R. I. P. Vangelis

[OldStrummer]

I am saddened to learn of the passing of Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou (Vangelis) at the age of 79. Not a guitar player, although the guitar work on his Spanish Harbour is stellar. Mostly known for penning the Oscar-winning theme to "Chariots of Fire," his body of work is outstanding, and I have a large number of CDs of his work. Always enjoyable, mostly "orchestral" instrumental, his creativity was head and shoulders above many in the music business.

Although I didn't photograph it (I didn't want to be overtly obvious), I recently stood before his home/studio at the foot of the Acropolis and around the corner from the Acropolis Museum in Athens. Prime real estate, for sure! It wouldn't surprise me if the Greeks don't elevate him to National Treasure status.

A good write-up can be read at The Guardian.

This is Spanish Harbour.

[DanTheBluesMan]

The Acropolis is high on my bucket list. Greece, Rome, Egypt all fascinate me.

I think I had a Vangelis CD gifted to me once. No idea what became of it

[S. Cane]

RIP

I really liked his music.

[OldStrummer]

Other works of Vangelis's that you may or may not know.

He did the soundtrack to the original Blade Runner movie. He finally produced a three-CD set of music with additional work not in the movie.

He did the soundtrack to 1492: Conquest of Paradise, the story of Christopher Columbus, starring Gérard Depardieu, Sigourney Weaver, and Armand Assante, and others.

Both the above were directed by the marvelous Ridley Scott.

He also did the soundtrack for Antarctica, a movie that set box office records in Japan.

He did more than soundtracks, although every movie he contributed to was a success.

His collaboration with NASA resulted in the concert and CD, Mythodea - Music for the NASA Mission: 2001 Mars Odyssey. True to his Greek heritage, he also produced a CD of the soundtrack to the film, El Greco.

Not to sound morbid, I once participated in an online poll about what songs we would want played at our funeral? Given I could have any sound system I imagined (hey, I'm dead, I'll never know if that was done), I selected two songs: Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Lucky Man, and Vangelis's Spanish Harbour.

I guess this is one reason the news of his passing saddens me.

[ch willie]

My favorite of his is the song he did with Jon Anderson, Friends of Mr Cairo. The song is epic, and if you love old movies, you've got references galore. Terribly overlooked song.