Beaubourg

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Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0828768185322 Label: Windham Hill Manufacturer: Windham Hill Publisher: Windham Hill Release Date: 2006-05-30 Studio: Windham Hill
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Editorial Reviews: Those listeners hoping for more of the anthemic strains of "Chariots Of Fire"--or even of his collaborations with Jon Anderson--will be disappointed here. Released relatively early in his career (1975), Beaubourg sees Vangelis at his most insular and experimental. Where most of his peers (Rick Wakeman, Keith Emerson, Patrick Moraz) were content simply to use their synthesisers much as they would an electric organ, or as a handy substitute for other acoustic instruments (horns, strings, etc.), Vangelis was attempting--under the influence, admittedly, of various European antecedents--to devise a musical language appropriate to the qualities of that particular instrument. Divided into two parts, the album now serves as a kind of primer to the mid-1970s analogue synth, in all its wheezy glory. Much of it is beautiful--albeit in a listless, ambient sort of way--and a little of it irritating. Still, one for completists. --Andrew McGuire
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: A Secret jem Comment: On initial hearing, this album has the capacity to offend everybody! Anyone familiar and used to Vangelis's more known works like Chariots of Fire and 1492 might find the lack of tunes and weird synth sounds unusual and distressing. On the other hand, anyone who is more at home in avant guard electronic music might find much in this record that could appear tacky and cheesy! Yet in spite all this, I think this record has a mastery and beauty that is unsurpassable. I think it's one of Vangelis's best works. The album has a suggestion of one performer with one synthesiser, with much stereo panning thrown in for effect. There are many moods expressed in this record, including dramatic, reflective, slapstick and serious, with many haunting sections of great beauty. Much of the record uses sound based textures, but there are also many sections that hint at keys and tonality without indulging in it. I have heard this album many times over many years and still find it amazing with many depths. A much underrated work! Customer Rating: Summary: Frustrating, weird, moving, beautiful, dark... Comment: All these words and more can describe this album - if it can be described at all. Vangelis himself speaks of this as a "musical cityscape", much in the vein of his later "The City", but altogether a stranger album. Eschewing traditional themes and, at times, even tonality itself, this modern-day Schoenberg-like journey takes you through different areas of this imaginary city. Tying the disparate parts together is an underlying "almost-theme", which appears, fugue-like, through the piece, at times almost unrecognisable. Like seeing faces in a cloud, the ear of the listener provides the framework to see the theme when it appears. Like a dream that often goes to places we don't want to see, this is a disturbing work, Yes, it is challenging and frustrating by turns, but I would disagree with the notion that this is one for completists only. If you are in the right mood, and wish your music to take you beyond the normal bounds of syth, I would recommend this. But before embarking on your journey, be aware that it is going to be a strange one, and not for everyone. More Reviews