Following on from my
Jarre post (inspired by Simon's
'Cosmic' article for the
OMM), one of those funny incidents of
synchronicity occurred recently when I came across a handful of
Vangelis albums at my local branch of the
PDSA (and call me an old fart, but I still get more of a visceral thrill from finding music this way than from mooching around on
Soulseek). I love that shop - nine times out of ten it'll just be a bunch of old Des
O'Conner or Bert
Kaempfert records, but then the other time you'll find something interesting, and with all records sold for a mere 49p, it encourages one to take a few wild chances. I was fairly dismissive of
Vangelis previously. The only thing of his I've listened to since my school days is the
Bladerunner soundtrack (and in private
correspondence, Simon admitted that this was the one that first inspired him to explore
Vangelis' back catalogue - with
negligible results!). I can't say I'm
converted in the slightest either. It was almost
pleasant to hear "Chung
Kuo" (the opening track on 'China') again, and some of those collaborations with Jon Anderson are still quite listenable (although Donna Summer's version of "State Of
Independence" is far superior), but mostly it's either too overwrought with
grandiose arrangements or too damn cheesy, uncomfortably close to some of those dodgy
Moog records I spoke of a while back. All told, I don't think the world's quite ready for a
Vangelis revival. But wait - what's this? Crazy free-jazz intro, atonal
splurts of ring modulated
synth-mucus,
spiky phrases like something from
Pertwee-era
Radiophonic Dr.Who scores, glacial waves of speculative ambiance...
mmm, maybe there's something there if you really dig deep...
