The theme from Carl Sagan's Cosmos is in there somewhere

February 24, 2018 4:59 AM

Vangelis took a bit of a sideways step when he built a studio and recorded his 1975 album Heaven And Hell, a single unified work which draws strongly from classical music [full album ~43m] than progressive rock. Heaven And Hell Part I [~22m]: Bacchanale; Symphony To The Powers B (Movements 1 and 2); Movement 3 (from "Symphony To The Powers B); So Long Ago, So Clear (featuring Jon Anderson)

Heaven And Hell Part II [~21m]: Intestinal Bat, Needles & Bones, !2 O'Clock (in two parts), Aries, A Way

posted by hippybear (16 comments total)

Wore this one out, and Spiral in the early 80s, because those were the only two Vangelis albums I ever found at the used record stores near me.
posted by lagomorphius at 6:02 AM on February 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

I have really enjoyed this run of music posts and would like to install the hippybear jukebox in my house.
posted by Flannery Culp at 7:29 AM on February 24, 2018 [4 favorites]

My dad had this album (because of Cosmos). I bought the CD and was annoyed that it wasn't split into movements (just one track per side), so I couldn't easily move So Long Ago, So Clear to the end.
posted by giltay at 7:31 AM on February 24, 2018

So Long Ago, So Clear (featuring Jon Anderson)

I believe this was the fallout from Vangelis almost joining Yes to replace Rick Wakeman. Long story short, he and Anderson hit it off (obviously), but the rest of the band couldn't really figure him out -- something lost in translation. Too Greek, it was finally decided, so they went with a Swiss guy instead.
posted by philip-random at 9:38 AM on February 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

All great, but I just have to point to my favorite Vangelis song. Song of White.
posted by DreamerFi at 9:53 AM on February 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

Wore this one out, and Spiral

For me it was Albedo 0.39. Used both in Cosmos and the early days of ESPN.
posted by Foosnark at 10:06 AM on February 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

Vangelis took a bit of a sideways step when he

... released Beaubourg in 1978. Or a step into left field? Wherever, his records from that year weren't very pleasant, or memorable, especially compared to Spiral; and fans like me were so relieved when he got back on track a couple years later with China, Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner.
posted by Rash at 10:46 AM on February 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

His relationship with Anderson continued. Friends of Mr. Cairo.
posted by wittgenstein at 11:35 AM on February 24, 2018

It's a classic of its type and time, even if I could never hear it in quite the same way after I saw Adult Swim's Live At The Necropolis: Lords of Synth.
posted by Devonian at 2:26 PM on February 24, 2018 [2 favorites]

... released Beaubourg in 1978. Or a step into left field?
What about Invisible Connections? That's another from left field. Nice, though.
posted by peterkins at 2:34 PM on February 24, 2018

His relationship with Anderson continued.

I've read accounts about the recording of the Jon & Vangelis albums which are that they are basically single takes with Vangelis improvising at the keyboard and Jon just singing.

I don't know whether that's true or not, but I do know that Vangelis has a tendency to do these "let the music flow" sessions with his ridiculous keyboard setup where he can Play All The Things At Once. So maybe it's true?
posted by hippybear at 2:38 PM on February 24, 2018

Vangelis' keyboard setup has evolved over the years to suit his needs. (Beware, sound doesn't start under around 1:41 when he starts playing.)
posted by lagomorphius at 2:52 PM on February 24, 2018

I believe this was the fallout from Vangelis almost joining Yes to replace Rick Wakeman.

In my mind, he was an unofficial member of Yes in 1974, similar to how Eddie Jobson was an unofficial member in 1983. I don't believe the band officially released a statement saying Vangelis was their new keyboardist, but he rehearsed long enough with Yes to leave his keyboards behind, which Patrick Moraz used during his successful tryout.
posted by stannate at 3:25 PM on February 24, 2018

I really don't see how Yes could possibly integrate with Vangelis. Aphrodite's Child was probably the closest any band could get to containing the forces that Vangelis embodies. And that was... brilliant and problematic.
posted by hippybear at 3:29 PM on February 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

I really don't see how Yes could possibly integrate with Vangelis. Yeah, I always thought that would have been an odd combination to say the least and hard to imagine working. Vangelis did end up with a writing credit on the AWBH album (though that was an unused Jon and Vangelis song, IIRC)...
posted by peterkins at 4:27 PM on February 24, 2018

I don't think Vangelis took anything *but* sidesteps until sometime in the early 2000s, if then. As late as 1998 there was bonkers shit like the Tegos Tapes, where Vangelis records around nine hours of music to soundtrack a set of instructional microneurosurgery videos and tells basically nobody.

My favorite early sidestep is Fais Que Ton Rêve Soit Plus Long Que La Nuit, the 1972 "symphonic poem" which re-creates, in the most haunting and beautiful fashion, the feeling of being in Paris during the May '68 riots.

Plus the cherry on top is that these days he looks kinda like a Cat Manul.
posted by lefty lucky cat at 8:36 PM on February 24, 2018 [4 favorites]