Comments on: Vangelis, "The City."

Vangelis, "The City."

Nomyte — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 17:21:23 -0800

Πολλών δ' ανθρώπων είδεν άστεα και νόον έγνω.

The album concept is a kind of apotheosis of city life, unmoored from the particulars of time and place, a panoramic view of a glamorous, ahistorical yesterday. The city wakes up at dawn. Its denizens shake off the last traces of sleep over the morning paper, embark on commutes via a tangled nerve center of roadways, explore obscure side streets, and take afternoon phone calls. As night nears, a pall of twilight covers the city, and the glow of red lights illuminates evening revelers. The day comes to a close, merely one in an endless procession that is both stately and funereal, ritualistic and melancholy. A new day dawns in the album's last moments, an ambivalent reminder of tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. The album is shamelessly sentimental and each track is melodically simple and composed in bold strokes. Quite unusually, though, several tracks are constructed around found sounds: footsteps, distant police sirens, coins clinking on a kiosk counter, the chime of the city clock, a moped engine. A number of evocative vocal samples feature prominently: the ohayashi chanting of a Japanese street festival in "Red Lights," one side of a phone conversation in "Good to See You," as well as the voices of director Roman Polanski and his third spouse, the model, actress, and singer Emmanuelle Seigner. Notably, The City was also the first full Vangelis album to rely completely on the custom-designed Direct music device (tech discussion here, demo of a similar sequencer). The then-revolutionary Direct allowed Vangelis to greatly reduce the number of recording sessions and reportedly produce the album in a Rome hotel room where he was staying during the shooting of Polanski's Bitter Moon. During the same period Vangelis also staged one of his most fondly remembered live concerts, at the Terme di Caracalla.

By: sendai sleep master

sendai sleep master — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 17:29:05 -0800

The first two people to favorite this post: 1. A Mefite with a William Gibson derived name who therefore certainly has the requisite "Blade Runner is Jesus" condition. (That'd be me) 2. A Mefite named after a creature from another Ridley Scott movie who, if one had to guess, also has some sort of affinity for Blade Runner. ....Yeah, that sounds about right for a post about a really excellent, moody Vangelis record.

By: maryr

maryr — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 17:31:27 -0800

And 3rd equals Donnie Darko reference.

By: Nomyte

Nomyte — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 17:32:39 -0800

Here's the thing: considered apart from the movie, I find the Blade Runner soundtrack completely impenetrable and unengaging.

By: subtle-t

subtle-t — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 17:38:50 -0800

If the only thing the blade runner soundtrack did was to make this trackpossible, it would be enough.

By: Artw

Artw — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 18:09:11 -0800

The first two people to favorite this post: 1. A Mefite with a William Gibson derived name who therefore certainly has the requisite "Blade Runner is Jesus" condition. (That'd be me) 2. A Mefite named after a creature from another Ridley Scott movie who, if one had to guess, also has some sort of affinity for Blade Runner. I have favourited the post. I believe my posting history speaks for itself.

By: KokuRyu

KokuRyu — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 18:11:35 -0800

Another cool Blade Runner-themed track.

By: MaryDellamorte

MaryDellamorte — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 18:27:26 -0800

The Dawn reminds me of another song although my tired brain can't think of it at the moment. Pink Floyd maybe? It's driving me crazy trying to remember.

By: sparklemotion

sparklemotion — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 18:37:37 -0800

It's killing me that I'm class and can't follow all these links right now. I'm looking forward to clicking through all of these when I get home. The Blade Runner soundtrack is great, if you skip the songs (song?) with words.

By: ob1quixote

ob1quixote — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 19:02:17 -0800

MaryDellamorte: The Dawn reminds me of another song although my tired brain can't think of it at the moment. Pink Floyd maybe? It's driving me crazy trying to remember.

It bears a passing resemblance to "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" I think.

By: homerica

homerica — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 19:46:33 -0800

"eiden" and not "iden"?

By: Nomyte

Nomyte — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 19:57:54 -0800

"eiden" and not "iden"? posted by homerica ἐπώνὑστερικαλ!

By: nebulawindphone

nebulawindphone — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 20:06:18 -0800

That's what you get when you go and make all your vowels sound the same. Goddamn phonological change.

By: philip-random

philip-random — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 21:57:57 -0800

I prefer his earlier more wigged out shit

By: MaryDellamorte

MaryDellamorte — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 21:59:45 -0800

ob1quixote, that's it! Thank you, now I can sleep tonight.

By: FatherDagon

FatherDagon — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 22:42:20 -0800

The Dawn reminds me of another song although my tired brain can't think of it at the moment. Pink Floyd maybe? It's driving me crazy trying to remember. What you are thinking of is this. Unless you are suffering from 'the W.A. Effect', whereupon you are thinking of this.

By: louche mustachio

louche mustachio — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 23:37:38 -0800

When I clicked on philip-random's link, I was expecting this. I LOVE THAT SONG

By: Goofyy

Goofyy — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 03:17:39 -0800

I've owned this album for years, and it is a favorite of both myself and my partner. Nice to see it on the blue.

By: Faint of Butt

Faint of Butt — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 04:06:23 -0800

It's all Greek to me.

By: philip-random

philip-random — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 08:35:11 -0800

When I clicked on philip-random's link, I was expecting this. yt I LOVE THAT SONG I was looking for Four Horsemen but stumbled upon the even weirder Let Me Love Let Me Live. Aphrodite's Child is definitely a subject worth exploring, particularly that final album 666 in which no extreme is not explored. And then it flows over into his first solo album EARTH, which is well worth looking into.

By: Nomyte

Nomyte — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 08:37:56 -0800

Wasn't his first album that porn soundtrack?

By: philip-random

philip-random — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 08:55:14 -0800

a little research reveals his first solo album was technically Dragon. No mention of it being a porn soundtrack ... After the break-up of Aphrodite's Child, Vangelis wanted to relocate to London. Producer Giorgio Gomelsky introduced him to some other musicians and put together a collaborative project which was funded by French free jazz record label BYG records with the intention of releasing an album.[1] Some years later, Charly Records took over the catalogue of the bankrupt BYG records and released the recordings as an album in 1978 without the approval of the performers.

By: Nomyte

Nomyte — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 10:38:27 -0800

His porn album was Sex Power.

By: Rash

Rash — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 11:17:19 -0800

I've always thought he hit his peak with Spiral in 1977 and was very disappointed with the subsequent rubbish of Beaubourg. "Bladerunner" was also quite nice, and I'll have to investigate this City, which somehow slipped under my radar.

By: Algebra

Algebra — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 12:33:39 -0800

Vangelis- a man who has so delicately captured the majesty and wonder of the human race and the universe which contains her in a song.

By: vkxmai

vkxmai — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 12:41:06 -0800

Great album, I also love his El Greco.

By: philip-random

philip-random — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 12:48:44 -0800

I've always thought he hit his peak with Spiral in 1977 The piece I recall from that is To the Unknown Man. Got a fair amount of radio play at the time as I recall.

By: hippybear

hippybear — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 14:20:46 -0800

During the same period Vangelis also staged one of his most fondly remembered live concerts Every Vangelis concert is one of his most fondly remembered. He's only done 20 of them ever.

By: hippybear

hippybear — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 14:26:37 -0800

Vangelis- a man who has so delicately captured the majesty and wonder of the human race and the universe which contains her in a song Really, if you're going to say that, you should hear the entire unified piece of which that is only a mere extracted snippet. Heaven & Hell Part I (Includes Baccanale; Symphony To The Powers B; 2nd Movement; 3rd Movement; So Long Ago, So Clear [lyrics and vocals by Jon Anderson]) Heaven & Hell Part II (Includes Intestinal Bat; Needles & Bones; 12 O'Clock; Aries; A Way)

By: Nomyte

Nomyte — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 15:39:32 -0800

Next you'll suggest listening to the complete catalog of Jon & Vangelis.

By: hippybear

hippybear — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 15:56:16 -0800

I might suggest that sometime, but in this specific instance, I won't. (My mind is still blown by the fact that both J and V insist that much of their material was fully improvised, recorded on the first take. Or maybe that's only one of their albums. I can't remember off the top of my head, but even if it's only one album, still pretty mindblowing.) Anyway, this is a great post about an album that I don't know much about. I may be expanding my Vangelis collection soon!

By: dunkadunc

dunkadunc — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 19:45:58 -0800

Nomyte: "Πολλών δ' ανθρώπων είδεν άστεα και νόον έγνω." That's not exactly the best way to sell a post to non-Greek people on Metafilter.

By: philip-random

philip-random — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 20:01:02 -0800

worked for me

By: maryr

maryr — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 23:11:41 -0800

The [more inside] was in English and led me to believe all would be explained within.

By: dunkadunc

dunkadunc — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 23:51:57 -0800

I guess mystery meat posts are easier for people who have access to broadband. Carry on!

By: philip-random

philip-random — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 10:05:51 -0800

dunkadunc, I can see your point that. It's all too easy to assume that everyone's accessing the interwebs the same way, and they're obviously not -- a point I'll try to bear in mind with my future posts.