Vangelis
Spiral

THE REVIEW

With this 1977 concept, Vangelis anticipates by a few years the compositional traits (but not the commercial fortunes) of the eighties, namely some soundtracks that have permanently branded the relationship between record and film (Antarctica, Blade Runner, and Chariots of Fire the most significant).

The album announces the abandonment of the (until then) usual, intense electronic flows and the proposition of a light and relaxing atmosphere: the resulting ascensional spiral, both auditory and mental, is constant and enveloping: you have the sensation of being abducted and lifted upward, almost by the unsettling cable (also spiraled) that on the cover tears the sky open.

The mind, deceived and dazed, doesn't worry about the passing minutes, the grooves that play, the tracks that follow: from the title track to the two gentle ballads, "Ballad" and the famous "To the Unknown Man" (undoubtedly the best song on the album), up to the livelier and more composite "3+3", it's a mental and musical continuum.

Perhaps the only moment of clarity is given by the distressing and pressing "Dervish D" (inspired by the dervish dance), a notable and rather well-known episode (and yet another proof of the good taste that still prevailed in RAI a few decades ago), but perhaps an anomaly in the context in which it is included.

Concept on spirality, therefore, and as such repetitive. The songs, however, albeit endowed with their compositional autonomy and undeniable individual quality, revolve around it shamelessly.

Vangelis knows this and plays on this aspect: punctually the listener (or rather, their mind) falls for it like a ripe pear.