One record at a time: 431. Vangelis - Albedo 0.39

Wikipedia tells me that if Vangelis went to record this album today he would have to call it Albedo 0.3 as the amount of solar radiation the Earth reflects back into space has fallen by 9% since this album was released in 1976. The title and the track names on this record make it clear this is a concept album based around astrophysics.

I bought this record from eBay in 2016 and it comes from an era in which a gatefold sleeve was seen as a fairly standard way of expanding the artwork rather than an extravagance required to hold two records. One interesting element of the sleeve is the fact that RCA seemed to feel the need to point out that the album could be played on a mono turntable if fitted with the correct pic-up head - but "those in doubt should consult their dealer".  

On listening to this album I realise it presents a dichotomy. Whilst we hear some of the best electronic themes Vangelis ever recorded, we are also subjected to some terrible improvised jazz too. I find the track "Main Sequence" particularly distressing and I fail to see how it has any relevance to the theme of the album. This isn't electronic music; its just self indulgent, overblown and boring. 

And don't give me any of that, "You just hate jazz because it requires you to actually listen to it and your pea brain can't cope" attitude. I think I am accustomed to hearing something other than pop music in 4/4 as I grew up listening to an almost relentless barrage of Opera, I love most of Beethoven's symphonies (Fourth especially) and swing groups like The Ink Spots sound amazing to my ears. I think I am accustomed to various styles of music. I just hate jazz.

So the standout tracks are the wonderful "Pulstar" and "Alpha" with honourable mentions to the ambience of "Freefall" and the intriguing title track. Everything else you can keep. 2/5

Synth spotting in Heaven and Hell

As you may have read, I have recently been listening to the Vangelis album "Heaven and Hell". Whilst looking at the gatefold sleeve the images in the centre caught my eye. Both photographs show Vangelis's studio circa 1975 and feature a variety of keyboard instruments. For some strange reason I developed a sudden desire to know what all of these instruments were.

Ever since I fist saw a kit list on the sleeve of a Jean Michel Jarre record I have been a bit obsessed by what instruments my favourite artists used. As a child I would pore over images of Jarre's studio tying to identify the various keyboards and synthesisers and dream of owning them one day.  

Identifying the keyboards on the Vangeis sleeve wasn't very easy as the images are printed in halftone and the negative has been flipped horizontally. However, because the two photos were taken from slightly different angles, we can see different details in each. This would work to my advantage. 

The first thing I did in my geek quest was to flip the images through the horizontal plane and increase the contrast. As soon as I began to study the photos it was patently obvious that the instrument directly next to Vangelis was a grand piano. Equally easy to identify was the Fender Rhodes Mk I electric piano and the distinctive keyboards of a Hammond B3 organ. So far so good.

To help me in my quest I found an article from Sound on Sound magazine that gave me a gear list for Vangelis's studio in the mid-seventies. By process of elimination I soon managed to identify a Hohner Clavinet and a Farfisa Syntorchestra string machine. After another half an hour of squinting at the pictures and comparing them to images from the internet I had identified all but three of the instruments.

One of the keyboards I was having trouble with (11) looked almost identical to the Korg 700 I had already identified. After a bit of head scratching I realised there was actually an updated variant of the Korg that was designated the "S" version. Details on the 700S matched the image and when I saw the following footnote, everything made sense:

"Vangelis had more than one model of some of the keyboards in this list, to help cut down on overdubs, and to take advantage of the fact that different models of the same synth could have a different character." 

The second keyboard (7) was in shadow so I couldn't really make out any discernable features. The only clues were the presence of some sort of panel on the left of the keys and the number of keys themselves. A process of deduction led me to the Roland SHA3 as the only likely candidate on the list.

The final keyboard (9) is sandwiched between other synths and the only part that is visible are the keys themselves. However, the one tiny clue I could discern was some text nestled in Vangelis's armpit. Having zoomed into the image 'Blade Runner style' I could make out the letters "Torna". The SoS article mentioned something called a Tornado Keyboard and Google told me this was actually the Elka Tornado organ. Mystery solved. 

So here is the image and what I think are the instruments pictured:

1. Bösendorfer Grand Piano
2. Hammond B3 Organ
3. Hohner Clavinet
4. Korg 8000DV
5. Korg 700
6. Selmer Clavioline
7. Roland SHA3
8. Roland SH1000
9. Elka Tornado
10. Rhodes Mk I
11. Korg 700S
12. Elka Rhapsody
13. Farfisa Syntorchestra

P.S. Since I wrote this post I have found several photographs online from the same photo shoot that are much clearer. Happily these images seem to confirm my detective work.

One record at a time: 430. Vangelis - Heaven and Hell

For this post I initially began to write about the Vangelis album "Earth" - but I soon realised I don't actually own that album on vinyl. Therefore the next record I will look at is "Heaven and Hell" from 1975. My record is an original UK pressing that is in very good condition and sounds excellent to say it is over fifty years old. 

This concept album is split into two parts that consider the contrasting ideas of Heaven and Hell. Inexplicably there is also a song titled "So Long Ago, So Clear" stitched onto the end of side one. This track was a collaboration with Jon Anderson (the vocalist from the prog-rock group Yes) but I'm not convinced it fits within the concept.  

As we drop the needle we hear the opening sequence titled "Bacchanale". The music is big, brash and not to my taste at all. The portamento applied to the synth patch driving the melody sounds antiquated and strangely off key to my ears. There is some jazz Rhodes piano thrown into the mix but it doesn't sit comfortably alongside the chamber choir. When this first movement is over I am actually quite relived. This is not my idea of heaven.

We move on to the softer sounds of "Symphony to the Powers B" which is reminiscent of Mike Oldfield's work - it even features tubular bells for heaven's sake. After about thirteen minutes we meet the wonderful "Movement 3" which was the prototype for "Chariots of Fire".

For me the b-side is less distinctive and relatively benign - but it is also less polarising as a result. The "12 O’clock" movement is a highlight and only when "A Way" peters out into an inaudible whisper do we realise the ride is over. Something of an album of contrasts, "Heaven and Hell" seems to work in its more tranquil moments, but it fails when it tries to be too clever. 2/5  

One record at a time: 429. Vangelis - L'Apocalypse Des Animaux

I'm not sure how many studio recordings and soundtracks Vangelis released, but by my calculations it must be over thirty. Whilst I don't own all of these albums, there is a good chunk of them in my collection that we will need to work through. I have to admit, I wasn't really sure where to start with this odyssey, but "L'Apocalypse Des Animaux" from 1973 seems to be as good a place as any.

This 2016 remastered version of the soundtrack is pressed by Optimal on 180g vinyl but it doesn’t sound very good - it has numerous pops and crackles throughout. Also, the tracklisting printed on the sleeve and labels doesn't correspond to what actually plays.

Such inattention to detail seemed to spark a discussion on the Discogs website around the increasingly poor quality control in vinyl manufacturing. If you browse forums and the like on this subject you may read of people thinking of abandoning the format if things don't improve. For now I am happy to keep buying vinyl, but I have to admit, when I listen to records like this I do wonder why I bother.

The first track here is "L'Apocalypse Des Animaux - Générique" which has a riff that sounds ready to be loaded into a sampler and turned into a hit. The second track "La Petit Fille De La Mer" is another standout tune whose lush sound belies the fact that it seems to have been created with only an acoustic guitar, a Rhodes piano and what sounds like an organ. 

"Le Singe Bleu" features a soft trumpet that I imagine was played through a haze of cigarette smoke as Vangelis caressed the keys of his electric piano whist simultaneously sipping on a glass of Johnny Walker. No wonder the song is far too long. Another lengthy opus is "Creation Du Monde" which takes up a good chunk of the second side of the disc. You can't help but marvel at the fact that this music was recorded in 1970 (it wasn't released until three years later) as it sounds like it could have been made yesterday. The etherial chords and haunting guitar transfix me - this is how 'ambient' music should be done. 3.5/5

One record at a time: 428. Underworld - Barbara, Barbara, We Face A Shining Future

This is the second and final Underworld LP I own. "Barbara, Barbara We Face A Shining Future" was released in 2016 and I bought this record a couple of years later. I'm not completely sure, but I think I ordered this as I had been very impressed by the "Teatime Dub Encounters" EP and wanted to hear if their most recent album was just as good. Sadly I was to be disappointed.

The opening track "I Exhale" is fair enough but it does become something of an endurance test having to hear the same loop go round for eight minutes. I like the lo-fi vibes of second track "If Rah" and "Low Burn" has a more conventional techno sound that reminds me of the band in their pomp.

The ambient piece "Santiago Cuatro" offers some variety along with the downtempo "Motorhome" - but in truth I'm not a fan of either song. We return to the dance floor with the single "Ova Nova" which has a pounding TR-909 kick drum and some compressed bass, but doesn't develop one iota during its five and a half minute runtime. The closing track "Nylon Strung" is a rather jaunty number that is one chorus away from being synth-pop. Tracks like this make me wish Underworld explored this part of their sound a bit more and left the ambient nonsense to Brian Eno. 2/5 

One record at a time: 427. Underworld - Beaucoup Fish

Electronic music was on life support in the nineties and by the end of the decade I had become pretty disillusioned with contemporary music. Whilst I did occasionally take a chance on an emerging artist such as Basement Jaxx (singles were good, but not much else to interest me) or Fatboy Slim (never liked him as much as I thought I should), I largely took refuge in the back catalogue of my favourite artists. 

Therefore I must have been in a particularly brave or determined frame of mind when I walked into HMV one day in 1999 and bought "Beaucoup Fish" by Underworld on compact disc. I would never claim to be a massive Underworld fan, and the only other record of theirs that I owned at the time was the CD single of "Born Slippy .NUXX", so I can't really explain why I chose to buy their latest album.  

Whilst I was initially unimpressed by what I heard, the music did begin to grow on me and after repeated listening I grew to admire the album. Over the years I have continued to dip into Underworld's music with varying degrees of enthusiasm, but I couldn't resist buying this double vinyl reissue when it was released in 2017. 

"Cups" opens with sampled strings that soon give way to a square wave techno bass and Rick's vocoder treated vocals. The lyrics are suitably incomprehensible and despite ticking along at 130 beats per minute, there's a really laid back air to this song. After about eight minutes the track makes an abrupt turn and suddenly incorporates a breakbeat and an aggressive synth riff that segues into the more frenzied "Push Upstairs".

By far my favourite track on the album is "Jumbo" that opens the b-side. Whilst the lyrics offer Carl Smith's usual mix of the meaningful and the bizarre, it is the music on this song that sets it apart for me. The pulsating "King of Snake" seems to warrant a writing credit for Giorgio Moroder as it references "I Feel Love", but the similarity is only fleeting to my ears. I also like the relentless head banging of "Bruce Lee" and "Kittens" sounds like it was created to induce a dance floor frenzy.

Most of the other songs on this album are downtempo or more ambient efforts that miss the mark. "Winjer" and "Skym" are pretty boring and the repetitive "Push Downstairs" doesn't succeed at all. Happily the album finishes with a song called "Moaner" which is from the same stable as "Kittens" and thunders along with an amazing bassline and frenetic beat. 3/5

One record at a time: 426. Toy Matinee - Toy Matinee

During the dark days of the 2020 COVID lockdown, the YouTube algorithm threw me Guy Pratt's "Lockdown Licks". I enjoyed these videos and marvelled at how effortlessly Guy played the bass guitar. The seventh instalment of the series featured a song he had played on called "Last Plane Out" by Toy Matinee. I'd never heard of either the song or the band, but I enjoyed what I heard so much I decided to investigate further. 

Toy Matinee was a short-lived project that resulted in the release of one eponymous album in 1990. The album didn't sell that well and by 2020 it hadn't been available for almost twenty years. It took a few weeks, but I did manage to track down a compact disc at a reasonable price on eBay. Having sensed the resurgence in Toy Matinee, the clever people at Music On Vinyl decided to licence it and release this limited edition blue vinyl in 2022.

The credentials for Toy Matinee are excellent. Keyboards and songwriting were provided by Madonna's producer Patrick Leonard and his talented protégé Kevin Gilbert handled songwriting, guitar and vocals. The record was produced by the illustrious Bill Bottrell and the band featured a plethora of excellent musicians - including Guy Pratt on bass who also contributed to songwriting duties. 

"Last Plane Out" begins the album and is clearly the standout. Not only is this catchiest song but it is also the most original composition on the record. The bass is deep and funky and the elaborate guitar is very impressive indeed. Whilst there are some other good songs on the record, it is all a bit downhill from here.

The band's various influences emerge quite strongly as the record goes on with a fair bit of Elvis showing on "The Ballad of Jenny Ledge" and a flash of The Beatles heard on "Turn It On Salvador". There are some satisfying disco bass licks on "Queen Of Misery" and the title track sounds like it was lifted straight from a Dire Straights session.  

With both Leonard and Bottrell in the room you would think the production on the record would be outstanding, but in truth it is a fairly dry 'band in a room' affair largely devoid of electronics. There are flashes of synth on the introduction to "Queen of Misery" but otherwise Guy Pratt's octave pedal is the closest we get to any original sounds. If you like traditional rock then this might be a record you enjoy. As a fan of electronic music, I only appreciate the first track. 2/5