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| Track List: 1. Pulstar 2. Freefall 3. Mare Tranquillitatis 4. Main Sequence 5. Sword Of Orion 6. Alpha 7. Nucleogenesis (Part One) 8. Nucleogenesis (Part Two) 9. Albedo 0.39 Running time: 41 minutes Released: 1976 |
More Vangelis, from earlier in his career than 1492 and not linked to a movie this time. It is another work that I have not listened to a lot, and the third short-ish listen in a row. Much easier than the hour-plus ones!
I had meant to do this listen last night but got distracted by trifling things until it was too late, so end up doing it now, with a plum and cinnamon cordial for company.
It is straight in with a loop that could almost have been from a fusion album soon joined by synth spikes that I find quite unpleasant. The levels are interesting, it seems to get quieter after it starts and the whole of Pulstar is softer than I would expect bar a couple of short passages. This is truly 70s synth wizardry - with the album and tracks all titled for stellar phenomena for extra geekery. I am no cosmologist, nor a sci-fi fan, so most of the terminology is lost on me, but knowing what it pertains to makes some sense of the track - at least until the end when the bloody speaking clock shows up. It's got the time wrong as ever!
Freefall goes all oriental in influence - its a very strange contrast, hard to believe these two tracks were from the same root and share space on a themed album. Especially when the very next track goes back to a "spacier" sound. I am not liking this much so far, and am pinning my hopes on the longer pieces to redeem it. Alas, as the Main Sequence starts I am not feeling that is likely. Too piercing. The bassy loops and riffs are quite nice but the high pitched stuff is falling very flat for me. I know that technology was in a very different place 40 years ago but the synthetic sounds feel to me like those I made on a Casiotone keyboard as a kid - mostly very annoying! Vangelis is, to be fair, less reliant on pre-programmed rhythm select.
I kid because... well. I have a lot more of his music to come (though notably not Chariots of Fire) and I do not want to allow not getting on with Albedo 0.39 prejudice me. Sword of Orion is quite a nice short piece. Whilst it suffers the same "high pitch" problem, it is slower paced and feels more genuinely like a sci-fi soundtrack.
I feel like I should like this more than I do, and a little guilty for not doing so. I am not convinced by Alpha either - the faux-Chinese ambiance is back, but this time full out done with the spacey synth sounds. Actually when they open out into something less staccato it improves a lot - and is it me, or is that a subtle increase in tempo as it does? That I like - there is more coming in as it goes and it has swelled. There is less annoying top end and more awesome soundscape. Much better, even if it ends too abruptly.
Nucleogenesis starts with more annoying high pitched sounds, and whilst they fade to give a funky kind of structure I worry they will be back. My worry is assuaged a bit when instead of high pitched ear-bleeding I get... oddities. This is frustrating; I like the drive this piece has but whilst the top end is more accessible than some of the earlier songs it is frustratingly annoying in places.
Oh man... the start of Nucleogenesis (Part Two) is only a step away from the Airwolf theme, and for a moment I got nostalgic for carp 80's TV (typo deliberate). OK so it is not that similar, but there was enough of a hint there for my mind to immediately go helicoptering away.
I miss most of the track whilst sorting out the embed (and I am still not happy) but hear enough to know I have to keep that. The title track is a real "drifting in space" sound, and you could imagine the voice-over relaying space-facts as some looped AI recording that slowly drives the marooned cosmonaut insane. I find it oddly relaxing and only vaguely realise that the track has ended whilst I resize the off-topic embedded video to something more bearable. Priorities, Graham! I do not even have a copy of the Airwolf theme in my library and this makes me sad; I have something based on Knight Rider later though. Huzzah!
I had meant to do this listen last night but got distracted by trifling things until it was too late, so end up doing it now, with a plum and cinnamon cordial for company.
It is straight in with a loop that could almost have been from a fusion album soon joined by synth spikes that I find quite unpleasant. The levels are interesting, it seems to get quieter after it starts and the whole of Pulstar is softer than I would expect bar a couple of short passages. This is truly 70s synth wizardry - with the album and tracks all titled for stellar phenomena for extra geekery. I am no cosmologist, nor a sci-fi fan, so most of the terminology is lost on me, but knowing what it pertains to makes some sense of the track - at least until the end when the bloody speaking clock shows up. It's got the time wrong as ever!
Freefall goes all oriental in influence - its a very strange contrast, hard to believe these two tracks were from the same root and share space on a themed album. Especially when the very next track goes back to a "spacier" sound. I am not liking this much so far, and am pinning my hopes on the longer pieces to redeem it. Alas, as the Main Sequence starts I am not feeling that is likely. Too piercing. The bassy loops and riffs are quite nice but the high pitched stuff is falling very flat for me. I know that technology was in a very different place 40 years ago but the synthetic sounds feel to me like those I made on a Casiotone keyboard as a kid - mostly very annoying! Vangelis is, to be fair, less reliant on pre-programmed rhythm select.
I kid because... well. I have a lot more of his music to come (though notably not Chariots of Fire) and I do not want to allow not getting on with Albedo 0.39 prejudice me. Sword of Orion is quite a nice short piece. Whilst it suffers the same "high pitch" problem, it is slower paced and feels more genuinely like a sci-fi soundtrack.
I feel like I should like this more than I do, and a little guilty for not doing so. I am not convinced by Alpha either - the faux-Chinese ambiance is back, but this time full out done with the spacey synth sounds. Actually when they open out into something less staccato it improves a lot - and is it me, or is that a subtle increase in tempo as it does? That I like - there is more coming in as it goes and it has swelled. There is less annoying top end and more awesome soundscape. Much better, even if it ends too abruptly.
Nucleogenesis starts with more annoying high pitched sounds, and whilst they fade to give a funky kind of structure I worry they will be back. My worry is assuaged a bit when instead of high pitched ear-bleeding I get... oddities. This is frustrating; I like the drive this piece has but whilst the top end is more accessible than some of the earlier songs it is frustratingly annoying in places.
Oh man... the start of Nucleogenesis (Part Two) is only a step away from the Airwolf theme, and for a moment I got nostalgic for carp 80's TV (typo deliberate). OK so it is not that similar, but there was enough of a hint there for my mind to immediately go helicoptering away.
I miss most of the track whilst sorting out the embed (and I am still not happy) but hear enough to know I have to keep that. The title track is a real "drifting in space" sound, and you could imagine the voice-over relaying space-facts as some looped AI recording that slowly drives the marooned cosmonaut insane. I find it oddly relaxing and only vaguely realise that the track has ended whilst I resize the off-topic embedded video to something more bearable. Priorities, Graham! I do not even have a copy of the Airwolf theme in my library and this makes me sad; I have something based on Knight Rider later though. Huzzah!
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