Vangelis S & D

listening to Spiral now. that 'spinning wheel' sequencer thing he does is so cool. the final track "3 + 3" is so majestic. I forgot how much he just fucks around on these electronic records! good stuff

Jon Anderson of Yes recalled the first time he met Vangelis on @theQuietus last year.

(Full interview: https://t.co/qRQ8cfY7yE) pic.twitter.com/wfHSLldaiV

— John Doran (@JahDuran) May 20, 2022

hah, he was legitimately a pretty funny dude, despite the self-seriousness of a lot of his work. didn't he once try to audition for the role of drummer in Yes?

I'd heard that he was auditioning as keyboardist, but wound up playing a drum solo while everyone waited for him to play the keyboards.

rocked the J&V version of “state of independence” this morning. such a jam.

One of my favorite Vangelis in the wild moments: 1999, first Coachella. Autechre opens their set layering Heaven & Hell Pt 1 on top of Pen Expers beats.

listening to this set now, love it

holy fuck I just looked that up, it's incredible

rocked the J&V version of “state of independence” this morning. such a jam.

I bought "The Friends of Mr. Cairo" for a couple bucks, having never heard it, and for most of the first side I was like "okay, this is clearly not Jon & Vangelis, but I gotta at least hear what it is"

another fun Vangelis story. though I guess it's more of a Ween story. when recording "12 Golden Country Greats" Ween hooked up with a veteran producer (Ben Vaughn) who sent them back to their room when the sessions were over, telling them they needed to write a single. they quickly wrote "Japanese Cowboy", and apparently they all thought "hmmm this sounds familiar" but couldn't place why. after the record came out they realized that what they had actually done was rip off the "Chariots of Fire" melody. and that is how Vangelis got a writing credit on a Ween album.

There are rumours of a vastly extended version of "∞" in existence, but as far as I know it's never seen the light of day. Strange to think that Irene Papas (now 95) has outlived him!

so there's a version of infinity that is quite long. That's quite good product description or not.

A thumb drive with the infinite version of "∞" will be released in Vangelis' actual skull.

Top that, Flaming Lips!

Any evolution in opinion about the Vangelis remasters? Still recommend I stay away from remastered Odes?

I only liked the Mask and See You Later remasters, if I recall. I would go with earlier masters of most of
his work if possible.

Tribute compilation with proceeds going to charity:

https://castlesinspace.bandcamp.com/album/music-is-vast-a-tribute-to-the-music-and-legacy-of-vangelis

I sometimes think that double duo version of the band is my favorite. It wasn’t their best material but they were totally unhinged when they did their improvisations.

Rosetta, his first new studio album since 1998's El Greco came out on September 30th, and has a web site promoting it where you can, uh, play Vangelis Asteroids:

http://www.vangelisrosetta.com🕸/

Listening to the City tonight, a longtime favorite, the soundtrack to many a bleary dawn in the 90s, reeking of smoke and reeling from the sudden collapse of the heap of dark hours supporting me, a fond memory of being young and exhausted. I suspect I am unmoored these days not due to COVID or the state of things, but because the passing of Vangelis has robbed humanity of a vital connection to the universe writ large, a radio telescope we cannot rebuild, his regular output having margins densely filled with revelations written at just such liminal hours