Earlier news updates: 1996-1999

More recent news items

Vangelis (Aphrodite's Child) on a Roussos DVD

DVD is the new CD-like medium that can contain many hours of music, video and interactive menu's with all sorts of multimedia and is about to replace the VHS VCR machines as a standard for rental and retail video software.

The Demis Roussos DVD (BR MUSIC DVB 2000) will contain no less than four Aphrodite's Child video clips, all showing Vangelis at work posing or miming to the music. Very early examples of the medium that these days makes the business in pop music. In addition to these four video tracks with Vangelis there will also be video material for the songs "Lament" and "Race to the End" from the album "Demis". Both songs were written by Vangelis and originally recorded in his Nemo studio. There's also the "Because" track from the "Magic" album, again full of Vangelis' input.

The new DVD will be released by BR-music, the team that produced such gems as the Aphrodite's Child compilation "The Complete Collection" that contained a lot of rare AC material, presenting on 2 CDs almost all the songs the group ever produced. Other examples are Roussos' Attitudes album that contained bonustracks from the Vangelis produced "Reflections" album, and Demis' "Magic" on CD, with more bonustracks. BR releases always are gems to obtain, because of consistently well documented linear notes with background information, discographies, anecdotes, etc, always added with rare photographs and cover designs.

This release will be related to the 4CD boxset of Demis Roussos that BR-music released in 1998, which also featured an extensive booklet full of detailed text and never-before-seen pictures, some of them showing Vangelis or the Aphrodite's Child group. The cover of the DVD will be similar to the boxset release.

Extra features on the DVD will include a new interview with Demis Roussos, an extensive Demis discography, biography and sleeves section, a photo gallery, plus additional French subtitles for the interview. The information will be searchable.

The total playing time will be 105 minutes, with Dolby digital stereo sound. The format is the European PAL format, but DVD players can usually play any format on any system. On top of that the DVD will be coded as "all region" which means this DVD will not be limited to Europe, but can be played with DVD-players of all continents.

BR-Music has its own online store that delivers throughout the world, and the DVD can soon be ordered directly from them. Keep an eye on their website, which can be reached at www.brmusictwo.com. It will also be available in shops in Holland and most likely in more European countries.

 
   1.  RAIN AND TEARS                       3'10	
       Promofilm May 1968
   2.  I WANT TO LIVE                       3'30
       Tv Show "Smet" with Johnny Halliday 
       - 7/5/1969 - France 1 -INA
   3.  IT'S FIVE O'CLOCK                    3'29
       Sacha Distel Show - 10/12/1969 - 
       ORTF - INA
   4.  SPRING SUMMER WINTER & FALL          4'57
       Promofilm June 1970
   5.  WE SHALL DANCE                       3'33
       Hits A Go Go - September 1971 - NDR 
       - Studio Hamburg
   6.  MY REASON                            3'58
       Nightclub - 17/3/1972 - ORTF - INA
   7.  FOREVER AND EVER                     3'38
       Promofilm March 1973
   8.  GOODBYE MY LOVE GOODBYE              3'55
       Promofilm BRT - 9/8/1973 
   9.  MY FRIEND THE WIND                   3'52
       Toppop 15/10/1973 - Athens 
       September 1973 - AVRO/NOS Sales
   10. SCHONES MADCHEN AUS ARCADIA          3'20
       Toppop 12/11/1973 - Athens 
       September 1973 - AVRO/NOS Sales
   11. MY ONLY FASCINATION                  3'42
       Toppop 13/5/1974 - AVRO/NOS Sales
   12. WHEN FOREVER HAS GONE                3'01
       Top Of The Pops 21/10/1976 - BBC
   13. BECAUSE                              4'17
       Promofilm March 1977
   14. LIFE IN THE CITY                     3'33
       Promofilm May 1978
   15. LOST IN LOVE                         3'31
       Promofilm May 1980
   16. RACE TO THE END                      3'47
       Toppop March 1981 
       (never broadcast) - AVRO/NOS sales
   17. LAMENT                               3'09
       Promofilm February 1982
   18. FOLLOW ME                            4'40
       Toppop 6/11/1982 - AVRO/NOS Sales
   19. ISLAND OF LOVE                       3'43
       Toppop 7/3/1986 - AVRO/NOS Sales
   20. ON ECRIT SUR LES MURS                3'34
       Promofilm January 1990

Albedo issue 8

It also announces an Albedo convention to be held in London on April 22, 2000, including an evening concert by ex-Vangelis engineer Raphael Preston. Entrance is limited to 150 people and will cost $25 (prepaid), or $20 at the entrance if still available.

The issue arrives with a load of leaflets promoting sales of expensive Vangelis CDs, and other non-linked artists.

Forminx CD

The release is targetted at the international market, probably with Vangelis' international success in mind. The CD will become available via Ecommerce on the station's website at http://www.radiogold.gr.

Updates

In the mean time a big boxset of Milva CDs has been released in Italy, as was announced earlier in this section. But sadly it does not include any Vangelis related albums. Hopes were high that it would include the "Tra Du Sogni" album, Milva's most interesting cooperation with Vangelis, which on CD has become a real rarity these days.

Earth out of print

Thanks to Henk Engelen for the Forminx release info, Enzo Casiraghi for the Milva info and Kees Aarts for the Earth news.

Vangelis newsgroup and Reprise releases

Vangelis' music was often discussed in groups like rec.music.newage and rec.music.movies, as well as in newsgroups for related topics like Blade Runner or Yes. There was however never a newsgroup that was totally dedicated to Vangelis, even though newsgroups for comparable artists always were rather successful.

The newsgroup for Vangelis that was now created is alt.music.vangelis. If you don't have connection to a news server you can still follow and join the discussions by using a WWW facility like www.deja.com and you can see the group and participate in the discussions directly at http://www.deja.com/group/alt.music.vangelis.

A last note in newsgroups: Sometimes it can take a while before servers catch up on the latest newsgroups. Especially in the alt domain. It usually helps sending requests to providers. It will certainly help get the newsgroup going.

In the mean time, Reprise has been released in many more countries including Israel and South Africa. The latter has a domestic pressing of this CD, which always interests certain collectors. Also nice to note is that Reprise has been eleased on the Minidisc format (catalog 984298288). In the past there was a release of "Themes" on the other digital home recording system called DCC, and 1492 was released on the more successful Minidisc system in some European countries.

Thanks to Peter Ravn, Paul Poroshin and Foster Cullen

Theme for Olympic closing ceremony in Sydney, 2000

After the music for the Olympic emblem last month this proves again that Vangelis is still involved in the olympic movement and many hope this is only forplay for things to come in 2004. But at this point anything would still be speculation.

The earlier report that Vangelis was writing music for an event in the USA seems false, this must have been Sydney Australia.

Canadian / Japanese releases date Reprise

Thanks to Gilles Bedard and Seiya Hirano

Release dates and Cavafy

If you have other release (date) information for other countrys, please feel free to mail them to d.lodewijks@chello.nl So that I can report them on this website.

On Friday night, October 29 there will be a screening of Cavafy at the New York University, and after the the screening director Iannis Smaragdis will be answering questions from the public. The music for this rare Greek film (1997) was composed by Vangelis which resulted in publicity and instant success in the Greek cinema's. A rare chance for some people to have a look at the film, hear the music and even question the director.

Thanks to Jérôme Olivier for the release data information and to Don Fennimore for his post about Cavafy to the Direct mailinglist

New studio album in preparation - and other news!

Previous rumors about Vangelis working on a techno album or collaborating with Barbra Streissant and/or Sarah Brightman can (again) be written of as completely false.

Vangelis will be writing a short piece of music for a ceremony to be held in the USA next year. No details are available yet.

Sources have also confirmed again that Vangelis has a finished recording (but not mastering) a complete work with Montserrat Caballe but, sadly, it seems that this is not intended for release in the following year. This highly anticipated work has been popping up in rumors and news for years now, without actually showing up on an album. More patience will be required.

Vangelis' engineer Frederick Rousseau - whose's own critically acclaimed releases and soundtrack works have charmed many Vangelis fans in the last few years - is about to release 5 new albums during January 2000, in a series called "Terres De Legendes", as well as a separate album about space to be released later on. These works are bound to be worthy of attention.

Milva, the German female singer with whom Vangelis cooperated on several albums in the eighties is about to release a box-set in Italy, and it is possible that this box set will contain the "Tra Du Sogni" album. This album was released in 1986 and CD versions of this album are very rare. It contains various songs written by Vangelis (from her German language album "Geheimnisse") and one stunning song written and performed by Vangelis. If this box set will indeed contain the Tra Du Sogni album on CD you will of course read about it here later on.

Special thanks to Antas for the Vangelis and Rousseau news, and thanks to Enzo Casiraghi for the Milva news.

Jon & Vangelis clip on BBC2

Thanks to John Reed for the tip!

Reprise 1990 - 1999 released

The new compilation album has been released today in Holland, and probably also in other North European countries. Release dates like the 25th of October were mentioned as well, so it could take a few more days for several areas. The United States, along with some other continents will have to wait longer, as no release details for them have been published yet. The two unreleased tracks on the album are both different from the original recordings used in the films, similar to the unreleased tracks on the Themes album in 1989. It could also be that new overdubs and edits are responsible for the differences in sound, arrangement and structure. The other tracks have been nicely melted into each other, sometimes using a few new sound effects or a newly dubbed instrument. But mostly they just fade into each other.

Reprise cover

Online CD-store Boxman (http://www.boxman.co.uk/) in the UK has the image of Reprise on their website:

The album is still slated for October 25 in most countries in Europe. The Bittermoon track is the opening track of the film, not the closing track. The Plague track is said to be from the middle of the film, a scene where a boy sings the main theme that also features in the endtitles.

Thanks to Michael Williams for his mail to the Direct mailinglist and to Jussi Jakobsson for additional information.

Albedo issue 7

Other parts of this Albedo include the rectified Rousseau interview, a section about the "Eureka" concert in Rotterdam 1991 including the interview about it that was copied from this website, a review of the abominable Eureka bootleg from he Highland label, an item on Cosmos and its soundtrack CD release as well as reviews from other artists music released by Griffin's own label.

Release date confusion

Thanks to Henk Engelen as well as Nicolas Sabourin for his post to the Direct mailinglist

Images from the Athens 2004 Olympic emblem presentation

The images are presented here in chronological order from left to right, top to bottom.

Special thanks to Octavian Buda for grabbing and providing these images.

Emblem presentation

The broadcast started earlier than was announced at forehand. Not only did the national channel ET1 broadcast it but its international version "ERT SAT INTERNATIONAL" made it possible for satellite viewers in many other countries to follow the presentation.

Thanks to Daoud Ibrahim Ahmed and Andreas Smagadis for their mails to the Direct mailinglist
(where tempers have calmed down due to moderation and thus peace has been restored since a while now).

Emblem presentation broadcast with new Vangelis music

Thanks to Diego Lugon for his post to the Direct mailinglist

Reprise catalogue number

East West 3984 29828 2

Upcoming compilation: Reprise 1990-1999

The first new piece is the stunning theme for "the Plague", hopefully the endtitles recording. The plague was a French/Brittish/Argentine film from 1992. Vangelis initially insisted on his soundtrack work to be uncredited, but later releases on video did feature his name prominently on the packaging. The second will be "Bittermoon" (aka "Lune de Fiel"), Roman Polanski's erotic drama from 1992.

The full tracklist of the album will - according to Mark Griffin of the Albedo fanclub - be:

  1. Bon Voyage - Oceanic
  2. Dreams of Surf - Oceanic
  3. Opening - 1492
  4. Conquest of Paradise - 1492
  5. Monastery Of La Rabida - 1492
  6. Come to Me - Voices
  7. Light and Shadow - 1492
  8. Fields of Coral - Oceanic
  9. Movement 5 - El Greco
  10. Movement 6 - El Greco
  11. West Across the Ocean Sea - 1492
  12. Theme from Bitter Moon
  13. Rachel's Song - Blade Runner
  14. Movement 4 - El Greco
  15. Theme from the Plague - The Plague
  16. Dawn - The City 
  17. Prelude - Voices
  

The album is planned for October 25 in most Western European countries. Details about distribution are not available yet.

Thanks to Mark Griffin for his post to the Direct mailinglist.

Montserrat Caballe: Greek Olympics and work with Vangelis

In an interview with French magazine "Point de vue", Montserrat Caballe answered to a question about her projects in the third millennium:

"Le ministre grec de la Culture m'a proposé de participer à l'organisation des Olympiades d'Athènes. Quelle joie et quel espoir pour la musique après l'exemple de Barcelone. Pour fêter l'an 2000, je prépare une oeuvre magnifique avec le compositeur Vangelis PAPATHANASSIOU. Je créerai aussi un nouveau Donizetti."

Also she mentions again that she's preparing a "magnificent" work with Vangelis. This work has been mentioned many times in the past, mainly by Caballe, but has never been a sign of an upcoming release of this work.

Thanks to Alain Guillem for this information

Olympic emblem presentation

This implies that Vangelis is still attached to the Olympic movement in Greece, and raises hopes for Vangelis involvement (or more) in the eventual opening ceremony of the games itself. But that's purely speculation at this point.

In the past Vangelis was involved with the Olympic Games, particularly when he performed a concert show in 1991, "Song for Athens", supporting Athens as choice for the games of 1996. Later when he organized and performed at the opening ceremony of the Athletics World championships in 1997 the quality of the show helped a lot in the process of getting the 2004 games to Athens.

Thanks to Noel Koetlis for this news.

Mailing list

Albedo rectification

Albedo will therefore print the only official interview text in their next issue and retract the parts of the article in the sixth issue.

The Elsewhere site apologizes to Mr Rousseau and Vangelis for inconveniences that this may have caused. The text Albedo got was used by them without our permission and was not the correct final version.

Forminx in CD box-set and Greek award

A CD collection of some of their songs has been available in the past in Greece, but it was taken of the market after a very short while. Now finally 18 of their songs are going to appear on CD again, this time on a CD that is part of a 5 CD box set with legendary Greek pop songs. It's called "The ultimate Greek pop" and more info can be found at http://www.radiogold.gr/greek.html.

CD 3 of the set also contains "Oldies but Goodies", by Zoe kouroukli, with Vangelis and "Marina" by George Romanos, with Vangelis.

Vangelis received olympic award
On May 26 Vangelis attended the opening of an olympic building in Athens, and received there an honorary award from the president of the Greek Olympic committee. Vangelis supported the Greek olympic movement a lot in the last decade. First in 1990 by doing a a concert in an attempt to help Athens win the Summer Olympic Games of 1996 (failed, went to Atlanta, USA) and later in 1997 again by organizing and performing at the Athletics world championship opening ceremony that played a pivotal role in securing the 2004 Summer Olympic Games for Athens.

Thanks to Henk Engelen for the Forminx news and Andreas Smagadis for his post to the Direct mailinglist about the Olympic award.

Concerts rumors were false?

Various unconfirmed reports

Copyright issues

Direct mailing list

666 in Q

Domestic notice: Due to some traveling, news updates during the month of March will be maintained by "guestreporter" Michael Thomas Roe. Any hints, tips, information, etc. should be E-mailed to him at mthom@mindspring.com during the period between March 3 and March 31.

Thanks to Hans Dool for the info about Q magazine

Concerts?

Thanks to Spiros Liolis for his post to the Direct mailinglist

Hungarian bootlegs

Strange about "666" is that they pressed it on a single CD (it was a double album) and credited it as "Vangelis, featuring Aphrodite's Child".

The thing with those albums is that they were illegally produced by big companies. The CDs are availeble in big stores like the Budapest's Virgin Megastore. Distributer telewestel has a website in Hungarian at http://www.telewestel.hu. The publisher calls himself Euroton. Catalogue numbers: Dragon: WL111, "666": EUCD0061.

Thanks to Zoltan for his information

Ridley Scott films

More bootlegs

Event of Excellence
In Japan the bootleg label that recently released "Another Page of Life", calling itself Highland Records has now released a CD called "Event of Excellence" (Highland Records HL264). This CD features in awfull quality (noise, drop-outs) Vangelis' Eureka concert in Rotterdam, 1991. It was sampled badly from the live TV broadcast in the Netherlands.
This concert mainly featured prerecorded tracks (bad weather, difficult organisation) in exactly the same sound as you find it on the albums. Special were Hymne (released in a slightly different mix/edit on Portraits) which featured choirs and a new arrangement and the short opening track that was written for the event.
The booklet uses images of the "Song for Athens" concert in Athens' instead of Eureka.Surely this is one of the poorest and most shamefull Vangelis bootlegs released so far. Sadly, the label succeeds in distributing it pretty well in Japan.

The Dragon
A CD of "The Dragon" has appreared in Hungarian shops. It seems to be released by a rather serious production company. Whoever released it however, it can't be with consent of Vangelis and his publishers, since they succesfully had this recording banned when it was released on LP. It contains a recording of jam sessions in the early seventies and was released in various countries to cash in on Vangelis' increasing popularity.
This CD (bootleg or counterfeit) seems "apparently digitized from an LP and digitally corrected thereafter, at least this is what the remnants of noise suggest." as Zsolt Kemeny writes for this news section.

Thanks to Roland Weissflog for his details about and scan of "Event of Excellence" and thanks to Zsolt Kemeny for the details about the Hungarian "Dragon" appearance.

Technical matter

The pages at the old place will soon disappear, leaving only referrals to the new server, where the site will be significantly expanded in content and functionality soon.

January 19

Thanks to John Norfolk again for keeping us up to date.

El Greco in the USA

The catalogue number will be Atlantic 83161. No date is provided.

Thanks to John Norfolk for his tips

Release in the USA and various

On another topic: a famous bootleg label has widely released in Japan a CD called "Another Page of Life", which features tracks from the first demo's of that album, as well as the famous 1986 demo tracks by Jon and Vangelis. Be aware that this is a bootleg, an illegal release, and sound quality therefore is not of the same standards as official CDs have. Also it is illegal to sell those CDs and buying them does not support the artists or other involved parties.

Thanks to John Norfolk for the information about El Greco

"The Prayer" in Europe

Besides the Vangelis track (which closes the album) the CD contains a collection of classical excerpts from opera's and vocal arrangements of instrumental classics including Bach's Air and Saint-Saens' Le Cygne.

Thanks to Balthasar v. Weymarn and Samuel Gomez

More details on the new Caballe album

The full and correct title of the new Montserrat Caballe album that contains Vangelis' "The Prayer" is "Con todo mi corazón". It has been released in Spain by BMG Classics on its RCA Victor label. The catalogue number is 74321 63707 2. The information inside the booklet is all in Spanish. It is not known yet if this album has been or will be released in other countries than Spain. Tips of sightings are welcome at d.lodewijks@chello.nl. As a reminder: this album contains the first ever release of "The Prayer", an opera song Vangelis wrote for and performed with Montserrat Caballe and her daughter Montserrat Marti. This song was first heard being performed by them at the opening ceremony of the Athens athletics world championships in 1997

Thanks to Samuel Gomez for the scan, additional info and help

"A Prayer" released on Montserrat Caballe album

The name of this tracks has caused some confusion being announced as "A Prayer" to TV reporters for the Athens '97 concert, while it seemed to be announced by Caballe as "The Prey of the World" during the show. Surely a mistake meaning "Prayer for the world"??? Now it seems to appear as "The Prayer" on this album.

More info soon.
Thanks to Samuel Gomez for his post to the Direct mailinglist

New El Greco in European stores

The three new tracks are blent in with the tracks of the previous version of the album. In general the old tracks have not been tampered with, the appear in pretty much their full length. They have however received a little bit of overdubbing near their start and end to fit the new blending of the tracks.

Whether the new material fits in is material for discussion. They seem a bit more playfull but sloppy and even blunt in certain passages. Anyone who paid the full amount (or more) for the original version however will certainly be willing to pay for the new material again.

Those who get this album for the first time miss of course the wonderfull book about El Greco's paintings that was shipped with the limited version from 1995. The would do well to try and find some paintings of El Greco, for instance in any nearby library, as it definately adds to the music, like the music adds to the paintings.

For those residing in the USA or other areas where this CD will not be sold, it can be ordered at online stores in Europe, like http://www.telecd.com/ or another store at http://www.telecd.nl/.

In the mean time you can listen to a real audio file of an excerpt from one of the new tracks at East West's website at: http://www.eastwest.co.uk/, where you should browse to the jukebox.

Fifth Albedo fan magazine about to be issued

This issue is focussed on Direct, in this case referring to both the album that was released 10 years ago now and the custom build tool that Vangelis has used to compose, record and produce for all his work since he got hold of it.

Remarkable insight into this somewhat mysterious device is given by the second part of the Bill Marshall interview that was spread over this and the former issue. This time Bill, who developed the device to Vangelis' specific and demanding needs, talks about the functionality of the machine as well as the period he spend designing and building it. Very revealing stuff.

Another gem in this issue is an interview with Vangelis from 1979, that has not appeared anywhere on the web yet. Vangelis talks mainly about his Beaubourg and China albums, and this also is very enlightening.

The timing of the issue is perfect since it already gives a complete review of the new El Greko album, and it prints the cover art in black and white. No less than breaking news at this point of time.

In the news section an older topic that caused much anticipation in the past is briefly touched: the process of assembling a box set of Vangelis music is still in progress. Rumor has it that it will be a 4CD box set anthology with well known songs but also with completely unreleased tracks. The point is that it seems to be that BMG has in its vaults no less then twelve unreleased albums, including the famously retracted "Inner Data" and "Symphony 3" Arista 'releases'. BMG now wants to involve Albedo founder and editor Mark Griffin in selecting this material. This will no doubt be a task subject to a lot of envy from other Vangelis fans.

Related to the new Albedo issue: it seems that, despite semi-official reports on various occasions claiming the old El Greco at the museum has been sold out, it seems that again (or still?) they can deliver them, and moreover they have agreed with the Albedo fan club on a deal to have Albedo distribute them. For the price of only a 100 pound sterling Albedo will get the original limited Foros Timis Ston Greco package for you. The only thing is that it could take a while, since Albedo will try to manage several orders simultaneously. It is however by *far* the cheapest option, since commercial companies have been selling it successfully for double that price. Albedo can also offer other rarities, some of them for very favorable prices, like for instance Riccardo Cocciante's Concerto per Margherita CD which was arranged by Vangelis showcasing many familiar synthesizer sounds.

Now, to join Albedo, or to order from their catalogue you should contact editor Mark Griffin by Email at: mjtgriffin@compuserve.com. Subscription fees are only 5 pound sterling within Europe or 10 US dollars outside of Europe. And to order from their catalogue you don't even need to be a member.

El Greko in Canada

Note by the way that the track list in the former update missed a track, and has now been corrected. The total length of the album is approximately 72 minutes and 36 seconds!

El Greko track list

     Movement I          10:06
     Movement II          5:19
     Movement III         6:49
     Movement IV          6:26
     Movement V           4:26
     Movement VI          7:54
     Movement VII         3:20
     Movement VIII        9:44
     Movement IX         11:58
     Movement X-Epilogue  7:00
  

In the meantime the release dates in Holland seem to be set at October 23.

Thanks to Don Fennimore for sending the tracklist and catalogue number to the Direct Mailinglist

El Greko press release

Thanks to Don Fennimore for providing the textfile

El Greco: delayed

There are 3 new tracks but they do not feature Montserrat Caballe as reported earlier. Mark describes them as "...a harp based piece rather like Oracle of Apollo on Direct.", "...a gorgeous piano piece, very playfull with harp again." and "...rather like a renaisance baska (dance) - with choir and some mellow minor chords."

He also tells that the album will be promoted in classical magazines rather then popular magazines, presenting it as classical, not electronic. Which seems like a wise choise for this type of album. For promotion on TV an interview with Vangelis was filmed in El Greco's home in Toledo, Spain. It has been very long since Vangelis gave an interview on TV outside of Greece.

Furthermore it seems that it will not be released on a classical label, but on Vangelis' regular "East West". This is positive for its pricing, since classical CDs usualy ar priced in a higher category. Also it seems the full title of this album will be "El Greco", contrasting to 1995 box release that was called "Foros Timis Ston Greko", or "Tribute to El Greco". What the track titles will be remains to be seen. Since the order of the tracks has changed, the Movement 1 to 7 titles can hardly be maintained. Time will tell.

El Greco in October?

The CD will be marketed as classical CD. It probably means a bit higher price as well. The music is a reworked version of the 1995 album, including three new songs with Caballe. It is not known if these are the two songs that appeared on BMG already, and the Prayer for the world song that was performed by Caballe and her daughter Marti in the past.

Thanks to Jussi Jakobsson for his post to the Direct mailinglist and to Mark Griffin for further info.

Sheet music released in Italy

It is being distributed by Nuova Carish. Copyright 1998. They have a website at http://www.carisch.it/ [Corrected!] or in English http://www.carisch.com/ and an address in Italy:

  Nuova Carish s.r.l.
  Via Campania 12
  Zona Industriale Sesto Ulteriano
  20098 S. Giuliano Milanese (MI)
  Italy
  Customers bureau Phone: +39--298221212
  

Continuing rumors: El Greco on worldwide release

El Greco was released in a limited edition in 1995, being sold only at one museum in Greece packed in a luxurious box with a book and an authentic autograph by Vangelis on the disc. It had a high price tag and all the money it earned (all, as the material had been donated by banks and record companies) went to the museum to preserve Greek art.

Fans who managed to get the album received it very well and praise its serious attitude, which was like the opposite of that years easy going "Voices" album. Also the Greek press was very positive about both the music and the benefit project it was connected to.

The CD will now be published as a normal album. No book, no autograph. The artwork will be different. Word also goes that two tracks will be added. Since the album was about an hour in length it is not unlikely that if this happens, there will also music disappear from the original release.

The release will be on the East West label which released all recent Vangelis albums in Europe and Canada and some other places. The USA was covered by Atlantic, but there is no sign yet that they will also pick up this release. If they will, it will take time, like in previous occasions.

Thanks to Don Fennimore and Mark Griffin for their posts on the Direct mailinglist.

Early appearance released on CD

Thanks to Aki Pattalis for his Email.

New Albedo magazine out

Since it wasn't very long ago that the last Albedo was issued, there isn't much shocking news in this issue. No items that have already featured here in the past.

The rest of the issue includes an old interview with Vangelis (which can be found also on the web at the Inerson homepage), a short review of "Threads" and "Fly By Wire", which are two CDs composed and privately released by a group of Vangelis fans on the Direct mailinglist, some letters of fans reacting on the new Page of Life CD and the legal trouble around it, the regular item highlighting a particular Vangelis fan now deals with editor Mark Griffin himself, an interview with former Vangelis engineer Bill Marshall only focusing on his own album "Ankh" as released in cooperation with Albedo editor Mark Griffin again, a review of this very album, the usual letter section, an article by Don Fennimore focussing on the history of Vangelis compilation CDs with full discography of them, an article about Demo Art (Completely Vangelis unrelated electronic music), a few nice rare pictures, an adds section, another item about ex Vangelis engineer Raphael Preston's own work (see last Albedo magazine) and a competition.

Well, it seems Albedo is loosing a bit of focus in this issue, due to the substantial number of loosely or unrelated topics. But not every issue can be up to its predecessors, so we can eagerly await the next issue.

Albedo's subscription fees:

  UK                        5.00 GBP      Cash, Check or Postal Order,
  Rest of Europe            5.00 GBP      Cash (Sterling) or Eurocheck (in Sterling), 
  USA/Rest of the World   $10.00 US       Cash (Dollars) or Check (Dollars) on a US Bank Account

Send with your name and address to:

  Albedo,  c/o Mark Griffin,  Smithy Croft,  Ythanbank,  Ellon, 
  Aberdeenshire, AB41 7UA,  Scotland GB
  

Caballe performance in Moscow

So, in the mean while this may be a bit of interest: On July 31 Montserrat Caballe gave a concert in Moscow, where she (as announced) performed some Vangelis songs. Vangelis sadly did not perform at this event. It is said he is currently on holidays.

The concert was performed at the Sobornaya Square, which is a typical medieval setting. It was a charity concert for invalid children. Newspapers report that a choir of 400 children supported Caballe and the orchestra. Apparently Vangelis wrote extra music for the bells of the Kremlin to support the "Prayer of the World" song [Correction afterwards: It was "March with me" that was rearranged, "A Prayer" was not performed at the concert at all], which is known from the Athletics Opening Ceremony in Athens, 1997.

Thanks to Noel Koutlis for his tip and to Oleg Shutov for his post to the Direct mailinglist.

Interview with Jon Anderson

Another recent addition of interest may be the trader page which enables you to place or read ads for Vangelis material. You'll find it in the index of this site, as well as in 3 other websites, with whom this service is shared.

Thanks to Octavian Buda for the exclusive soundfiles and information.

Cavafy on video

The video is available in the PAL format, which makes it unusable for countries like France, Japan, USA or Russia. Most of Europe can play it however, and so can various other countries.

It has only been released in Greece, but perhaps something can be arranged when contacting the company which owns the video rights of this film. The address of this company is:

  TELEFILM HELLAS ENTERTAINMENT GROUP
  4A Matzariotaki Street,
  Kallithea, Athens
  tel. (301) 957-8604/5
  fax 957-8605
  

There are still persistent rumors of the possible imminent release of the soundtrack album to this film, but Alexandros Film can not confirm it yet. They would however very much like to do so.

Also it is still not sure if Vangelis will write the musical score for the next upcoming Iannis Smaragdis film about the life of El Greco. The rumor was (as mentioned in the April 3 update) that Vangelis has already signed for this, but official announcements about this cannot yet be made.

Thanks to Diego Lugon and to Elsa Arapi for additional info.

Fete Sauvage mistake

The June 10 update has now been rewritten, with all the false information corrected. Also updated is the table with one more version and images inserted representing the covers of the versions.

Again, apologies for the misinformation

Thanks to Antas for the correction

New release of "La Fete Sauvage" in France (CORRECTED)

The old situation
Polydor and Barclay both had CDs and LPs of "La Fete Sauvage" and LPs and CDs of another album called "Ignacio", which is also known as "Entends-tu Les Chiens Aboyer".
In 1993 The CAM label released them as well, but those feature a major mistake. The label released both the "La Fete Sauvage" and "Entends-Tu Les Chiens Aboyer" albums, but for some unknown reason they mistakenly switched halves of the albums. Both albums feature two tracks representing the sides of the LP versions. The CAM CDs however each feature one side from "Ignacio" and one side from "La Fete Sauvage". To have all the music on both the albums you need to have either both CDs from the CAM label or both on the original Polydor/Barclay releases. The advantage for CAM is a slightly better sound quality, the disadvantage is the wrong placing of the tracks.
Alternatives are the Polydor and Barclay versions of the albums, which feature all the correct music on the correct CDs.

The new situation
For the new CAM CD of "La Fete Sauvage", they rearranged the tracks again, but only adjusted the order of them. So, it is (contrary to what was reported at this site and in other media) still partly Ignacio, partly Fete Sauvage. It's the same incorrect two tracks, in a different order.

To clarify all, and avoid more confusion, here's an exact list of all the released CDs.

Title	number	Cover	Music from original sides	Snd	Details
Ignacio	(Barclay) 813 042-2		1. A+B from Ignacio	-	Cover in two variations (picture in middle (as shown here) or picture to the left)
Entends-tu les Chiens Aboyer (=Ignacio)	(CAM) CSE 005		1. A from Ignacio 2. A from Fete	+	/
Entends-tu les Chiens Aboyer (=Ignacio)	(CAM) 74321130702		1. A from Ignacio 2. A from Fete	+	/
Entends-tu les Chiens Aboyer (=Ignacio)	(CAM) EPC 478498 2		1. A from Ignacio 2. A from Fete	+	Spain only
La Fete Sauvage	(Barclay) 823 756-2		1. A+B from Fete	-	/
La Fete Sauvage	(Polydor) 841 198-2		1. A+B from Fete	-	/
La Fete Sauvage	(CAM) CSE 067		1. B from Fete 2. B from Ignacio	+	/
La Fete Sauvage	(CAM) 74321130712		1. B from Fete 2. B from Ignacio	+	/
La Fete Sauvage / Entends-tu les Chiens Aboyer	(Epic) EPC 481001 2 Spain 1995		1. B from Ignacio 2. B from Fete 3. A from Ignacio 4. A from Fete	+	Both albums on one disc, Spain only
La Fete Sauvage	(CAM) CSE 800-067		1. B from Ignacio 2. B from Fete	+	The new CD version. A unique new order of tracks, but the same wrong combination as previously.

Finally here's a description of the start of each track:

• Ignacio, side A
  Very slowly some notes fade in, with some pinging sounds, and after a long while a romantic melody starts. Other facets of the track include piano notes, choirs and a church organ near the end. The first theme reappears several times.
• Ignacio, side B
  (Starts at about 21:30 on one track CDs) Starts with a piece of very fast notes, and various interwoven solos jamming energetically. Followed by a free piece on percussion and also contains theremin cues and mandolin-like synth sounds to an electronic organ rhythm.
• Fete, side A
  Starts with percussion and some synth sounds. Repeats quite some time with a few additions, then gets into some seventies TV tune style combination. Also contains African drumming, animal sounds and a lonely piece on the flute.
• Fete, side B
  (Starts at about 18:10 on one track CDs) Starts with a short pinging intro leading quickly to a warm romantic melody (French erotic style a la Francis Lai), sung by Vana Veroutis amiable voice. Also contains spacy music build from pitching sounds, and the romantic theme reappears in even softer variations.

Details about upcoming album with Caballe and Marti

The projects of Montserrat Caballe and her daughter are increasing. (...) They are also together in a symphonic-ecological play that Vangelis has composed. "It's a wonderful and very spectacular piece that includes a chorus of 240 people and an orchestra with 110 musicians, apart from himself, who is like an orchestra", she says. "The meaning of the play is very beautiful", she continues. "It's about the deterioration and the aging of the Earth, from which remains a new nature will grow", she explains. "Of course, I am the old land and Montsita [her daughter] is the new one". The great diva brings it with her typical sense of humor.

Thanks to Samuel Gomez for his translation and for posting it to the Direct mailinglist.

Concert by Caballe

The concert was sold out, and the stage was strangely empty and minimalist, with only Monsterrat Caballe, Montserrat Marti and a pianist on stage. No further decorations. This fit well with the sad theme of aids against which the raised money.

Thanks to Noel Koutlis

Caballe will perform new Vangelis songs

This upcoming opera album by Vangelis and Caballe has still no release date set. Apparently Monsterrat and Vangelis finished recording it quite a while ago now, but there is no deal yet with a label. Vangelis' contract with East West records has ended and he and his management seem to be still looking for a suitable follow up. Rumors say they're also considering setting up their own label.

Thanks to Noel Koutlis

Page of Life deleted??

This new version was released by Jon Anderson and his label but found resistance from Vangelis and his management, who still haven't published their position officially.

Early signs for Higher Octave's decision to withdraw the release were the fact that the CD disappeared from their website. It's still for sale in a lot of US shops. Fans who are interested should try to get it as soon as they can.

Demis box set

The DVD about Demis Roussos which was planned to be included in this release (see November 11 update) is still in preparation and will be released separately. Not in the box-set as initially planned. This DVD will in fact contain rare Vangelis related scenes.

Page of Life dispute

What's the problem? The recently released US version of Page of Life (Higher Octave on their OMTOWN label) was originally approved by both Jon and Vangelis' managements. However, it seems there have been some mix ups and Vangelis is said to be most unpleased with the release. They now consider legal steps against Higher Octave and Jon's management in an attempt to stop the sale of this CD. Actually, the details are a bit unclear and again, mainly based on rumors, as Vangelis' management has not yet given out any official statement yet. But Jon confirmed the trouble and the stories all have the same core.

It would hereby be a good advise to get the new "Page Of Life" CD as soon as possible if you ever want to have it. Remember, the CD contains unreleased tracks ("Change we must" in its original J&V recording (a shorter 6 minute edit) and "Wisdom Chain" with its full grandiose 6 minute instrumental opening.) and some edits in the other songs. It was extremely well received by Vangelis fans.

Translation

New Albedo magazine released

The style has become a bit more loose it seems, with a bit of humor here and there and a writing style which is less formal. One of the ingredients this time is even a corny little cartoon making fun of Vangelis and UFO hypes.

Interesting mentions:

• An anecdote about a cat Vangelis apparently owns or owned, called "Albedo"
  
• The news which appeared in Greek newspapers that Vangelis has married 27 year old Greek celebrity lady Laura Metaxa are NOT confirmed by Vangelis' management. [Note: These stories appeared in various Greek news papers last year, to Vangelis' apparent agitation, and keep persisting. However, Vangelis privacy in this should be respected.]
  
• Apparently there is a rumor that Demis Roussos will perform this summer with Vangelis at the Athens Herodium theater. [These rumors did not seem to appear anywhere else yet. It seems very unlikely.]
  
• A rare Vangelis connected single has been 'discovered', being "Notturno" by a band called Panda. Vangelis arranged and his brother Nico produced.
• A new engineer has been added to Vangelis recording team. His name, most confusingly is "Vangelis".

So, concluding, another interesting issue, which at present is the only printing which binds Vangelis fans over the world. Not to be missed by any fanatic, on-line or not!

Magic: more details... And Tanto.

In addition to the tracks from the old album however, BR Music has added no less than 8 bonustracks, including two unreleased songs written with Vangelis ("the Promise" 4:57 and "Song For You" 4:47) and one produced by Vangelis ("Bambina" 3:24).
For the finishing touches to this 75 minute CD (!!) there are linear notes by Bert van Breda, two pictures of the recordings both including Vangelis and it is priced in the midprice range. This proves again that a BR Music release can never disappoint any collector.

Details: Demis Roussos "Magic", Polygram France (1977), this compilation BR Music (1998). BX 523-2
Released in Holland.

Also find more details at the extensive web-site of BR Music located at: http://www.brmusictwo.com/.

Tanto: Also, about the Tanto CD (Patti Pravo) which was reported in the April 3 update: This one has indeed been released in Italy, but only as part of an (expensive) 10 CD box set featuring all the albums by this Italian Vocaliste. Nothing is known of a possible separate release of this album, which is a shame as Vangelis' sounds on this album are a great pleasure.

Various topics

Now the news:

El Greco film

Releases

Furthermore it seems a box set will get released with Demis Roussos albums, containing some Aphrodite's Child tracks, but no new or rare ones.
Also in Italy a CD seems to have been released of Patti Pravo's "Tanto" album. Vangelis arranged it and played on it. Many sounds are very recognizable.

Cinemusic festival

There is a website about the event at http://www.cinemusic.ch/.

Thanks to Simon Walmsley for his post to DIRECT.

The Caballe show on France 2.

This song, called "Prayer for the World" (or in French "Priere pour le monde") was also performed at the openings ceremony of the WC athletics in Athens, 1997. The programs at this event called it simply "A Prayer".

It's not the first time Caballe performs one of her Vangelis compositions publicly. She has also sung "Like a Dream" in public and there were vague reports of "El Greco Movement 3" being heard in France a few years ago.

Thanks to Antas for his confirmation.

Musiques Au Coeur de Monsterrat Caballe rescheduled

The show was canceled then, because the station preferred to broadcast images of the winter Olympic games in Nagano, Japan. It has now been rescheduled for broadcast at France 2 on Sunday March 8, 1998. Don't miss it if you can.

Thanks to Antas for his post on the Direct mailinglist.

No Grammy...

New "old" Page of Life released in US.

This never before released version of the CD is closer to the original work as it was planned for release in 1990, before it was changed to the now common European CD (1991). It lacks a few tracks and has finally the original Jon & Vangelis version of Change we Must (as opposed to Jon's orchestral re-recording on his album "Change we Must") and a long intro to Wisdom Chain. This makes this version a must for completists and serious fans.

The CD has all new artwork (see update of January 19) and a little comment from Jon:

"This album is dedicated to my love, Jane, and the divine mother. To meet and sing with Vangelis was just so wonderful in this lifetime. He was my mentor. He showed me the truth to music which opened my heart and my soul."

It's not clear whether Higher Octave really only releases this in the US. If anyone has spotted a domestic version in another country I'd appreciate to hear about it. d.lodewijks@chello.nl

Thanks to Anthony Novo for his confirmation and extra information.

Mark Griffin reveals

This time Mark Griffin, author of the book "the Unknown Man" and editor of the fanmagzine "Albedo" has revealed a few very interesting rumors and facts.

First there is the news that the new album by Vangelis and Montserrat Caballe is finished. But it doesn't get released just yet. Mark speculates it may get premiered in Athens during the summer, with full choir, symphony orchestra and of course Montserrat Caballe..

Furthermore: Finally a box set with portions of the giant archives of unreleased Vangelis music is being considered. It seems John Martin who was Vangelis studio assistant for a long time is currently preserving the precious mastertapes and is looking also for bits of useful music which could eventually get released in a box set or something. A long time dream of many Vangelis fans.

Also: It seems Vangelis has been toying with some new gear lately. Apparently he bought a new drumkit and played a lot on it lately. It has been long since real played drums appeared on his albums so it could be rather refreshing for his music.
Also he seems to have been toying with some Yamaha gear which is techno oriented (Yamaha AN1x????), which can sound rather different then his recent albums have displayed.

More info can no doubt be found in the next Albedo magazine. The topics will also be hot for discussion on the Direct mailinglist.

Thanks to Mark Griffin for his post on Direct

Montserrat Caballe on French TV

It's something about Montserrat Caballe and word is that at least one Vangelis song will be performed. Could be interesting. It starts at 23:50 local French time.

Note afterwards: this show was canceled to make way for airing of the winter Olympics, and it is not yet clear if it will be broadcast at a later time.

Thanks to Piet Verhoeven for his post on the DIRECT mailinglist.

Page of Life details

The website of higher Octave music gives the tracklisting:

           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) 
  

Page Of Life Remixes

A copied tape of the "Page of Life" album in its original form did appear and was exchanged by fans and perhaps even appeared on bootleg. But in very bad quality.

A few years ago Jon Anderson mentioned already to some people that he had the intend to release the original versions of the songs soon. For a long time this didn't happen.

Now it seems things will change as Mark Griffin, writer of the book "Vangelis, the Unknown Man" has been informed by the Higher Octave label that they will be releasing Page of Life remixes which will be including at least the original Jon and Vangelis version of "Change we Must". Release is expected late in February 1998.

Higher Octave has a web-site at http://www.higheroctave.com/new/newnav/main.html.

Thanks for Mark Griffin for his post on the DIRECT mailinglist.

Grammy Nomination

Among the other nominees in this years new age category are Enigma and Mike Oldfield. Earlier winners in the new age category include Enya, Kitaro, Tangerine Dream and also some genuine "New Age" (meditative music) musicians.

The winners will be announced and presented the awards on February 27.

New Albedo magazine (2) released

No doubt the most interesting of all articles is a letter sent by Andrew Hoy, one of Vangelis' cooperatives. It is in reaction to the first issue of Albedo which was sent to Vangelis. Hoy forwards Vangelis' best personal wishes for the magazine and seems justly delighted by the fact that a magazine like this (finally) exists.
He adds a few pieces of information, including a short overlook on Vangelis' history in opera music, regarding his new songs with Montserrat Caballe. Interesting detail is that he wrote a complete work for her in 1994, arranged for full orchestra, choir and electronics, which took over a year to write. They still hope to perform and record it some time in the future.
Finally he also tells about a contact address for Vangelis. He says they were alarmed when they heard of worry amongst fans that letters for Vangelis would not actually reach him. Therefor a postal box has been set up in London which garantees that letters reach Vangelis. But he also adds that Vangelis can not listen to demo tapes or recordings, if only for legal reasons. So only letters are allowed. The address is below in this article.

The news section of Albedo 2 is pretty big but doesn't break any news this time for those who keep up with the DIRECT mailinglist or this newssection. It is however a nice collection of facts and trivia.

Other items include a translation of (part of) the Musiques Au Coeur interview (the one posted to Direct in 1993, and again later) a review of Friends for Life (Caballe), an article about the two best known Blade Runner bootlegs, a column by Paul Campbell about motivations to record and to release focusing on the differences between them, a drawing of Vangelis, a review of the Athens concert for the Athletics WC (using passages of the text on this site), a short article about Rick Wakeman including interestingly a very short questionnaire answered by Wakeman about Vangelis, letters by Members and a fan profile, this time of Don Fennimore. He is the worlds biggest Vangelis fan. A statement which can probably be proved scientifically.

Anyway, a big magazine, lots of stuff, and a necessity for any vangelis fan who can afford it. Would be worth it if it were for the Andrew Hoy letter alone.

Finally, the contact address for Vangelis:

   Miss Sharon Chevin
   PO Box 14846
   London
   NW2 4WU
   Great Britain
  

Cavafy

Apparently Vangelis' score has won awards at two film festivals: One in Belgium at the "Gent Film Festival" and one in Spain at the "Valencia festival".

Still no news of a possible release of the soundtrack. There were various rumors some they have not proven right as yet.

Thanks to Diego Lugon for his post to Direct.

Demis Anthology

New bootleg

Beware if you buy this CD: It is not legal, this is not an official release.

Thanks to Patrick Runkle for his Email to Direct.

Sound on Sound

This site will not feature this article as it is very recent and a magazine like that has to sell to make money.

Blade Runner computergame

Article in Sound on Sound

According to Nicholas Kent the magazine Sound on Sound (about synthesizers, audio gear, etc.) will publish an article called "Recording Vangelis at Nemo studio's". Nemo was the name of Vangelis studio in London (near Marble Arch) where he recorded works like Heaven and Hell, Spiral, Chariots of Fire, Blade Runner, etc...

Keith Spencer-Allen and Raphael Preston who where his engineers and studio assistants will be talking about his gear and other technical stuff.

The magazine is well spread, and can be found in many countries. You can read it here when the issue becomes available.

The Clock/Our Loves Sleeps On The Water on CD

The CD is a compilation on 2 CDs released in Greece and has a Greek title. It goes something like "STOUV DROMOUV TOU ROCK" (read with symbol font to see the real name). Label: Lyra CD 4873/4 Greece 1997.

Thanks to Nicholas Kent and Don Fennimore for their posts to the Direct mailinglist.

El Greco almost sold out

It can only be bought at the museum, or obtained by contacting Irene Tselepis at the museum. So if you still want it, be quick!

The address was given in update June 3 (see below). It had an error in the postal code. The correct code is: 11610

Record Collector article

The entire article is 9 pages long. The main part is a text by Mark Griffin and Don Fennimore. Mark is well known for his privately published "Vangelis - the Unknown Man" book and Don is a long time Vangelis fan with the biggest collection of Vangelis related material in the world. Besides this text there is an extensive (but not at all pretending to be complete) list of rare or interesting releases with their estimated collectors values and there are many pictures of Vangelis and record sleeves.

The article is well written (much more readable than the book) and is pretty detailed in its description of Vangelis' very early years with for example the Forminx, Zoe Kouroukli, and Aphrodite's Child. It very shortly touches the period from their to his most recent work and then tells about his latest successes with 1492 and his El Greco project.

The discography is for the advanced fans, as it only digs into rare releases (as well as regular UK albums). It is very interesting for people who want to start an extensive collection to see what to look out for. Important help for this section came from Don Fennimore, the worlds most advanced and knowledgeable Vangelis collector.

The photo's are printed in b/w. There are two photo's of Vangelis and many of sleeves of early singles, and special versions of albums. Photo's were delivered by Don Fennimore.

Record Collector is available in most of Europe, and probably also in other parts of the world, although it may require a good search.

Adress for Neurenberg video in the US

Vangelis wrote an intense score for this film, mainly existing of short pieces, used throughout the series (four parts). It also contains a lot of source music from that time.

The address you should try is:

        Jean Noel Frydman
        Prodius Inc.
        6201 Sunset Blvd. 124
        Los Angeles, CA 90028
        USA
  

Thanks to Derek J. Power for his tip

March with Me and Athens

Apparently the final ending of the Athens show last week had been cut by the Eurosport broadcast. While it went on with other programs Vangelis set down behind his synths again, and started playing the Greek national anthem. The crowd raised and loved it.

Pictures and temporary soundfiles of the event

[The pictures have moved to the Concerts section]

Also you can listen here to some soundclips in MP3 (MPEG layer 3 Audio) format:

[Deleted]

athens1.mp3	Semi-symphonic recording during dances	83 KB (32Kbits/sec), 22KHz, mono, duration 0:20
athens2.mp3	New song by Vangelis with Caballe and daughter	465 KB (32Kbits/sec), 22KHz, mono, duration 1:56

[The soundfiles were temporary and have been deleted. E-mail if you're really interested]

To play MPEG layer 3 files on your computer you need a fast computer and a special softwareplayer, or a decoder if you have a computer which is slow. For windows there's for instance a player "winplay3" (shareware) and for DOS (or DOS-box under windows) there is a good decoder called l3dec (shareware) which makes a (much bigger) wav file from your MP3 file which you can play with a normal sampleplayer.

Thanks to John van Houtert for use of and help with his AD converter and scanner.

Glorious opening ceremony with Vangelis

The scene was impressive. A giant stadium, filled with a crowd of a 100,000 enthusiastic spectators. A Greek monument impressively lit on one side, a statue, a set of screens, some background scenery and a big orchestra/choir on the top of the other side. A lot of lights and lasers, carefully set up at strategic locations. This in itself can already be called a big success.

Early in the evening, still in full daylight the athletes of each country entered the field of the giant stadium carrying their flags. They were accompanied by music written by Vangelis, performed live by a symphonic orchestra including a line up of synthplayers. The orchestra was conducted by Yvan Cassar, who had previously also conducted the Mythodia concert as well as the choirs on the two Friends for Life recordings with Montserrat Caballe. Vangelis was not yet present himself.
Among this music were familiar tunes like Voices and Hymne in a bit different form, as well as a variation on March with Me (instrumental) and a rearranged Hispaniola. But also featured were some totally unknown (new?) works, in the same semi-symphonic style.

Then the flags were raised. This part was accompanied by a gloriously beautiful theme as only Vangelis himself can write it, combining complexity and simplicity in the best possible way. It starts with some brasses playing a standard Olympic-like tune, followed by a powerful, richly orchestrated, enchanting melody. This piece was to return in various forms during the event.

Then after a few speeches the actual celebration took place. During this part Vangelis still was not present, which seems a wise decision as it would no doubt distract from the actual goings on: various dances to new Vangelis music, as well as a lot of traditional music from various regions. The event had already been livened up by effective lighting and wonderfully organized candles and lightingeffects, but during the dancing this was taken to new heights, particularly impressive due to the lighting and projecting of the entire floor on which it all happened.

After that the final part started, the appearance of Vangelis himself. He entered in a white coat, and black trousers and set down at the piano. He started playing (live) a peculiar, free version of Chariots of Fire. After a while the familiar baseline and horns set in (other players? tape?) and Vangelis continued playing the melody as we are used to it. He made quite a few mistakes but the live character of it was very welcome.

It was followed by Conquest of Paradise, which seemed partly live, or at least different. It was hard to judge from the Eurosport broadcast as picture and sound were out of sync. After that Montserrat Caballe made here entrance. She met with Vangelis affectionately and spoke a few words in English, praising Vangelis and announcing the song she was about to sing: A new duet with her daughter, written for the event by Vangelis, called "the Prey of the World" (or "a Prayer", according to the commentator). The song was surprisingly simple, with a few piano notes and the expected opera singing, but it didn't miss its effect anyhow. It was followed by the concluding performance of March with Me, which was not live at all but sounded like coming straight from the CD, with Vangelis sitting at the piano touching keys. Sometimes it seemed some piano notes did come through. Perhaps it was a mixing problem.

After the final song the fireworks started, and images showed Montserrat and Vangelis looking at the spectacle, apparently being genuinely overwhelmed by it. The recurring glorious theme started again and formed a fitting conclusion for this remarkable event.

More details later, hopefully including pictures and soundclips (MP3).

Many thanks to Wil Senders and Koert van Mensvoort for their unmissable help.

CONCERT

Feel like I have to share this. For the last five days we have been constantly rehearsing the opening ceremony. I am one of the four Steadicam operators working in the show, in a total of more than 25 cameras. From what I have seen, it is gonna be absolutely spectacular. Amazing lasers, lights, and huge video-projections. The best part is of course the music.
An elaborate sound system of more than 200 speakers provide the stadium with crystal-clear, intense sounds, yet you can not tell where it is coming from. The source seems to be all around you and from inside of you. I've been very close to Vangelis the last days. He is very precise in what he wants and he is basically running the entire show. Frederick Rousseau is also here, counseling and assisting in every way. Lots of Korgs, the entire T-series for the orchestra and the additional musicians. For Vangelis himself, two or three keyboards (Korgs again) and an incredibly elaborate network of custom-made equipment providing sounds. I am pretty sure that there will be no "canned" music, no hard disc recording systems.
This thing is gonna be LIVE ! Watching him play is wonderful. Lots of new music, composed especially for the opening ceremony. You have to listen to it ! And for me, just being there, working there, inside this spectacular event is one of the most inspiring experiences I have had for a long, long time.

Michael Tsiberopoulos, Athens 31/7/97.

Various

About the August 1 performance:
This will be broadcast live on Eurosport (satellite) and ERT1 (Greek public station). Notice that Eurosport will probably interrupt for commercials.
It's not possible to specify the time, because it differs for each country. Here in the Netherlands (CET) it starts at 20:00 at Friday August 1, but this is different at other continents and I think it starts at 18:00 in Athens itself.
NBC caries the rights in the US, but I haven't heard whether they will actually broadcast it.

There is an MP3 sample of the announcements on this event, including new music by Vangelis on Antas' bootleg page, to which you can find a link in the links section of this site.

Concert approaching

There is an official website about the event at http://www.athens-97.gr/gbr/1.htm, and it includes a lot of info about Vangelis. It's wise to check it out.

Hopefully there will be TV stations that broadcast the event. Probably the Greek public stations will broadcast it, but there is a big chance there will be more TV stations interested, so it's smart to check out your TV guide. I appreciate any reports on plans on this on all kinds of TV stations, and hope to include them in the newssection a few days before the event.

Mail tips to: d.lodewijks@chello.nl.

CD single of "March with Me"

In the Netherlands this single is expected on July 28th. I don't know about any other countries.

Note afterwards: This single was released in various countries but not many and in small numbers. It has very quickly become very rare!

Rectification

So: For the record: There is NO bootleg with the music from Bittermoon without soundeffects or Blade Runner tracks, which was supposed to have been sold in Germany.
There is only a bootleg called "Memoires 4" which contains more than 45 minutes of Bittermoon (with soundeffects but no dialogue) and also some pieces from Blade Runner in the same condition.

Beware: Bootlegs are not legal. This is just for general information purposes.

Moscow??

It has been claimed that Vangelis contacted a company to provide video screens for a concert performance in Moscow late this year. I hope to get more confirmation very soon. Note afterwards: This was never to be heard of again. It seems this was taken into concideration but not carried out further. Too bad.

Concert

Note afterwards: There was one new track with Montserrat and her daughter.

El Greco's availability

If you want to try as well, at your own risk, you can contact:
[Corrected October 6]

The Greek National Gallery
Xlexandros Soutzos Museum
att. Irene Tselepis
Michalacopoulos Str 1
11610 Athens
Greece

The fax number is 7224.889
The telex number is 222322

Add to that the Greek country number.

Ask to order Vangelis' "Foros Timis Ston Greco" Package. If they still have it, they'll hopefully agree to reserve it for you and you can send the money by registered mail. This supposedly would cost not much more than 130 US dollars.
Beware: This is at your own risk.

Note afterwards: They're gone now. Many thanks to Piet Verhoeven for his post to the DIRECT mailinglist.
You can find more info on how to subscribe to Keith Gregoire's DIRECT mailinglist in the linkssection of Elsewere, so you can be always one of the first to know.

Caballe & Vangelis

Montserrat has been promoting her "Friends for Life" album in Greece and she has said during these promotions two interesting things:
1. She will perform "March with Me" with Vangelis on August 1 in Athens. A bit confusing is the fact that it was reported they were looking for a location some time ago. Does this mean it will not be performed at the opening of the Athletics World championship which Vangelis 'directs' that day?
2. She is working on a new album, with Vangelis. Hopefully some more things will be known about this great news soon.

The first Albedo fanzine

So, how's the magazine?
Quite pleasing to be short. It has very varied information. It starts with a newssection featuring everything from the biggest stories to the little funny details one might want to know. Any Breaking news stories? Well, it tells the rumors that Vangelis is working on a new score for "In pursuit of Honor", the upcoming Ridley Scott film. This is rather unlikely though. As far as I know this film (which is now retitled to its original name GI Jane, no doubt to be changed again in the future) has been assigned to Trevor Jones for scoring since a few months ago. But Scott was never to shy to fire a composer, even if he'd already finished writing, so there is hope.
Another rumor is mentioned, claiming that Vangelis may give a concert in September in Thessaloniki, in light of the city's status of European City of Culture.

Many more articles are included: a review of Oceanic (extremely positive), two interviews from the past, both I'd never seen before, an article on the Jon Anderson bootleg "the Sky and his Shadow" on which Vangelis is rumored to have played, an article on Anderson's "Olias of Sunhillow", recorded in NEMO studios, some Poetic thoughts by Paul Campbell on Vangelis latest works, a contact list, articles about the El Greco project, the Beauty and the Beast Ballet, the Olympic promotion concert, letters, a competition...
It's all there.

So, is it interesting? Yes it is, mainly due to the variety of content and style (much was contributed by other writers). It has something for everyone, and is quite pleasant to read.
It may look a bit cheap and patched, it certainly does what you can expect from it, and perhaps a bit more. It's far worth it's money. For more details on how to subscribe follow the "Earlier news items" link below.

Record Collector