VANGELIS - SEX POWER 1970 SNDTRK APHRODITE'S CHILD KYBRDIST SLD MISSING VINYL LP

$

30

VANGELIS (PAPATHANASSIOU) – Sex Power. Missing Vinyl MV 037. Greek release. FACTORY SEALED NEW VINYL RECORD ALBUM. Originally issued in 1970. This edition issued in 2013. Pressed on 180g vinyl and comes in a gatefold cover, as it was first issued in France. Soundtrack to the movie of the same name. Recorded while still leading Aphrodite’s Child and the first release under his own name. TRACKS:  No track titles are listed on the soundtrack album, which instead consisted of eleven banded parts (six on the first side, five on the second). However a single (also issued in 1970) was discovered some years ago which included titles for each side’s track, Djemilla b/w Third Love, which correspond to the 2nd and 5th tracks on the album. DESCRIPTION:  Sex Power was Vangelis’ first Henry Chapier movie. It was released in 1970 only in Greece and France (on the Philips label) and only sold a few copies. Nowadays it is the holy grail for Vangelis collectors worldwide, with prices of mint copies reaching 1000+ Euros. This deluxe 180g vinyl edition is taken from the original analogue masters; exact reproduction of the original first pressing, gatefold cover, audiophile edition pressed by Music On Vinyl Records (Netherlands). This soundtrack album was the first full-length solo-effort by Vangelis. All the future Vangelis trademarks are already there in rudimentary form—not really surprising, given the fact that around this time Aphrodite's Child were moving from melancholic pop towards their epic 666 album, a move largely due to Vangelis, musically speaking. Already his gift for rounded melodies, the full arrangements, strange sound effects, elaborate percussion, use of choirs, and that Mediterranean touch are amply demonstrated. The fact that this is also the soundtrack to an erotic movie can't really be anything but unfortunate (and a source of embarrassment to Vangelis, thus the fact that it has not been reissued until now; though from strictly an audio point of view this could have been the soundtrack to some nature film). Making this record was probably the only opportunity that happened to come along for this still virtually unknown Greek instrumentalist in France at that particular time. 

For your further reading enjoyment and enlightenment I offer the following additional background material as written by Ivar de Vries:

All in all, the original album plus single probably rate as the hottest collectors-items in the whole Vangelis oeuvre, with some nice music to boot. Unfortunately, another Vangelis tradition, that of incomplete or non-existent credits, is also immediately evident, because clearly at the very least a mixed choir, a female vocalist, and an acoustic guitarist, all un-credited, can be heard alongside Vangelis on piano, organ, percussion, and sound-effects.

The two parts (sides) of this album each last around 17 minutes, are structured as follows:

Side 1 - part 1 (0.00 - 0.29):  A strange intro featuring a high screeching bird-sound against a background of bass-drums and a two-chord keyboard figure. This is definitely not going to be another Aphrodite's Child album.

Side 1 - part 2 (0.29 - 3.41):  Next the first occurrence of what could be called the "jungle-theme" is introduced:  An African drum-pattern, Vangelis playing the theme on piano with a choir joining the chorus to the piece. Sometime later an organ and primitive synthesized sounds are added to this very tribal piece. This piece is identical to the A-side of the single and is called Djemilla.

Side 1 - part 3 (3.41 - 6.32):  The sounds of racing cars introduce the unknown acoustic guitarist in the first occurrence of another recurring theme, a nice sunny melody, the "love-theme" perhaps. Suddenly it stops, leaving the cars to race on for a little bit plus some voices speaking in the background.

Side 1 - part 4 (6.32 - 9.40):  The jungle-music returns, this time only consisting of increasingly elaborate rhythm-patterns.

Side 1 - part 5 (9.40 - 12.54):  The love-theme returns, here with Vangelis playing the main melody to the guitarist's harmony on what sounds like a sort of harpsichord. Some flourishes on piano and organ are added plus, intriguingly, what almost surely sounds like multiple word-less vocals by Demis Roussos! This piece is identical to the B-side of the single and is called Third Love.

Side 1 - part 6 (12.55 - 16.29):  Piano-only in a different version of the love-theme. Vangelis actually plays four parts here, matching the melody to the harmony by doubling the left-hand/right-hand roles in reverse order:  Left hand melody and right hand harmony in the lower registers, the other way around in the higher registers. It ends with more sound effects of people walking the streets and some hand-clapping.

Side 2 - part 1 (0.00 - 1.55):  The jungle-theme starts the altogether more experimental second part. Again the African percussion, this time with a little keyboard and a flute (possibly by Vangelis) added.

Side 2 - part 2 (1.55 - 10.03):  Lots of imaginative, ancient Mediterranean sounding percussion and a male-choir make up most of this highly evocative and slightly unsettling long piece. Twice an eerie fairy-tale melody can be heard in-between the sharp, piercing percussion sounds, towards the end a female vocalist appears shortly.

Side 2 - part 3 (10.03 - 13.22):  More percussion and the familiar piano introduce another version of the love-theme. Here, the melody is played on a very primitive instrument, a customised Hammond-organ perhaps? It ends with a series of sharp bashes on the gong.

Side 2 - part 4 (13.22 - 15:48):  Some very strange noise-effects, bees buzzing or something like that, accompany the female vocalist (could this be Vana Veroutis [a reference to the femaile vocalist who appears on the 666 album]? It sure sounds like her) who sings a sad wailing melody, later joined by the organ.

Side 2 - part 5 (15:48 - 17:23):  Like the first, the second piece also ends with the piano playing the love-theme, but this time simply two-handed.

It is possible to see this album as a precursor to Heaven And Hell, because it uses similar ideas and has the same sort of variety - there's less electronics involved of course, but Vangelis evidently had enough imagination to sufficiently realise the sounds in his head by using his acoustic apparatus. This would support the theory that every composer, certainly when starting out, has one well-formed idea which needs to be expressed before moving on. This project provided the first but technologically limited opportunity, when Vangelis finally had his own studio in London, he was able to express it much fuller and better. The piano-end to Part I and the long experimental Mediterranean section in Part II really stand out as being mature Vangelis pieces. Being his first solo-outing, there's a trace of him trying to prove his point as a real composer/arranger, to the detriment of emotional depth perhaps, but Vangelis would put that right in his next projects, the music for the six Apocalypse Des Animaux episodes and the very emotional Poème Symphonique.  

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