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THE REVIEW
The curious and fortunate Jon and Vangelis project takes shape at the end of the Seventies following previous scattered collaborations between two skilled musicians: one is the British Jon Anderson, a singer now free from Yes and eager to experiment with new musical paths, the other is the Greek Vangelis, who has been involved in experimentation for quite some time but has always been open to collaborations with artists from various backgrounds.
The debut "Short Stories" was released in 1980 and was immediately a commercial success, thanks to the perfect fusion between Vangelis's sweet yet captivating music and Anderson's angelic vocal abilities; the formula, moreover, is simple: the Greek prepares the music, the Brit, in the second phase, completes the tracks with the vocal parts. This methodology, seemingly cold and mechanical, generates pieces that are meticulously detailed yet quite different from each other.
The entire album is based on a backdrop of dreamlike and angelic atmospheres, onto which sudden and pressing electronic shifts break in. The devastating and violent flow of “Curious Electric” contrasts with the sweetness of the following “Each and Everyday/Bird”, while “I Hear You Now” has a tune so catchy it climbed the charts of the time. “The Road”, “Far Away in Baghdad”, and “Love Is/One More Time” partly anticipate future sounds, while the brief “The Road” serves to precede the album's final (and best) track, "A Play Within a Play,” able to encapsulate its essence through structure and alternation between movement and stillness.
As often happens in early works (and especially in particular projects like this one), there is a discernible desire to keep many paths open, to change direction frequently, even at the expense of unity of purpose. It is no coincidence that subsequent works, although of equal quality, indicate a more coherent path and a more solid expressive thread, as confirmed by the excellent “The Friends of Mr Cairo” from 1981.
Finally, in 1983, the duo's best effort arrives, “Private Collection”: Vangelis further smooths the edges and softens the melodies, Anderson's voice becomes almost ethereal. Five perfect pieces, plus a long final track, “Horizon,” so memorable it deserves a prime spot in the music of that decade.
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Summary by Bot
Jon & Vangelis’ 1980 debut album 'Short Stories' is a successful fusion of Vangelis’ intricate music and Anderson’s angelic vocals, combining dreamlike atmospheres with electronic shifts. The album features standout tracks like 'I Hear You Now' and 'A Play Within a Play'. While the duo explored many directions, later albums showed more cohesion. Their subsequent releases, 'The Friends of Mr Cairo' and 'Private Collection', further polished their signature sound.
Jon & Vangelis
Jon & Vangelis is the collaboration between Jon Anderson (lead singer of Yes) and Greek composer Vangelis. Active primarily from 1979 to 1991, they blended Anderson’s ethereal vocals with Vangelis’s electronic compositions across four studio albums, yielding notable singles like I Hear You Now, I’ll Find My Way Home, and State of Independence.03 Reviews
