "Best original score". He was unable to attend the ceremony in Los Angeles, so the statue was accepted by the Academy on Vangelis' behalf.
Almost all the music on the album are rerecorded versions, compared to the music found in the movie. The main titles, for instance, sound much richer and more gratuitous on the album. Other themes, like "Five Circles", were totally rearranged. The film version of that track was piano dominated and sounded and developed rather differently.
Vangelis was accused of plagiarising the main theme from another Greek composer named Stavros Logarides, but a judge wisely decided it was an original composition in favor of Vangelis, when the matter was taken to court.
The album contains one track (Jerusalem) that was neither written nor performed by Vangelis.
Mobile Fidelity has released an ULTRADISC II version of this album. This means a digitally remastered version pressed as a 24KT goldplated CD (for durability) released only in limited quantities. It is hard to find, by now, but only interesting for collectors, because the sound quality was debatably worse than the original CD pressing.
During the Olympic Games of 2000 in Sydney, another remastered version of Chariots of Fire was released by Polydor in the UK. It had updated artwork by original designer Alwyn Clayden and contained rarely seen pictures in the booklet. The sound, remastered by Vangelis himself indeed improved slightly over both the original CD and the Ultradisc versions, sounding more clear and warm.
Finally, in 2006 Universal released another version, again remastered by Vangelis, to commemorate the soundtrack's 25th anniversary. Sound quality is comparable to the previous Vangelis remaster.

1 Titles 3:33

2 Five Circles 5:20

3 Abraham's Theme 3:20

4 Eric's Theme 4:18

5 100 Metres 2:04

6 Jerusalem 2:47 [Not a Vangelis track]

7 Chariots Of Fire 20:41

The Friends Of Mr. Cairo (1981)

The second "Jon and Vangelis" album. Early LP releases didn't actually include the classic "I'll Find My Way Home". It was a seperate single release that became a huge hit, so it was added to later pressings of the album.
The title song - with a duration of more than 12 minutes on the album - is a tribute to the imagination of early (gangster) - movies. It opens with some voices acting out a 30's style action scene with soundeffects synchronized to the music. Another classic is the song "State of Independence", which was rerecorded by Donna Summer and went on to become a world wide hit.

1 I'll Find My Way Home 4:31

2 State Of Independence 7:56

3 Beside 4:12

4 The Mayflower 6:38

5 The Friends Of Mr. Cairo 12:09

6 Back To School 5:09

7 Outside Of This (Inside Of That) 5:03

See You Later (1980)

This peculiar album contains many vocals (Jon Anderson and Peter Marsh amongst others) and voice-overs. It seems to be a satire on modern societies hypocrisies like the overestimated importance of external bravura and "trying to impress"-behavior. Many vocals have been processed, and the overall sound is a bit strange. It contains a lot of "tongue in cheek" humor. The style of the album kind of diverges from Vangelis his usual works.

1 I Can't Take It Anymore 5:38

2 Multi-Track Suggestion 5:32

3 Memories Of Green 5:44

4 Not a Bit - All Of It 2:55

5 Suffocation 9:21

6 See You Later 10:22

Short Stories (1980)

The first "Jon and Vangelis" album (Jon Anderson, lead singer of Yes) contains a collection of diverse songs. Most were mainly improvised and in many cases the very first recording made it to the album.
Jon was introduced to Vangelis when Vangelis was asked to join Yes as a keyboardist. Because of creative differences between Yes and Vangelis this never actually happened, but in the short time they gathered Jon and Vangelis apparently became very good friends.

1 Curious Electric 6:40

2 Each And Everyday \

3 Bird Song / 5:07

4 I Hear You Now 5:11

5 The Road 4:31

6 Far Away In Baagad 8:02

7 Love is \

8 One More Time / 6:17

9 Thunder 2:13

10 A Play Within A Play 7:02

Note:This is the official tracklist of the CD. This contains in fact an error. The track "Love is" is not included at the start of track 7 but in fact at the end of track 6. This can be verified by listening to the lyrics, or looking at the tracks of the "Chronicles" compilation CD.

Odes (1979)

This album by "Irene Papas and Vangelis" consists of a collection of songs that originated from traditional vocal material dealing - in part - with the Greek resistance to the Ottoman Empire (early 19th Century and before). Vangelis and Irene Papas performed the songs in a modern way and wrote two additional new songs ("La Danse Du Feu" and "Racines"). Vangelis plays synthesizers while Papas sings the Greek lyrics.

1 Les 40 Braves 5:14

2 Neranzoula (Le Petit Oranger) 5:51

3 La Danse Du Feu 6:03

4 Les Kolokotronei 3:16

5 Le Fleuve 6:44

6 Racines 8:47

7 Lamento 8:29

8 Menousis 6:37

Read TRANSLATIONS to learn more about the texts and the meanings behind the songs.

In Greece, a remastered edition was released in 2007, with a partly translated track list:

1 40 Braves 5:16

2 Little Orange Tree 5:44

3 Fire Dance 6:01

4 The Kolokotronei 3:15

5 The River 6:41

6 The Roots 8:45

7 Lamento 8:25

8 Menoussis 6:36

Opera Sauvage (1979)

Another album with music for Frederic Rossif's documentary work. Opera Sauvage was a series on French television focussing on all things exotic such as foreign cultures as well as wild life. The series contained a lot of ethnic music, but almost all episodes included some or more new original music by Vangelis. Contrary to most other Vangelis' soundtrack releases, the album contains actual pieces from the series, not having been rerecorded. Although it was probably remixed in stereo for the album release, considering that most Rossif's work was produced with mono sound.

The album contains some Vangelis classics: both "L'Enfant" and "Hymne" are favorites among fans as well as cover artists, no doubt because of their uplifting romantic melodies and rich synthesizer orchestrations.

"Hymne" is probably Vangelis' most used track at wedding ceremonies and became famous in the States during the eighties when a rerecorded version was used in a TV commercial. This boosted the sales of "Opera Sauvage" as an album as well, being rereleased to cash in on the song's succes.

In general he album has a consistent overall melodic quality. Being one of the early albums to feature Vangelis' landmark instrument, the Yamaha CS-80, the sound of this album seems to bridge Vangelis' "sound" of the 70s and that of the 80s. Jon Anderson is featured again, this time however not singing but playing the harp, on "Flamant Roses".

1 Hymne

2 Reve

3 L'Enfant

4 Mouettes

5 Chromatique

6 Irlande

7 Flamant Roses

China

Vangelis portrays great flexibility here again, being able to combine Eastern influences with his own modern ideas and techniques. A very diverse album. Featuring old pall Michel Ripoche on the violin.
A promotional video was made featuring a compilation of music from the album, with images of Vangelis in London and in his studio recording the music.

1 Chung Kuo 5:31

2 The Long March 2:01

3 The Dragon 4:13

4 The Plum Blossom 2:36

5 The Tao Of Love 2:44

6 The Little Fete 3:01

7 Yin & Yang 5:48

8 Himalaya 10:53

9 Summit 4:30

Most of the original LPs however had a different split between the first tracks, and when looking at the title of the "Long March" single that was released for the album in '79 it is easy to assume the CD has the timings wrong. The LP lists a time of 1:43 for Chung Kuo, refering to the opening effects and decending notes, and a time of 5:50 for "The Long March" refering to the recognizable slow sequence and moody melody, including the short piano variation, which is called "The Long March" on the CD. The 7" single was called "The Long March" and indeed did not feature the soundeffects. The piano part at the end however was cut off.

Beaubourg (1978)

An work of expressionism, consisting almost exclusively of strange, unearthly sounds. Ring modulators, noise and weird LFO effects are unleashed in wide stereo spaces. The album is often referred to as being anti commercial, because of its non melodic - even consonant - nature. This caused speculation that perhaps Vangelis submitted these recordings as his final RCA album to get rid of his contract. Vangelis however spoke with great affection about this piece in several interviews and his engineer says Vangelis took it very seriously, while recording it.

The "Beaubourg" is in fact a street in Paris and as such also refers to the "Centre Pompidou" building in Paris which functions as a center for innovative modern (mainly abstract) arts.

This CD was printed in two variations of quality. The first German pressing was poorly mastered, with a strangly fluctuating pitch, something that was hard to pick up because of the nature of the album. The flaw was however corrected in later prints. Unfortunately the Windam Hill print in the States (1997) used the early master, hence is of bad quality. Search on for later European pressings if you like this kind of music.

1 Beaubourg Part 1 17:50

2 Beaubourg Part 2 20:43

Spiral (1977)

One of the great classics, this album features separated tracks (with pauzes), amongst which are the memorable "To The Unknown Man", "Dervish D" and the title track "Spiral", probably being among the most famous of Vangelis' pieces... With revolutionary sounds, fast sequencing, great melodies, rich atmospheres and great performances, this album is recognizable and more accessible than its more raw predecessors.

. Many of the tracks ended up being used by TV stations throughout the world, and are sometimes still being used today.

Some European editions of the single of "To The Unknown Man" featured on its B-side a track called "To the Unknown Man part 2", which was not actually used on the album.

The tital track Spiral contains spectacular arpeggiator effects, with Vangelis playing along in a rather orchestral style. Balad is slow and slightly melancholic, with the "Ding dong" singing being performed by Vangelis himself, processed electronicly to accomplish this peculiar sound.

1 Spiral 6:55

2 Ballad 8:27

3 Dervish D 5:21

4 To The Unknown Man 9:01

5 3+3 9:43

La Fete Sauvage (1976)

This album was reportedly recorded only three months after "Heaven and Hell" in 1975. Vangelis had recorded quite a few scores for Frederic Rossif's films and series, so even though Vangelis had moved to London and build his elaborate studiot here, Rossif asked him to compose the music for his latest wild life film, released as feature length cinema production.

The music includes a lot of African chanting and drumming, performed by a number of musicians who were invited by Vangelis to perform in his studio. The rest of the music is mostly quite calm, and presents a typical seventies sounds, especially the disco-like opening titles piece.

This album was released on CD, but very hard to find in most countries. Beware: there was also a 1992 CD edition (on the CAM label) which divided the album in two tracks and featured the last half of "Ignacio" in stead of the first half of "La Fete Sauvage". A new release later on changed the order of the tracks but still got the Ignacio part wrong. CAM finally corrected their mistake with a 1992 rerelease, which would currently be the best choise to buy for sound quality. See for a table with all the earlier the CD versions the (June 16 1998 update) of the lastest news section on this site.

As for tracks, the original LP was not given any track names or clear indexing, reflected on the CD versions as either 1 track for the entire album or 2 tracks, one for each LP side.

1 La Fete Sauvage 38:34

Albedo 0.39 (1976)

One of Vangelis' most famous albums. Vangelis had become pretty famous in the UK at the time and was expected to be the future of progressive rock. It's jazz rock fusion meets early new age approach was very hip at the time, and although it may sound rather dated nowadays, it's still as much a surprising experience as one could expect from an album that became such a classic.

Pulstar was released as a single in some European countries and appeared on many cover version compilations. Alpha might be even more famous, and was used as back ground music in all sorts of productions, perhaps most famously in Carl Sagan's Cosmos series. Director Costa Gravas created a short film showing the grand canyon around this piece. Other parts of the album had a more rough approach, including the energetic electronic fusion pieces call Nucleogenisis 1 and 2, which were intercut with some very orchestral sounding interludes.

The captivating title track features a hypnotic voice reading astronomical data over cosmic background music. Vangelis' studio engineer Keith Spencer-Allen performed the reading thinking it was a try-out but Vangelis insisted on using his take.

1 Pulstar 5:45

2 Free Fall 2:20

3 Mare Tranquillitatis 1:45

4 Main Sequence 8:15

5 Sword Of Orion 2:05

6 Alpha 5:45

7 Nucleogenesis (Part One) 6:15

8 Nucleogenesis (Part Two) 5:50

9 Albedo 0.39 4:30

Ignacio / Entends-Tu Les Chiens Aboyer (1975)

Ignacio was originally released in 1975 as "Can you hear the dogs barking?" and "Entends-tu les chiens aboyer?". (Click here for an interesting LP sleeve design) A 1977 re-release introduced the name "Ignacio", after the main character in the film).

This album represents the soundtrack to the Mexican film "No Oyes Ladrar Los Perros?" by French director Francois Reighenbach. Vangelis was sloppily credited as "Vangiles Papathalnassiou" in its titles.

The film tells the story of a poor Mexican farmer from a small village who travels across the country with his son - the fatally ill Ignacio - hoping to find a doctor who can help. Intercut are the stories and fantasies the father tells Ignacio about his adulthood. A potential future, showing him as musician, leader of the village and as hopeful immigrant in a big city.

The title refers to a traditional story, which says that a long time ago, dogs were smart and could talk. If something was stolen or woman had sinned, they always knew who did it and told the victims. But dogs misbehaved themselves and as punishment they lost their ability to speak.

As usual with Vangelis soundtracks, not all of the music on the album is present in the film and a number of small passages in the film contain cues not released on the album. The film also contains some traditional music heard on location.

The album consists of two recurring main themes, both rather sad but romantic. They are completemented by some very diverse passages, like a thundering (electronic) church organ, a very fast rock piece full of synthesizer solos and an abstract collage of unusual percussion. Some gentle piano playing and dreamy landscapes (typical for Vangelis) contrast the fast and darker pieces. Throughout its diversity it still manages to sound coherent.

Released on CD, first by Barclay, later re-released several times on the CAM label. The first CAM editions however mistakenly contained the first half of "La Fete Sauvage" instead of the last half of "Igancio". CAM finally corrected this problem in their final rerelease in 2002. For a table describing the various CD versions and some more information about this, see the (June 16 1998 update) of the latest news section on this site.

In most countries this album is rather hard to find.

1 Entends-Tu Les Chiens Aboyer? 39:04

Heaven and Hell (1975)

The first recording in Vangelis his "Nemo studio" in London. Some parts were actually recorded amongst the mess the constructionworkers had left to use again the following day. Vangelis created a revolutionary sound within the broad concept of the title. Many choirs (the English Chamber Choir conducted by Guy Protheroe) and many synths performing a very unpredictable "fusion meets classical" composition.

It contains the very first collaboration with Jon Anderson: a song named "So long ago so Clear". The album soon became a big hit in the UK charts, making it the first commercial success of Vangelis' solo career. It is particularly well known in some countries for its appearances in the TV series "Cosmos".

Two small trivia: there is a Dutch LP "De Mantel Der Liefde" which is the soundtrack to a film. This is in fact nothing else than "Heaven and Hell" since it served as stockmusic for that film. Furthermore the LP "Vangelis Radio Special" exists which contains part of the music with an interview.

Furthermore, in Japan a version exists, that was remastered with "20bit" technology. This is supposed to be of better sound quality.

1 Heaven And Hell part 1 21:58

(Includes So Long Ago So Clear 4:58)

2 Heaven And Hell part 2 21:16

There are LP versions which feature the following tracklisting:

A: Bacchanale

Symphony To the Powers B

2nd movement

3rd movement

So Long Ago, So Clear

B: Intestinal Bat

Needles & Bones

12 o'clock

Aries

A Way

And then the Italian '82 "Remastered" re-issue of the LP:

A: a) Riff Thing

b) Heaven and Hell

c) So Long Ago, So Clear

B: a) Falcons

b) Needles

c) Friday Night

d) J.F.

e) Heavy - Aries - Heaven

L'Apocalypse Des Animaux (1973)

Vangelis' first of many contributions to Frederic Rossif's wild-life series is also the oldest solo recording by Vangelis that was rereleased on CD. Having been recorded in 1972 or most likely even as early as 1971, the music preceded early solo albums like Earth, even though it was only made into an album for the first time in 1973.

The music sounds exactly as it was used in the TV series, except here it has been mixed in stereo. The series contained a lot more music, most of it in the same quality as the pieces that were selected for this release.

A wonderful combination of acoustic and early electronic instruments makes this album sound far ahead of its time. Acoustic and electric guitars, electric pianos, rotary effects and stretched electronic pads from modified organs and other electronic keyboards, it's all there. Vangelis experimented with anyhting he could get his hands on, thus creating dreamy landscapes that others could only produce years later when synthesizers started to become a common good. Perhaps the first "new age" sound ever?

1 Apocalypse Des Animaux - Generique 1:25

2 La Petite Fille De La Mer 5:53

3 Le Singe Bleu 7:30

4 La Mort Du Loup 3:00

5 L'ours Musicien 1:00

6 Creation Du Monde 9:51

7 La Mer Recommencee 5:55

Earth (1973)

The "Earth" album contains a wide range of styles and feelings, as if Vangelis was trying to find his style and sound, to follow up the Aphrodite's Child successes with something more of his own. A number of progressive rock songs with experimental and fusion elements are mixed with Greek flavours, and melodies filled with romanticism, seemingly predicting the flair in Vangelis' later output.

Contributing musicians include Anargyros Koulouris and Robert Fitoussi, while Warren Shapovitch provided a narration on two songs. Note that Fitoussi - with whome Vangelis worked on other occasions as well, some results released, others not - became famous in his own right as "F. R. David" in the eigties, singing the synth pop hit "Words Don't Come Easy".

Note that Vangelis himself actually sang some background vocals for this album.

In the eighties, a special edition of the Earth LP was released in Italy called "Superstar", which included a special booklet with Italian texts and photographs.

"Earth" was for a long time out of print, not having been released on CD, resulting in a number of bootlegs circulating, especially in the French progressive rock scene. In 1996 the Greek department of Polygram finally released the work officially on CD (Vertigo 532 783-2), but only within the borders of Greece. This CD edition however sounds a bit strange, as if it came from a poor mastertape, since there are denoising artefacts, and additional reverbs were added to the recording. To compare, two tracks are available on a compilation CD called "Greek Pop Classics", in better sound quality and without the manipulations.

In the late nineties, the Greek CD was also being sold in large quantities in Germany, but it has since dissappeared from the market, leaving Greece as the best place to look for this CD.

A: Come on 2:09

We were all uprooted 6:48

Sunny earth 6:38

He-o 4:09

B: Ritual 2:45

Let it happen 4:20

The city 1:17

My face in the rain 4:19

Watch out 2:50

A song 3:32

Fais Que Ton Rêve Soit Plus Long Que La Nuit (1972)

This extraordinary album ("May your dreams last longer than the night") handles the left winged student-riots in Paris, 1968. The music sounds like a collage of newsrecordings, soundrecordings, folk songs, pianothemes, and indeed: a few early synthesizers used in quit a progressive way for the era. Some lyrics were taken from inscriptions on the walls at the riots.

The indication "Poeme Symphonique de Vangelis Papathanasiou" ("Poeme symphonique" is a general term for a musical work based on a non-musical concept) is sometimes mistaken for the title of a separate work in some discography's, which is not the case.

A few years after the initial release with black cover a second issue was released with a peculiar orange and yellow cover, followed by a rerelease of the rerelease, with pink in its cover.

Unfortunately there was never a CD version of this album.

A: 15:32

"C'est une nuit verte

Celle des barricades

Nuit verte ou rouge ou bleue ou noire

Qu'importe mon ami

Cela importe mon ami

L'espoir de la victoire"

B: 15:25

"Le Rêve Est Réalité

Jouissez sans entraves

Vivez sans temps morts

Baisez sans carottes"

You can download a short soundclip, faisque.zip (MP3, zipped for server reasons, 300K), of "L'espoir de la Victoire".

The Dragon (1971)

An LP consisting of material that was recorded during jam sessions in London's Marquee studio, in 1971. Charly Records claimed it owned the rights and released it in the late seventies / early eighties without Vangelis' permission, to cash in on his achieved successes. Vangelis went to court to have the albums taken off the shelves. He either won or the case was settled (history is vague on this since none of the directly involved parties ever spoke a lot about this in public). However, it seems that in reality no records were actually destroyed, instead they were simply sold off more cheaply.

The music could be described as experimental fusion. The other performers where Arghiris, Michel Ripoche, Brian Odger and Mick Waller. There is no (legal) CD-release of this album.

The cover is said to depict the elder God named "Cthulhu", who sprung from the imagination of famous horror author H.P. Lovecraft.

Read producer Giorgio Gomelsky's memories on recording with Vangelis.

A: 1 The Dragon 15:08

B: 1 Stuffed Aubergine 11:33

2 Stuffed Tomato 9:28

Hypothesis (1971)

This LP, also with a different cover known as "Visions of the Future", was recorded in 1971 by Vangelis and some other musicians during a jam session in the London Marquee studios. It could be considered a close relative to "The Dragon", as it is was also ilegally released, and officially withdrawn after Vangelis undertook legal actions against Charly Records (see "The Dragon").

The "Hypothesis" album consists of improvisational instrumental music, with a strong experimental jazz/fusion touch. The other performers where Michel Ripoche (who later appeared on the "China" album), Brian Odger and Tony Oxley, with Rock pioneer Giorgio Gomelski producing.

There also was a German double LP called "Portrait" which contained both Hypothesis combined with the Dragon.

"Hypothesis" was never released on CD.

Read producer Giorgio Gomelsky's memories on recording with Vangelis.

A: Hypothesis part 1 12:21

B: Hypothesis part 2 16:15

Sex Power (1970)

This soundtrack has, due to its extreme rarity, become a VERY expensive collectors item. There seem to be people out there who pay many hundreds of US dollars for it.
It sounds rather "early", but not in the way of "Hypothesis" and "The Dragon". Some pianos, acoustic guitars and other instruments are used, but also a few electronic sounds appear every now and then. There are even backing vocals whose distinct sound and vibrato style reveal that only Demis Roussos can be the uncreditted singer.

Little is known about the film itself. The director, Henry Chapier, is a famous French journalist. When he was once asked over the phone whether he knew where to find a copy of the film he said he didn't know, and wondered why anyone even cared. The film was featured at the "San Sebastian" film festival in Spain.

There are track markings on the LP, but the only tracknames given indicate the both album sides. A single release however contained two cuts from the album with names. The A side was called "Djemilla" and can be found on the album's A side, after the first trackmarker. (the first track is about 30 seconds, the second track is "Djemilla". The B side of the single is called "Third Love" and can also be found on the A side of the album: the 5th track (after the fourth marker).

This album was never released on CD.

A: 1ere partie 17:00

B: 2ieme partie 17:27

You can download a short soundclip in MP3 format (37 sec, 183KB, stereo, 22KHz, zipped for server reasons) sexpower.zip.