Good morning.

Today we’re listening to Vangelis, a Greek composer and synth player originally from Thessaly. Vangelis (pronounced van-GHELL-iss) is best known for the soundtracks he created for Blade Runner and Chariots of Fire. He passed away last Tuesday at age 79. We’re playing his first soundtrack, 1973’s L’apocalypse des Animaux, made for a French nature documentary. That soundtrack is an early example of Vangelis’ ability to use the power of synths – especially the Yamaha CS-80 – to create entire sonic worlds. We’re also playing the record Spiral from 1977, a collection of epic synth pieces whose echoes you can hear today in music by artists such as Daniel Lopatin and El-P. In 2016, Vangelis told Prog magazine, “I believe that music is implanted in us all and that we have a collective memory. If you agree with this theory, which for me is a fact, and if you accept that we have been in some way created by music and we are all part of a collective memory, everything else follows.”

L’apocalypse des Animaux - Vangelis (40m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

Spiral - Vangelis (40m, some vocals on track 2)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

Have a really nice start to your week.