Customer Reviews

Vangelis: the Unknown Man

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

 

 

The book follows Vangelis' carrer and work and focusses on his work rather than his life. The author has pulled together very detailed information about his composing technique. An excellent read...

This book fills an information void regarding one of the most impressive musicians living today. Griffin deserves praise for the long hours he obviously spent doing research and putting this work together, and to his credit he gives all of us information-starved fans plenty to digest. I especially appreciated how the author chose to incorporate quotes from all-too-sporadic Vangelis interviews. This allows readers the opportunity to "get at" the underlying philosophy and artistry that informs such a magnificent composer.

I only wish this book were better written. One minor complaint is that Griffin repeats the same information numerous times throughout the book. More serious are the too-numerous spelling mistakes, as well as poorly punctuated and non-grammatical sentences. I don't feel that I'm being overly picky in pointing these things out, as it would seem that more care could have been taken in proofreading and editing a work detailing a subject about whom the author is obviously passionate. In his defense, though, I can certainly praise Mark Griffin for bringing this work to the public. It is quite detailed; thus, I learned a great deal about a man whose music has inspired me for a number of years. In closing, I would be more than happy to offer my services at any time free of charge should he desire a dedicated proofreader for the next edition.

Very detailed coverage of a seminal composer's life with a great discography. I would like to see more musicological analysis in a future edition...and some spell checking!

Let's get the bad out of the way first: I must echo the complaint of another reviewer who wishes this book was edited better. There are so many spelling and grammatical errors that reading sometimes becomes a chore. At its worst, this book may be the finest example of bad (i.e. poorly-edited) writing in my entire library. Kudos, however, to the author himself for commenting here on Amazon and acknowledging that he did the best he could. And obviously, as a die-hard Vangelis fan, the author was concerned less with form than with function. It is on the latter of these that this book shines.

This book has two characteristics that redeem it from the poor editing. First, it is written with a passion that only a dedicated Vangelis fan would muster, which eases the reader over the bumps of bad syntax and spelling errors. Second, this is the only published biography of Vangelis--in English, anyway--of which I am aware. Sure, there is a solid Wikipedia entry for Vangelis, but it is not nearly as comprehensive as this book, which even includes a fantastic "workography" (discography, etc.) at the very back (alas, only up to the mid 1990s). This is probably the best account of Vangelis' life and work (again, only to the mid 1990s) available in any format.

The author obviously did his research, as he quotes Vangelis extensively from interviews and other sources (footnotes would have been nice). Thanks to these efforts, which are formed into a chronological narrative of Vangelis' life from childhood forward, much is learned about the artist's musical development, influences, and compositions. However, the book is current only to around 1997 (ending about the time Vangelis produced Oceanic). And `Jon and Vangelis' fans will be pleased with the nice discussion of his ongoing collaboration with Jon Anderson (of 'Yes'), a friendship from which pop/rock/New Age music has greatly benefited.

Despite the shortcomings mentioned above, this is a biography to please Vangelis fans everywhere.

I would like to see a lot of big full colour pictures intead of just a bunch of newspaper style black and white shots.
I also would like to read more about Vangelis likes and dislikes.
Being a musician and composer myself, I find really hard to believe Vangelis realtime composition and production techniques are true, given the high complexity of most of his work. Whit that I say that in this book Vangelis appears very idealized and a more realistic angle is needed.
As a conclution: this is not a book to keep if you are not interested in getting vangelis complete discography.

Many thanks to readers for the four star reviews of Vangelis:The Unknown Man.

Also a nod to the proof reading comments from some reviewers. The reason the book was written was there seemed to be no source of information about the BIG V on the planet and over a period of four years the project "grew in the telling"

One of the challenges of the book was the lack of support from established publishing houses to publish the work. With a choice of either shelve it or self publish it there was no other option. Author had to become designer, editor, proof reader, publisher, distributor. Anyone who has done this before will understand the logistical nightmare this can become!

Since its publication have recieved many letters of support and indeed the fan club Albedo was formed because of it. All the comments and indeed additional information have been collated and will appear (someday...) in the third edition.

Until then, thank you, for buying Vangelis:The Unknown Man. I hope you enjoy its content as much I enjoyed putting together. I hope you continue to enjoy the music of Vangelis.

Thanks...

To the authors credit, the book stays focused on Vangelis' musical history and output without delving into what would only be conjecture of the subjects personal life. I've been inspired by Vanglis and his music for many years. It was satisfying to read and learn a little more about him.