Customer Reviews

Portraits So Long Ago So Clear

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I don't know what Vangelis could possibly say in words that he hasn't said in music in this album. For a reputed recluse, this compilitation is very revealing, it's his statement to us, "Here I am". I don't think it coincidental that he begins with 'To the unknown man' and after he has taken us on a musical exploration of his life, he sends us on our way with a casual 'So long ago, so clear'.

In 'Portraits' the recordings are not organised chronologically. It's more like a developmental process beginning with his early work in sythesizers and electronic orchestration (see 'Pulstar' and 'Alpha'). There are selections hinting at personal growth also such as the childlike sounds of 'Italian Song' and the innocence of 'La Petite Fille De La Mer'. Collaborative works with Jon Anderson, who could be called the voice of Vangelis come next, and then we are treated to the grand and epic orchestral pieces. Tracks such as 'I'll find my way home' and 'State of Independence' no longer hint at personal development, they speak directly to self discovery, spiritual quests and growth. These themes are also woven into 'Conquest of Paradise' and 'Chariots of Fire' and tell me that 'Hymn' and 'Antarctica' don't make you contemplative.

I agree with the other reviewers who say that it is awkward to play individual songs out of sequence because of the bridging technique, but I think it's deliberate. To me the real enjoyment of this collection comes from listening to it in one sitting. Let Vangelis tell the story of his life in music without interruption. It's a beatiful story.

This album doesn't deserve a 5. It deserves a 10! It is by far the most beautiful collection of music that I've ever listened to! Most muscisians have a habit of being redundant on their music. The sounds and the style of their music will have a similar quality. Not this album! The opening song, "To the Unknown Man" has a beat similar to a march! The second song, "Italian Song" sounds much like music in the alternative category. The third piece, "Pulstar" is something you would expect to hear in the movie, "Star Wars". The fourth, "La Petite Fille De La Mer" favors classical. Pieces five, six and seven vary between alternative and songs similar to soundtracks. Number 8, "State of Independence" has a jazzy style to it. Nine, I would put in the category of New Age. And, of course, "Chariots of Fire", we are all familiar with! It's all here! Soundtracks, alternative, new age, classical, jazz, marches, hymns! Absolutely nothing monotonous about this album! This is one I will never tire of. A brilliant piece of work!

Even though it's a compilation album, this Vangelis CD is rich in indellibly dulcet and dynamic synthesizer melodies that will placate the souls of New-Age fans and many others. The four tracks featuring Yes' Jon Anderson are absolutely astounding with his ethereal vocal style. The title track, "So Long Ago, So Clear", will melt away any hardened heart with Vangelis & Jon at the helm of its light, almost lullaby-like sound and lyrics! Also includes the Oscar-winning theme to "Chariots of Fire".

"Portraits" comprises a wide selection of previously released tracks, greatly divergent in style, and displaying as a result the remarkable range and depth of Vangelis's music.

The variation in styles, however, can also be a disadvantage: listening to the album from start to finish, one feels a distinct lack of continuity: the tracks do not, musically speaking, flow into one another -- in contrast with previous albums "Antarctica", "Voices", "The City" and "Direct", where a sense of continuity augmented the impact of the music.

In addition, the producers of the album saw fit to "bridge" the tracks -- meaning that track 1 contains the first few seconds of track 2, track 2 contains the first few seconds of track 3, and so on. I for one find this infuriating, as it is not always the case that one wants to listen to the tracks in precisely the order found on the album. And, if you do play the tracks in a different order, the effect is that each track has both (a) a few seconds chopped off the beginning, and (b) a few seconds of the next track tacked on the end. Bridging the tracks is a pointless exercise, and I cannot understand why it was done.

Ultimately, however, these are mere quibbles. "Portraits" is a rewarding selection, and I commend it to anyone who does not already have the albums on which the constituent tracks were originally featured. The revamped (and previously unreleased) version of "Hymn" is a highlight.

Polydor compiles 15 select tracks from Vangelis's prolific career circa 1996. There are several best of discs out there now, but he is long overdue for a two or three disc, digitally remastered best of. If you do not own any Vangelis, then this compilation would be suitable. However, it misses great tracks that were featured on his 1989 compilation "Themes" (which also lacked key Vangelis tracks).

There were a few annoying features to "So Long Ago, So Clear", namely that all the tracks blend into one another making buring any particular track difficult because you would either get the ending of the last song or the beginning of the next one. Also, "Hymn" is a remixed version, which in my opinion, is not as good as the version on "Themes".

Otherwise, you have 15 decent tracks gathered together including some of his best work such as "Chariots Of Fire", "I'll Find My Way Home", "Conquest Of Paradise", "Antarctica" and "La Petite Fille De La Mer". I'd recommend getting "Themes" to round out your best of collection as it has some of his other best work. However, "Themes" is not digitally remastered, and I believe the only way to experience Vangelis's music is digitally remastered.

Certainly one of the greatest composers of modern times and a pioneer of new age/electronic music, even beginning before the godfathers of synthetic music, Kraftwerk. Someone needs to get permission from all the record labels and compile a smart two, three or four disc compilation, with no blending of tracks, all songs in their original album form, digitally remastered.

A compilation album, with some additional light synthesizer bridges between tracks. To allow for the bridging, some tracks, such as 'To The Unknown Man' are faded out prematurely. The tracks are digitally remastered, which is a slight improvement, but I never had many complaints with the original releases. Essentially this for listeners who do not have his RCA era (Albedo 0.39, Spiral, Heaven and Hell) releases on disc already.

Two interesting tracks are on this disc. The first is a choral version of 'Hymne' and the previously unreleased, if rather unremarkable 'Sauvage et Beau' (from the soundtrack for the French television wildlife documentary of the same name).

This is a good introduction to Vangelis' music. If you don't own, or don't want to own a very large Vangelis collection, this is a good sampler.

I just love the sound of Vangelis. He predates Yanni's musical melodies and songs. Vangelis is clearly a master of the sound. This collection of songs includes his classic Chariots of Fire and my favorite, Antarctica. The songs sounds like they should be played in a church or cathedral. It's a beautiful complilation of sound and music intertwined like one. There was also some vocals done beautifully well.

Vangelis never fails to surprise me as a musical artist. His sound is unique and not easily duplicated. When I hear Vangelis, I can imagine figure skaters on ice skating to his music. I also feel very spiritual listening to him as well.

This was the second CD I've got from vangelis, the first one was "Friends of Mr. Cairo" which wasn't instrumental and included Jon Anderson in vocals. The first impression that Portraits gave me was the quality of the sound: "I'll find my way home" (and the others) sounds much better on Portraits than on Friends of Mr Cairo (it's the same song, but after listening to it a lot in the old CD you'll hear the difference in the quality on this CD). That's because Portraits is remastered, each and every single track were restored from the original master tapes: they just sound as if Vangelis recorded these tracks in a digital studio yesterday night. Or better, it's like if a sound engineer traveled to the past with modern digital equipment and he hiden it in the studio where vangelis recorded those tracks. As a result, the sound is crisp, as never, and I can say that not always a remasterisation gets that good.

The second impression it gave me was the music, and how did Vangelis evolved over the years, you will hear that on this CD. It starts with old(I really mean old) songs like "To the Unknown man" which may be repetitive but that's the deal, does someone ever hear how repetitive "Boléro" from "Maurice Ravel" is?
Then I really get impressed with "La petite Fille de la Mer"("the little girl from the sea"). Each and every time I hear to that song I wanna cry. I don't understand how can an instrumental song make someone cry. I don't understand how can that make me cry, it is that beautiful? Yes, it is. Absolutely. Just hear to it and find out.
Then, well, now that I know many Vangelis albums, I really can't say if this is a good compilation or not. Let's say it is a good compilation just to find out what is vangelis (before getting in), so this CD will help you at least to know which era of vangelis you'll like, the old, the modern, the soundtracks or the songs with Jon vocals. After I concluded that every era in vangelis is good, I felt this album is not needed anymore. To make a really good vangelis compilation, you'll need to buy each and every album, buy an MP3 CD player, a CD burner, and take 1 day of your time to rip all the songs you want to hear into One and mighty CD with vangelis MP3 inside. Actually, yes, Vangelis is that good. You'll maybe need to burn more than one mp3 CD....

Vangelis is an inovator in electronic music, maybe best known for his highly rated Chariots Of Fire film soundtrack from 1981.
The timeless Titles is in this collection.
Having said that I really enjoy the collaborations with Jon Anderson of Yes fame.
The best being So Long Ago, So Clear, I Hear You Now and to top them all, I'll Find My way Home.
The remainder I do not listern to as often, overall a good compilation lasting 75 minutes.