Search - Vangelis :: Spiral

Another fine example of progressive electronic from Vangelis

Jeffrey J.Park | Massachusetts, USA | 02/14/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This 1977 release is another great Vangelis album and once again demonstrates his skill as a fantastic composer and familiarity with a wide range of instruments (synthesizers, percussion, and drums). The music of Vangelis is varied enough that it could defy description, yet it seems clear that "progressive electronic" aptly describes Spiral. The four tracks on the album range in length from 5'14' to 9'35" and cover a wide range of dynamics and moods. Synth textures/timbres of all description are used on the album ranging from the cheery and upbeat to the spacey and gloomy, making for a very interesting listening experience. Fortunately, the synth textures he uses are very warm and natural sounding and Vangelis is extremely clever with respect to orchestration.



Although a complete list of synthesizers is not provided in the credits, being a bit of a synthesizer nut I did a little bit of digging on the internet and came up with some detailed notes regarding synth use on Spiral. Apparently, 1977 was the year that the Yamaha CS80 came out and Vangelis used it to take the place of the ARP Pro Soloist that he had played on several earlier recordings - in fact, the natural sounding tones of the CS80 are featured on every track. Other pieces of equipment used by Vangelis include the ARP Odyssey; Korg Minipops 120; Roland System 100; and an ARP sequencer (this instrument is used a lot too). For those of you that are curious, the Korg Minipops is a drum computer - my guess is that the drum computer was used on To the Unknown Man although I am not positive. Vangelis also used three effects units to create the odd sounding voice on Ballad including the Roland Space Echo 201; Boss Chorus Ensemble; and the EMS Vocoder 1000.



All in all, this is yet another great album of progressive electronic music from Vangelis and is recommended along with Heaven and Hell (1975); Albedo 0.39 (1976); and Opera Sauvage (1979)."