Vangelis has died | Hacker News Reader

Vangelis has died

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790 pointsSaint_Genet193 comments

Imo, Vangelis brought the synthesizer from an experimental novelty to an instrument for composition. The two sounds I associate with him are the long brassy triangle with a steep envelope that we know from both Blade Runner and the accompaniment to the piano in the Chariots of Fire theme, and his effective use of chimes.

I have tickets for Olafur Arnalds next week, and there is a younger generation of composers like Arnalds, Frahm, Richter, Tiersen, Aphex/James, and even Reznor/Ross, who could not have avoided Vangelis' influence marrying the synth with classical techniques. He was a big part of what inspired me to start making synth music and more than a few of my tracks have homages to his work, and this note triggered a memory of playing the Chariots theme on piano as a really young child and it seemed to be everywhere at the time. A loss, but hard to mourn such an exceptional contribution as well.

Based on my listening and no other knowledge, he probably had quite the influence on Oneohtrix Point Never aka OPN aka Daniel Lopatin. He’s always been a big synth head and his OST scores really showcase his talents.

When I listen to Chronotope Project I hear the Vangelis influences. Along with Vangelis' inspiration to pursue such solitary and personal musical expressions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARkcu3J8OvI https://chronotope-project.com/bio

Just for reference, here's Nils Frahm performing More:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRj6G6RB7jc

How would you compare Vangelis and Isao Tomita? Tomita was marrying synth with classical at about the same time or even a little earlier, to widespread acclaim and success.

A couple other names I think of when I think early serious synth work are Jean-Michel Jarre and Larry Fast. Where would you put them in synth history?

Although I have not heard (or even thought of) it in… well, decades, Tomita's Pictures at an Exhibition was something I really loved, especially "Ballet of Unhatched Chicks." I need to try and listen to it again.

Yes, his version of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition was amazing. I first heard of it several years ago when I was reading Uwe Tellkamp's The Tower: Tales From a Lost Country which was about growing up in East Germany in the 1970s and 1980s. The main character is obsessed with the record, which was made available through the East German state music publisher "Amiga" (maybe being based on a Russian work made it more palatable to the authorities). Anyway, I tracked down a copy myself and really enjoyed it. I was familiar with Vangelis but not Tomita before that.

I've never tried to talk to anyone about Tomita and got recognition. I've never met anyone who hasn't heard of Vangelis.

Dance of the firebird rendition by Tomita is well worth listening to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY9Vp0Rp1Vw

For me, it's the theme and much of the music in Carl Sagan's original Cosmos Series. RIP!

Who is the James in Aphex/James? I’m not sure if you mean to imply Richard D. James or a separate person (see Reznor/Ross).

Probably Richard David James aka Aphex Twin.

Reznor is a last name. Aphex is not. No 1:1 correspondence.

Blades runner had astonishing graphics as well, really haunting. Nowadays graphics like that are not that special but for time they were revolutionary. I just created some graphics of some animals in place of the legendary monologue of the movie.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CdwsowRoFT4/

It’s hard to leave any discussion around the development of synth as an instrument without mentioning Tangerine Dream and Popol Vuh, but they were arguably more related to the prog-rock scene than as composers.

Incidentally, a former member of TH, Klaus Schultz also died last month. TG didn’t land any major soundtracks (like Jarre or Vangelis), but they were nonetheless highly influential , if only due to their prolific releases.

Ugh. Risky Business, Thief, The Keep, Firestarter, Sorcerer, Legend, Near Dark, Miracle Mile... Perhaps not as major as Chariots of Fire, but nonetheless.

I looked through their soundtrack discography before putting the reply together, and while those were all successful movies, but I didn’t consider them to be on the same level as the Blade Runner or Gallipoli soundtracks which, to me, are amazing in their own right. (Carlos’ A Clockwork Orange naturally goes into the same category).

Klaus Schulze, not Klaus Schultz. I hadn't heard about his death. Great musician.

I wonder if Schulze died of Corona as Vangelis apparently did.

> Imo, Vangelis brought the synthesizer from an experimental novelty to an instrument for composition. The two sounds I associate with him are the long brassy triangle with a steep envelope that we know from both Blade Runner and the accompaniment to the piano in the Chariots of Fire theme, and his effective use of chimes.

One of the most memorable parts of the Blade Runner soundtrack is the brass synth that casually tools around the blues scale. It sounds like an homage to old detective films and grounds the entire movie.

I wonder-- did that influence the intro to Dire Straits' Money for Nothing? It begins with a nice little synth bass and some arpeggiator bleeps and blorps, but there's a similar synth that similarly cruises around a blues scale for a bit.

Digression-- after listening to it again, I noticed that pentatonic synth business in Money for Nothing ends on a C two octaves above middle C which then does a quick upward glissando about an octave and a fourth. Did the keyboardist map the midi wheel to a perfect 11th to do that glissando? If so it sounds incredibly smooth: great job DX7, and/or early MIDI, and/or Alan Clark!

Edit: clarification

The brass you hear in Vangelis is probably an Oberheim OB-Xa, incredible brass sounds. The band toto made those sounds extremely popular here in the states too. Google who the Porcaro brothers were (well one is still alive and kicking :) )

on that ICYMI, there's one month to go before Oberheim starts shipping the OB-X8 (which contains the OB-X, OB-Xa, and OB-8 switchable filter and envelope responses)!

... but AFAIK the Blade Runner theme was famously done on a CS-80

I believe Vangelis' brass sounds were played on a Yamaha CS80, although the OB-Xa is capable of similar sounds.

CS80 indeed. There is an almost identical patch for the Arturia CS-80v if interested:

https://www.synthtopia.com/content/2017/10/19/free-arturia-c...

Much cheaper than getting an original CS80 ;-)

The CS80 was decades ahead of it's time. I love playing with CS-80v, but I need a keyboard with polyphonic aftertouch to do it justice, and the Ensoniq models are now way too pricey. Wish I'd bought one 10 years ago when they were unpopular, available, weird and cheap.

launchpad pro? it’s small and quitet, too!

You're right! I remember actually trying the Arturia a while ago just to get that sound.

Regarding the Oberheim brass... it's incredible :) , I probably wanted it to be the OB.

there's also deckard's dream: https://black-corporation.com/product/deckards-dream-mk2/

That would be a Yamaha CS80 - at least for Bladerunner, it's one of its most famous uses.

Btw, the Oberheim had a new release just last week or so.

> Vangelis brought the synthesizer from an experimental novelty to an instrument for composition.

Along with Wendy Carlos and Jean-Michel Jarre, of course.

Also The Doors, The Monkees, Giorgio Moroder.

<cough>Kraftwerk<cough>

He was a very unique, visionary talent. To back that up, beyond his scores, take a look at the following video to get a glimpse of how he worked.

https://youtu.be/GWggDMDhwIA

There used to be some forum posts detailing the custom MIDI controllers and setup more, but it looks like a lot of it has been deleted or removed. I found this though:

https://www.synthevolution.net/blog/2017/5/22/the-devils-wor...

Thank you for sharing those links! If Vangelis were a coder, he would have taken a Space Cadet Keyboard and extended it. 17 pedals...and on top of that, what appears to be a very broad custom notation / shorthand system. I can't tell if that notation acted more like keyboard macros or even more modifier keys.

My memory holds that magical feeling, when in the mindnight darkness and quietness of home, suddenly heard a gentle stream of silver bells and a beautiful, maybe melancholic, melody from a tiny radio speaker... with no announcement of the author or name of the song. It was then just used as a last song of the day.

Took me a veeery long time and other side of the globe to hear it again, again by chance, but with attribution in that case. Then some hours trying to locate the recording...

La Petite Fille de Mer

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P6qoTPhhv9w

Truly as if having a chanceful glimpse of a Mermaid.

Thank you for the magic, Master Vangelis. RIP.

Man, never knew this was his song. Even tho I am fan of his work I never end discovering knew masterpieces he made.

Wow, I never knew this was vangelis, thanks for sharing.

That's really nice, thanks for sharing!

That's a shame.

His work on blade runner just has this timeless magic to it. The sequel ends on his motif (tears in rain) for a reason too.

I also forgot to mention that chariots of fire is truly great too.

Some parts of his music haven't aged too well, but the stuff that hasn't is sorely missed in today's film scores. Even if Zimmer is brilliant he's not a poet.

Seriously, I can always tell a Hans Zimmer score without even having preknowledge that a film had hired him. Big, orchestral, boring score that repeats the same motifs he's been using for the last 50 years? Dude has one act.

I'm basically with you but Interstellar stood out for me, I think he matched well with that film's themes.

On Interstellar he stole from Philip Glass' to an unthinkable point.

That's more due to how movie scores are produced these days. Every Frame A Painting explains it really well in this video on why you can't remember any music from Marvel movies:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vfqkvwW2fs

(well, up until they made that video, at least)

Thanks for posting this, I always wondered why I couldn't be bothered with the whole Marvel franchise and this whole playing it safe, cookie cutting of film scores between movies makes the whole thing massively less memorable than say Blade Runner etc. Though I did lol at the spiderman bit at the end.

It ties in with a running discussion I have with a mate of mine about the state of music, compare the top 40 nowadays with 40 years ago and the variety of genres and styles on display back then feels much more unique and varied than now or maybe I'm just being nostalgic or maybe that's the whole problem with the need to recoup massive budgetry outlays and post the highest grossing box office yadda yadda (tangential tie in with the recent conversation about OKRs)?

P.S. RIP I still have fond memories of listening to Albeido 0.39 whilst playing Elite on my BBC eons ago and going round to my mates and listening to Jon and Vangelis that we'd borrowed from the library.

What other Zimmer track sounds like Time[1] (from his work on Inception)?

[1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxabLA7UQ9k

I wonder if Hans Zimmer was part of thinking of the musical inception in that movie. That said, isn't this a "Big, orchestral, [boring] score"?

Edit: It is one of my favorite pieces of music so not boring to me. I'm sure others have different opinion.

Same to Chris Nolan actually, he should for once make a film that does not mess with the concept of time. At this point it has become a gimmick

Batman trilogy?

Also Dunkirk and The Prestige.

The way he blends 3 separate timelines of 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week into Dunkirk is brilliant. This also sounds like someone critique Gene Rodenberry for only writing space themed stories. Nolan's use of time as a theme is been unique in each one.

I do not watch a film to be blown away by how brilliant another person is, I watch a film to experience a story. If the story is any good, he will not need all these convoluted technicalities. I like other films of his like Insomnia or The Prestige

The fun thing about Dunkirk is that the story doesn't need the viewer to understand that there is a bit of magic with the timeline. It's just a good story, but for those so inclined, it is fun/neat/impressive how the time was manipulated to tell the story.

We all like different things, but just because there's something you don't like doesn't mean that it is not impressive to others.

I’ve found the opposite with some of the soundtracks of his I’ve paid attention to:

- True Romance: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BA7WTbzqp2o

- Interstellar: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zE-qxNVoUSo

- Little Prince: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PKG_EVEs0Ck

- The Dark Night: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1zyhQjJ5UgY

- Dune: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BdtiYwSP9ko

He’s very prolific (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Zimmer_discography). Is it possible that you recognize just one style of soundtracks that he composes?

Well, he steals a lot I'd say. One example:

"True Romance" -> "Badlands" slash Carl Orff "Grassenhauer":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tEgzGnzojc

Try his soundtrack to The Thin Red Line.

No one does it like him though, or rather his team.

I thought his work on no time to die was pretty boring, but the work he did with Pfister on 2049 and on Dune are almost genre defining, I feel.

His ability to integrate the score into the sound design of the movie is something I don't think anyone can do. Maybe no one else has the budget for it.

I think Dune is probably his best work, it's the perfect blend of atmosphere, evocations of a strange new world, but also thematic and structural rigour that has let down previous adaptations.

I definitely get tired of him sometimes, but equally I never feel like I need more deliberate choices from his work. When I listened to Giacchino's mostly fairly good score to The Batman, I felt myself thinking "This motif's entropy is too low", I very very rarely feel that in Zimmer's more modern work.

That being said I think Zimmer gets more credit than he deserves because I think more than many other names he is the director of the music. There's genius in sitting back, too, but I doubt he composed all the trills and melodies in the dune soundtrack.

What a boring, nonsense take.

He did some of his best (and worst) work while collaborating with Jon Anderson in my opinion. "Short Stories" was a great, quirky album in the late 70s. "Friends of Mr. Cairo" was dreck in the 80s.

Aside, he was accused of plagiarising Chariots of Fire from this Greek tv series theme (coming out a few years earlier):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Oti6lkzgH0

He did know and was friends with the composer (also very talented), my guess is Vangelis just heard it at some point and picked up the theme's feel and basic style, and subconsciously copied it. It happens. His version is better imho.

He wrote the theme song to the Carl Sagan series "Cosmos", both the song and the show had me transfixed as a kid.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7FW_wOUUTT8

I feel you...

:')

To be more precise, he wrote the music which was used as the theme song for "Cosmos" -- it originally appeared on Vangelis's album "Heaven and Hell", five years before "Cosmos" came out. Apparently it was called Movement 3 from "Symphony to the Powers B", though on my old CD copy of the album it just appears in the middle of the track "Heaven and Hell Part 1". Really powerfully evocative music, takes me right back to being a 10 year old watching "Cosmos".

RIP a true master of synthesis, up there as an equal to Isao Tomita and Ralf Hutter.

So many memorable and now foundational techniques:

The gated saw string "chug" (Chariots of Tire)

Glissando space echo dives (Blade Runner)

Incredible synthetic guitar solos that inspired Jan Hammer

Analogue strings from the CS80 that melt like Mantovani.

Will be so sorely missed. I'm gonna play out all my collection in a huge Vangelisathon.

I'm very sad, having litened to his music a lot during my childhood. At least JMJ is still alive.

> Incredible synthetic guitar solos that inspired Jan Hammer

"Metallic Rain" comes to mind

Just sharing one of my favorite pieces of him:

"Memories of Green" (from the album "See You Later") https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW9D6agp794

I think this piece shows the range of his musical expressiveness, apart from his virtuosity or synth programming skills. Just a piano passed through a flanger effect with some ambient sounds.

The electronic bleeps in that track are recorded from a handheld electronic game (Bambino UFO Master Blaster [1]). Talk about giving a whole new meaning to those sounds.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sEOW8wAqG0

I couldn't play that video for some reason (says it's unavailable), so here's another link to (I think) the same song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1KfOMkyU_w

It is the same song. Thanks :)

Here's a direct link to it on Spotify as well: https://open.spotify.com/track/0rHCW5eZ35QmQNVYyozAnZ?si=384...

》"Memories of Green" (from the album "See You Later") https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW9D6agp794

That title and that album cover: a woman wearing bikini and low-light glasses for snow, with the sun on the back and broken floating ice. A prediction of climate change from 1980?

If the myths hold truths, the oil companies knew this was an issue in the '70s. By the late 80s the predictions had reached artists and musicians in the UK (how I know this is too convoluted and flakey for this thread). I was taught about climate change (the "greenhouse effect") as a young teen, early 90s. It's been canon for me since then. I have no problem believing that forward looking adults were talking about it, making art and activism in 1980.

I recall an early 80's Justice League episode which centered global warming.

"Climate Change" was one of the topics discussed at "Rio Summit" in 92 [1].

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Summit

"Memories of Green" was also used to great effect in Blade Runner. I love how well it works there. It's so sad and evocative.

Wow, I thought it was written for the film until now! How embarrassing… Not only for the song suiting, but the title too. As it’s a bleak post-ecological society.

There is a story about how Ridley Scott wanted to use this specific piece and a couple more by Vangelis in Blade Runner, and Vangelis told him: why reuse my old pieces, I can make a new score for this film specifically.

And so he did, in some short timeframe.

I think Scott did this to Jerry Goldsmith for ALIEN as well, except Jerry wasn't happy about reusing music.

Don’t you have to ask the composer for permi$$ion anyway? Or do things work differently in Hollywood?

In the end, it's whoever pays for the rights.

I think it was a piece of music from another film, also by 20th Century Fox, that they used as a temp track, and Scott liked it so much he made it happen. Goldsmith was not best pleased.

It'll probably be the music for the opening titles, because when I bought the album in the 80s I was suprised (disappointed actually) that piece wasn't on it, and leaving off the opening titles is a real omission in a movie soundtrack.

not if you are stanley kubrick ;) (2001)

Wasn't there going to be an original score and then Kubrick decided that he liked his mockups better?

>"Memories of Green"

Memories of Green and his work on Blade Runner in general are on my list of best music. Beautiful work.

He did incredible work.

The Four Horsemen from his band Aphrodite's Child really shows off his impressive prog-rock chops as well as showcasing a fantastic video of the band's persona (as well as a lot of Ouzo shots): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KCbqhJt16k

This was sad news indeed. I have just listened to his works again for the first time in years, after a random encounter with a guy wearing a faded Chariots of Fire T-shirt - next thing I knew, I spent several hours in my hotel room, listening to several albums to kill time and rekindle my on-and-off love affair with his music.

Today, as I flew home from working overseas for a few weeks, I listened to Opera Sauvage over and over again - then landing at my destination to see news of his passing.

Sigh.

Massive, epic talent. Did everything by ear and instinct, never learned to read or write music. Incredible feel for timbre, melody, and structure.

The DX7 synth used to have a ridiculous "chuff chuff chuff DING!" comedy steam train preset. It sounded terrible and was utterly useless except as a 10 second novelty.

He used it in one of his soundtracks - and somehow made it perfectly musical in that setting.

which one was it?

"Did everything by ear and instinct, never learned to read or write music."

He seems to have had his own musical notation, of a sort. You can see him using it at the beginning of this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b1xJYCrKDU

I guess there is a point where convention just slows you down. I would say it is a hallmark of true genius.

I guess especially with synths you may also need to incorporate not just the notes, but also the synth settings. I'm not sure there's much support for that in traditional notation.

I love Soil Festivities, still decades after hearing it for the first time. Amazing album. Not to diminish his other work, but that one really stands out for me.

Also, if you don't know about it yet, check out his collaborations with Jon Anderson, as Jon & Vangelis, two awesome musicians at their peak.

What a pity...

My favorite was Opera Sauvage. It had a flow and consistency that was, for me, unique in his works.

He will be missed.

Yes what remarkable, 'organic' sound. Also 'l'apocalypse des animaux' and his other early albums really. Despite being old synths, they still sound classic

Indeed, for the last two decades the first movement of Soil Festivities has been my go-to track to get me in the zone when I have to get any serious writing going. It just flows so nicely.

Maaaaaan about the time Blade Runner came out I was a fourth grader fumbling with the Chariots of Fire record pretty much every day. That was the first record I remember associating the different reflections on the grooves with the length of the song. Pretty clear given that side 2 was all one song.

So many elementary school crushes I dreamt of to that album.

Didn't get whacked upside the head by Blade Runner until like 1989 or something and then went on that endless quest to find the version of the soundtrack that most matched what you hear in the movie (there was some legal crap about releasing the original music). Ended up with a few of the CDs floating around.

My world wouldn't be the same without his music.

> (there was some legal crap about releasing the original music).

That crap resulted in multiple bootleg versions of the Blade Runner soundtrack. I don't know if there is a definitive one :/ Maybe with the Special Edition blue-ray?

I like the voiceover version of the tracks from the original CD ("do you like our owl?"), but I also like listening to the tracks without voiceovers.

http://www.brmovie.com/FAQs/BR_FAQ_Soundtrack.htm

Oh, I must have read every nook and cranny of that website. Used to be my go-to website on all things Blade Runner!

Same! It was so cool that it was in there.

This gave me goosebumps because I could not stop thinking about him the past week or so and I could not understand why...

Αναπαύσου εν ειρήνη θρύλε, Rest in peace legend.

Καλό ταξίδι γίγαντα μου https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd-DlMOLCY4

Damn, I wasn't the only one! Two days ago, just out of the blues I started listening to his music on spotify (i like no-vocals music while coding). He dies 1 later :(

Oh no. I own all of his albums, including many bootleg issues. He was productive right up to the end, though; his last album came out in July of last year.

Chariots of Fire is iconic of course. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a-HfNE3EIo

I think my first encounter with his music was the Ernest & Julio Gallo wine commercials. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mES7lzR9uFE

Seems he should have been considerably older than 79.

Thanks for the link to the commercial. Classic Vangelis.

And you can't mention the Ernest & Julio Gallo ads without a link to the voiceover guy / head of the ad agency Hal Riney. Another legend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_lnwNIlJUo

When I was an online editor (video) in SF, I got to work with Hal Riney on several occasions. There was this joke among his agency staffers that, no matter what commercial he screened, if he hadn't voiced it himself, he always said (something like), "That's great. I'll re-voice it tomorrow."

I'm sure it was a different experience up close, but as far as I'm concerned from a distance, he could only elevate a voiceover track. He did Subway sandwiches for God's sake. "We aspire to know all our customers by name... or at least by sandwich." Or airport car rentals. "There are over a million miles of roads in Alamo territory. And only Alamo gives you all those miles for free."

Agreed. His was one of the best voices out there. There are folks who think Reagan's 1984 landslide was propelled, at least in significant part, by Riney penned and voiced political ads, especially, "Prouder, Stronger, Better" (It's Morning Again in America).

Aha... Here's one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPpFWxKPOyQ I forgot the ending of those ads... always a variation on... 'Roads that run through America... to a place.. we call home."

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe... Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion... I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain... Time to die."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoAzpa1x7jU

I’ve been listening mostly to his 70s proggish stuff lately, but the opening of Blade Runner still gives me goosebumps. It wouldn’t have been half the film it was without his music.

https://youtu.be/P1jXmJmmj3o

I'm rediscovering "Albedo 0.39" as a result of this news. I've had a copy for years but not played it for a long time. Absolutely love it.

RIP. I remember watching the movie 1492 Conquest of Paradise, being wowed by the music, and then downloading the MIDI of the theme song on my 28.8k modem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd-DlMOLCY4 (not a MIDI).

I even saw the movie on Laser Disc, geez, ultimate 90's nostalgia trip.

I don't know much about Vangelis other than Chariots of Fire, he's Greek, and my neighbor when I was a kid loved the shit out of him. I assumed for a very long time Vangelis was an entire band and not just one person.

RIP amongst so many others, lately.

He could be an entire orchestra not just a band yes

He had an album based on Greek folk music (Odes, 1979). This is a cretan dance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc9_qVAflzk

Spiral is one of my all-time favorite albums - and the opening song is my favorite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-0Z5D7eRh8

I listened to this album constantly as a teenager…

From his first band, Aphrodite's Child: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WTNFuF6qiA

Bye my friend, goodbye

This makes me very, very sad. One of my favourite composers are artists, with an amazing knack for melody. And he was still cranking out new music!

Rachel's Song : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnwKeiJflBw I strongly suggest every BR's fan to play Observer : https://www.eurogamer.net/goodbye-rutger-hauer-its-such-a-sh...

RIP. He had some memorable soundtracks during the 80s: Blade Runner, Chariots of Fire. Also scores for the TV series Cosmos w/ Carl Sagan. I used to own the cassette tape for "China" which I remember enjoying many years ago.

"State of Independence" by Jon [Anderson of Yes] and Vangelis. Also features the wonderful Dick Morrissey (who, amongst other things with Vangelis, plays saxophone on the Blade Runner soundtrack).

So Long Ago, So Clear, in our headphones, on a foggy night, on the Pont au Double, when the Bateau-Mouche passed under, searchlights setting the air on fire. Pure, pure magic. Thanking you.

Damn, RIP. Dude wrote my favorite song describing what color each horse of the apocalypse is

Most people know him from his brilliant film scores, but his prog rock era is up there with the greatest of the genre too

the four horsemen ?

For those that want to know more, this is referencing the album 666 by Aphrodite's Child.

Got a copy from Germany sometime between '00 and '03.

Amazing album, especially for someone that had only known him for Blade Runner at the time.

His stuff with Jon Anderson is also fairly good. The Friends of Mr. Cairo is one of my favorites.

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVExlaxaweo

the leading horse is WHITE the second horse is RED the third one is a BLACK the last one is a GREEN

/me salutes by playing Alpha

[∞] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gG1VBryzKM

My absolute favorite song of all time is Dial Out by Vangelis: https://youtu.be/Jnn9_NCLazM

Rest in piece to a master of his art, and creator of the unique soundscapes made the world of blade runner something truly unique.

Sad to hear! I had just this month sent myself on a deep dive of Vangelis' work. He composed so many amazing things - here are a few tracks that have stuck out for me. Something about them is just hard to "get out of":

Jon and Vangelis: "I'll Find My Way Home" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKqLAVyRaXw&list=PLHgJlrCztl...

Vangelis: "Juno opening its solar arrays" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXqt2EQIG5g&list=PLHgJlrCztl...

Here's a great tidbit - Vangelis and Ridley Scott prior to Blade Runner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DjvN8I0c7I&ab_channel=Mrden...

RIP Vangelis

This is my favorite (and perhaps the least popular) from Vangelis. Listen to this gem...just listen to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uta02hfUF4o

Thank you.

I remember that back in the late 1990s, when I had just learned how to use Internet, one of the first thing I went looking for was more information about Vangelis and his music. All I had back in the day was Portraits and Voices on cassettes. Oh, and a local radio station had Metallic Rain as its evening news jingle.

The Internet did not disappoint: https://www.vangelislyrics.com/vwr/ (Vangelis webring). One of the first websites I visited in my life.

And this webring is still alive.

RIP.

I had no idea it was a _person_ named Vangelis. The word sounds like a band name.

And really, the exquisite textures are a workload which would ordinarily require multiple talents. Guess he was THAT good.

It's actually common Greek name. I was in shock (positively) when I got two new colleagues at work both named Vangelis. They remind me of the Vangelis every single day, funny stuff

Super bummed, Vangelis got me into electronic music back in the early 90s. I've since made it my mission (obsession) to collect all of his albums, which I'm still working on.

The opening track to Carl Sagan's Cosmos is actually taken from Vangelis' - still prog-rock influenced album - Heaven and Hell (1975); the 3rd movement.

I still really enjoy his early/progressive stuff and to this day cannot quite relate to his later stuff (80s and beyond) as much; nevertheless, amazingly, he always maintained a very unique style throughout all his years and certainly is deeply woven into the beginnings of synth music.

Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner were iconic, defining works, but don't skip a listen to 1492 Conquest of Paradise.

One should mention the most comprehensive web-site that includes all the info you will ever need about Vangelis and his work - Elsewhere - http://elsew.com/ I applaude the web-site authors and maintainers for their work over the years.

This video introduced me to Vangelis' existence, and only after looking up the artist did I realise he did Blade Runner and Chariots of Fire.

https://youtu.be/GoW8Tf7hTGA

The combination of audio and content of this video gives me chills.

The Chariots of Fire soundtrack, which won him an Oscar and topped the charts for weeks, was in part a tribute to his father, who had been an enthusiastic amateur runner. But Vangelis played down the popularity it received and said it was "just another song".

Rest in peace

one of his more esoteric and probably less known tracks : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6qoTPhhv9w La petite fille de la mer

That track was almost impossible to get hold of back in the day. I had heard of it, but never heard it. After years of asking around in record stores I finally found a really scratchy sounding cassette tape (no doubt a pirated copy) in a German record shop in East Frisia the summer of 1985.

i was 13 in 85. Got my fist walkman some years after that. But i doubt i had some Vangelis on tapes. No, we had to buy records then..

It's on the Themes album.

Also on Portraits :)

My first introduction to Vangelis was a vinyl of the album Spiral when I was younger ... I didn't even know he did Blade Runner until years later, but I really liked that album. Sad to hear he passed away though.

Spiral and Albedo 0.39 were my introduction to his work. Great albums, quite possibly the best instrumental "pop" albums of that time.

My personal favourites would be the Bounty title track, which is incredible because it just tells the whole story musically in about 4 minutes!

And the title sequence of Antarctica (the Japanese movie from 1983), which nobody has ever seen, I mean the movie is good, even if a little strange, but the title... I cannot imagine what it would have been like watching it on the big screen and listening to it in a theatre... back in 1983.

Secret tip: you can watch it here: https://youtu.be/fNaV3CHCs6g

Antarctica (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085991/) is a fantastic dreamy movie. It is a nature movie, somewhere in-between a feature film and documentary, about dogs that are left to survive alone during the winter on the Antarctica. Whats intriguing is that it is a story told from their perspective - nearly no dialogue, just visuals and music. The movie is slow, so you need to be in the mood for that and kind of psychedelic, so I highly recommend watching it just before dawn on a projector and a proper surround system (borrow one or visit a friend if you don't have your own, it's worthy).

I recently found out about the work he did with the (also) inimitable Irene Papas:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq1hodbSDkg

Vangelis is best known for the themes of Blade Runner and Chariots of Fire, but Light and Shadow[1] also deserves to be remembered as one of his greats.

And here is a fantastic video of him performing one of his tracks live: [2]

[1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUzIbphUL0Q

[2] - Performance starts at 1'36" in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b1xJYCrKDU

The boxer Henry Maske had Conquest of Paradise playing as the entry music [0]. I don't quite remember the context but it may have been the last fight in his career. Pure athmosphere and goose bumps back in the day. I didn't actually know what song it was back then as I was just a child but the melody always stuck with me. It was years and years later when I actually learned about Vangelis and came across the song again.

[0] https://youtu.be/J4HvovGe5TY

Rachel's Song is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard. RIP

https://youtu.be/YnwKeiJflBw

Sad to hear, one of my favorite musicians as well. I've been listening to the Blade Runner OST on my commute for the last couple of years, and just humming it to myself today when I saw the news here.

Here's a very talented guy - Kebu - performing the Blade Runner end titles music live. Very impressive. Check out the other vids on his channel as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI65leWtd7c

RIP. Vangelis and Jean-Michel Jarre were a generation of artist for which electronic music truly meant something. Now elextronic music means DJs mixing other people's music.

Back where I grew up, in the 90s, "La Petite Fille de la mer" played in between TV programs during the night. It was decades later that I learned who the composer was.

- Blade Runner

- Chariots of Fire

- Cosmos

- 1492

and the list goes on. Pretty impressive.

RIP Maestro, your works are timeless! I firstly heared Vangelis from Ariston commercial w/ Ask The Mountains track promice to add a link to YT when I can

So the piano was a beautiful instrument for you...

  ... But just one instrument, not enough. So I put nails in the piano, played on the strings, banged on the keys, making incredible sounds come out.

[1] https://www.nemostudios.co.uk/vangelis/interviews/keyboard/k...

His music is strong nostalgia inducer for me. His melodies, hooks, and effects work perfectly bringing simple ideas into amazing atmosphere and experience.

You will be sorely missed. Fond memories of listening to Chariots of Fire, both sides of the tape, lying in my bed as a teenager. Always in my heart.

A very sad day. He was still productive despite his age, his Nocturnes from 2019 are incredible. RIP and thanks for all the beautiful moments.

I surprised nobody has mentioned the movie "Bounty" -- Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins... such an eerie soundtrack. Beautiful.

I believe the "Cosmos" TV documentary series would have not been the same without Vangelis' soundtrack. I just need to hear the first notes of "Alpha" and I can also hear Carl Sagan's voice (well, his Spanish dubbing actor) pondering about the secrets of the Universe just like 4 decades ago.

He practically invented the sound of the 80s

This Ithaka poem recital by Sean Connery with music by Vangelis always manages to give me a sense of perspective.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n3n2Ox4Yfk&ab_channel=babyl...

RIP. One of the most influential musicians on me, for sure. A legend...Love to his family and friends.

My all time favorite was 1492 Conquest of Paradise. I still listen to it here and there. RIP :(

Just chipping in: "To The Unknown Man" is less famous from him, and it shouldn't be.

Vangelis is one of those artists I just click "buy" on everything he does. I've never been disappointed. So sad to see no more albums. Thank you, Vangelis, for all the listening pleasure you created.

I have listened to Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner soundtracks countless times while developing or just spending time behind the computer. Thanks for making the time go by better Vangelis!

Countless hours of El Greco on loop during gaming sessions (Wolfenstein, Doom, Quake and similar) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSXzPd8RX0Q)

That's sad. Don't care about music much but for synthesizer I always make an exception. Guess I'll be listening to the Blade Runner OST tomorrow at the gym in remembrance.

If you don't care about music much, but are into synths and sounds check Ignacio (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEnC4kLujgo) or Spiral for something lighter (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VV1lWVhMCk)

Can somebody shed som light on Miami Vice song? I always thought it's Jean Michel Jarre and Vangelis song, but apparently it is called Crocket's Theme by Jan Hammer

Miami Vice had two memorable tunes, miami vice title song, and the crocket's theme (more nostalgic like feel). Both were made by Jan Hammer. If you want to see cool stuff, checkout his "beyond Mind's Eye", one of the earliest 3d music videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5zMtCvWhG0

Loved the guy's work for many years. Inspired so many other artists. I listen to his work and variations inspired by him, on YouTube while working. Rest in Peace.

This is very sad, his music has been an inspiration for me for a large part of my life. This is one of those days you knew were coming but hoped they didn't.

Vangelis' 1977 composition "To The Unknown Man" was interpreted by the Italian singer Milva as "Moi je n'ai pas peur" in 1981.

I really love his work especially the album Voices.

That's one of these posts that it's unsettling for me to upvote/like. Sad news, great composer of someny incredible tracks.

His work, especially the colab with Jon Anderson, has been an important sound track to my life.

And dammit COVID 19

Incredible composer. Very sad news.

I'm truly saddened by this. One of my favorite artists. Loved his work all around.

poor example compared to his lifetime of work, but this was a beautiful advert

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsyyJaX0j3Y

First Klaus Schulze and now Vangelis. So sad. Rest in peace!

Holy shit! I didn’t realize Klaus Schulze died too. Between these two and Edgar Froese, the world is rapidly losing electronic music greats. Please tell me Giorgio Moroder is still alive!

How did people learn synths back then without the internet?

Many (most?) came with printed manuals that described all their functions and how the controls work. Though, that wouldn't usually teach general concepts of subtractive synthesis or the like. Honestly I'll wager that most synth musicians learned by experimenting with the synth for hours on end, just as I did when I was learning. I mean HOURS and HOURS. Synthesizers are not actually that complicated, and once you understand the fundamental pieces, you find that basically all synths just have some combination of those fundamental pieces. You can either find out that foundational stuff by observation or getting lucky with a synth manual that lays it all out for you, or knowing someone that is already knowledgeable with that stuff.

R.I.P. Vangelis.

That Blade Runner soundtrack was something really special.

What a talent.

true artist. visionary. big loss for earth.

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