VANGELIS - Rosetta

[Ruby]

VANGELIS – Rosetta



Wow! Who needs a spacecraft??! It took a little while to come back down to earth after listening to Vangelis’ latest offering. As we know, Mr Papathanassiou was heavily inspired by the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission – and this album is the result.

The first track, “Origins” quickly plunges you into the mission – I recommend taking an hour with no distractions – this album is worthy of a proper listen, preferably with your eyes closed! The first two tracks in particular are the most amazingly 3D aural lead-ins into what one might imagine it to be like in deep space – can’t think of another way to describe it – fascinating! Lots of synthesized objects spiralling past, and pings from one planet to another, and all the while Rosetta steadfastly on course – I swear, I am actually transported to the point of being able to envision the whole thing! How does he do that - make your mind cross unimaginably vast distances, creating the perfect illusion of infinite space with sound?! The man’s a magician - tres magnifique.

“Starstuff” and “Infinitude” make me want to weep, they are so very beautiful. I get affected by this stuff.

“Exo Genesis” – the creation of life by an outside force is prickly and provocative and filled with possibility, followed by the sweet “Celestial Whispers”.

Then we have “Albedo 0.06” – he likes this factor in space physics, obviously, since we’ve had Albedo 0.39 from him too. Albedo measures the reflectivity of an object in space – specifically, how much of the sun’s radiation that planet/moon/asteroid reflects, with 0 being very dark while 1 is bright. The darkest asteroids in the solar system have an albedo of 0.06 – the earth is 0.39 – the moon is 0.12, and so on. Rosetta completed a flyby of Mars and two asteroids, 2867 Šteins, and 21 Lutetia, during the course of her travels, so he’s staying true to the narrative.

“Sunlight” is strong, powerful stuff and there is no doubt at all about which is the central and commanding planet. It sits in the middle of the track listing too, which is clever, and solar energy powered the Rosetta and her landing module Philae. This is an epic track – spare, yet weighty – there’s so little extraneous noise on this whole album.

“Rosetta” pays lovely tribute to the amazing technology of the probe – you get a sense of organisation, of purpose, precision, planning, and ….. off she goes!

“Philae’s Descent” – the landing module heading where nothing has been before and onto something we have never been so close to – the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Agitato best describes this! And quite stressful it was too - the module landed successfully and was able to send back some info before losing contact with Rosetta as it was in a spot where its solar panels were not able to be recharged, so ultimately, lost power forever.

“Rosetta’s Waltz” – a stately dance celebrating her mission accomplished. Another lovely, heart-tugging piece - posted in Celestial Bodies when the teasers came out (I think!).

“Perihelion” is the point in the orbit of a planet, asteroid, or comet at which it is closest to the sun. I would imagine that causes all sorts of turbulence and that’s exactly how this is – building up into a long crescendo – heat and speed – then at the apex, with everything stretched to breaking point, relief - away from that deadly magnetic pull.

“Elegy” – it’s the end of the mission and this is gentle and slightly sad … almost hymnal – a respectful, thoughtful and fitting lament with a bit of an eerie edge. Rosetta too lands on the comet and … it’s over. Gorgeous.

“Return to the Void” rounds things off in almost a cooling down exercise; it’s a deceptively simple track with a lot of breathing room between the sounds – a great ambient note to end on.

I noticed references here and there to some of his other works as I am sure will anyone who is even partially acquainted with his music, and I’ve listened twice now – it will take many more listens to completely absorb the awesomeness of everything!

Vangelis has woven us a superbly told, highly refined, and absolutely brilliant musical adventure which has his very distinctive signature all over it – I am so glad he did. I love it!!

[video=youtube;-MYuqse0G7w]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MYuqse0G7w[/video]

[bob_32_116]

This reminds me somewhat of some of the slower parts of his Antarctica album, which I suppose is not surprising. We think of space as a cold lonely place, much like Antarctica.

[Jerome]

Brilliant synopsis Ruby! The man's a wizard. I strongly suggest you listen to Brian Eno's - Apollo - Atmospheres and Soundtracks. In a similar but yet very different vein.
Also try Reprise by Vangelis & 1492 - Conquest of Paradise.

[CRAZY-HORSE]

Im probably, most definitely not going to like the album but Ruby's post has made me curious none the less and its on the list to listen to this weekend.

BTW....superb album cover IMO.

[Jerome]

Believe me CH, it's not your thing. By all means give it a listen but I have a feeling you will not like it.

[CRAZY-HORSE]

im not expecting it to be my thing at all mate, but I did like Brian Eno's "the ship" earlier this year, so I may surprise us all, and yes, Eno's in on the "to purchase" list.

[bob_32_116]

People who have only heard a little of Vangelis probably think all his music is much the same, but it's not. It's very possible you would like some albums, and find others boring. Mask, for example, is very different from Antarctica, which is different again from Blade Runner.

[CRAZY-HORSE]

and that's the reason I will listen to anything regardless of the artist bob_32, because I never know what I will like...

BTW, ive just listened to the opening track off the new Vangelis album as a forerunner to listening to the whole thing tomorrow,
I thought that track wasn't too bad on the whole....

[CRAZY-HORSE]

okay I did listen intently with the cans on:

Ruby's description IMO was pretty well right (not that she needs nor wants my approval for her commentary!),
but still, there were four tracks that I thought were boring because I just felt there was nothing happening,

a few quick few word description of each track as I wrote it down whilst listening...

"origins" , I was thinking the origins of space, objects zooming through the great void and as they near a star or a planet
the gravitational pull builds up their momentum as they increase in velocity, much like the build up through the track

“Starstuff” and “Infinitude” , did absolutely nothing for me, I just found the tracks to be monotonous and went nowhere fast

“Exo Genesis” , loved the piano and orchestra, lovely piece of work

"Celestial Whispers" , reminded me of what id imagine the serenity and quietness of space would possibly sound like if put to music

“Albedo 0.06” , I learnt something about the reflective rating scale..but the track just didn't go anywhere for me,

“Sunlight”, as it built up through the song I was imagining solar power/winds

"rosetta" , this track just did nothing or me, I couldn't imagine anything...


“Philae’s Descent” , I imagined a spacecraft descending for a touchdown, the suspense was certainly in the music,
I was hoping it wouldn't crash, and it didn't!

“Rosetta’s Waltz” , you can hear the jubilation in the fact the craft landed safely, music also had that "we got there", "we won",
"we got the prize" type music youd get at the end of a movie when the boy gets the girl and live happily everafter and everyone is saved
type music.

“Perihelion”, the music came and went in slow waves with the occasional burst of energy and then slow again, like the title suggests
as you get closer to the sun everything increases, friction, turbulence etc but as you move away, t becomes calm again

“Elegy” , almost spiritual in nature, Ruby wrote Hymnal, yeh, i'd agree with that


“Return to the Void” , by the end my imagination was in overdrive, I was hearing the "sounds of space" in this one, like bands of radioactive
static and things amplified that would normally be out of our aural capabilities without amplifiers...

all up, an interesting album in places, it makes sense when you actually know the meanings of the titles of the tracks and easy to imagine what it is...
Vangelis sure is an emotive writer of music...
I listened and I liked well over half the album, but I doubt it would be something I would go back to again,
like ive posted before, I know nothing about this sort of music but maybe one day I will have a better understanding and appreciation
for not only this album but other albums/artists in the genre.

[bob_32_116]

I have only listened to the track posted above, so the following comments are not specifically about this album... but I suspect my feelings about "this kind of music" are much the same as CH's. I can listen to spacey atmospheric electronic music and enjoy it, more so at certain times of day than others, preferably in the evening or night time while mentally winding down. However it's not the sort of stuff I tend to buy.

As a footnote, I see that sadly the ESA Mars Lander mission appears to have failed, the probe having crash landed on the planet.