Air(French band) call it quits

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Oh yes, Tangerine Dream - I'd forgotten about them - I needed (and having just streamed a couple of tracks, I probably still do!) to be in the right frame of mind for their somewhat ethereal sound. And it got me thinking about 'Yes" as well, although they weren't really electronica, but made use of synthesisers in some tracks.

Well the lead singer of YES,did form a band with Vangelis(Jon and Vangelis),so he kind of dabbled in electronica too.

Interestingly enough,The Who did experiment with synthesizers around the same time as YES with Who's Next.

[azrael-]

I have heard a number of them already(certainly know Antarctica which is solemn but also hopeful,but it fits considering what it is about! ) but it could be the more experimental aspects of where JMJ has sometimes gone especially with some of the OTT sampling he did on a few of them which for me made them more interesting(Zoolook is very 80s but very distinctive) and somewhat avantgarde(now wonder when he had people like Laurie Anderson working with him),like the use of steel drums in Waiting for Cousteau. IIRC,Vangelis probably has more rock roots(going from his history) and JMJ was taking more classical roots from his fathers legacy,so I think this is why they are quite different in some ways.

However,I could never quite get into Tangerine Dream,which is the other one of the bigs,which has not been mentioned yet, although Christopher Franke did do some great work on shows like B5.

If you want "experimental" Vangelis look no further than Beaubourg and Invisible Connections. I'm pretty sure you'll find them too experimental. Also kind of experimental, but quite relaxing is Soil Festivities, which I often find myself listening to just to relax.

Oh yes, Tangerine Dream - I'd forgotten about them - I needed (and having just streamed a couple of tracks, I probably still do!) to be in the right frame of mind for their somewhat ethereal sound. And it got me thinking about 'Yes" as well, although they weren't really electronica, but made use of synthesisers in some tracks.

Tangerine Dream have done some pretty good stuff, IMHO. What comes to mind is the score for The Keep, Thief and of course the live album Poland. Amazing stuff. Chris Franke as a solo artist has been a bit hit and miss. On one side there's Babylon 5, as you mentioned, which is pretty good. On the other side there is Walker Texas Ranger. 'Nuff said.

Well the lead singer of YES,did form a band with Vangelis(Jon and Vangelis),so he kind of dabbled in electronica too.

Interestingly enough,The Who did experiment with synthesizers around the same time as YES with Who's Next.

There was talk at one point that Vangelis should do keyboards for Yes, but that never came to fruition. It's also widely assumed that Vangelis played the keyboard on Jon Anderson's solo album, Olias of Sunhillow. I'm not sure myself, but it *does* sound like Vangelis. There are no credits to support it, though.

[peterb]

Listening to Soil Festivities now!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If you want "experimental" Vangelis look no further than Beaubourg and Invisible Connections. I'm pretty sure you'll find them too experimental. Also kind of experimental, but quite relaxing is Soil Festivities, which I often find myself listening to just to relax.

This is experimental:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1Psx24n3rM

Its worth listening to do though even once - you can see what he is trying to achieve and this was a time when most things were in mono(outside experimental multi speaker systems) and remember it was the mid 1950s. It was actually recorded in 4 to 5 separate channels,ie,was multi-channel.

Might have involved some LSD though!!





Zoolook is very avantgarde:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqFKhiFgy5o

It uses extensive use of sampling - most of what you think is normal electronic sounds is made up of both animal,environmental and human sounds(from 25 different languages) sampled using the Fairlight CMI and more traditional methods,which have been processed and layered on top of each other.

A fair amount of it was based on Music for Supermarkets from the early 1980s,so probably was conceptually in development earlier on but needed the technology to catch up.

Its also innovative as being one of the first electronic albums to actually try and use world music themes - you can kind of see that with Waiting for Costeau which was a homage to Jacques-Yves Cousteau and used ocean and Carribean themes.

The title track is ethereal - the ultimate chill out track before chill out tracks became a thing!
Then you need to consider the impact of Oxygene - a lot of electronic music tended to sound,well,electronic.

Since JMJ was drawing from more classical roots,it sounded very,very different from what people like Kraftwerk were doing.

I would argue Kraftwerk were probably more innovative than most of their contemporaries though including JMJ and Vangelis.

There are certain motifs I hear in their songs which I hear even now.

An example with Spacelab:

https://youtu.be/VH0Js8qdnyA?t=42

Listen to the varying pitch baseline - most electronic music at the time was more like a "beep beep beep" at a single pitch. Spacelab had a varying pitch baseline which had a degree of depth as it phased in and out.

Now listen to a famous song from Madonna:

https://youtu.be/a4tD8dy9Reg?t=15

Listen to the base-line and its not the only song which used something similar.

Another one:

https://youtu.be/6b5XHOuxk2U?t=102

Listen to that part especially on headphones.

That feeling of "depth" with the simulated doppler effect as the train enters the tunnel. Something taken for granted with modern music.

Remember stereo was at its infancy in the 1970s and much of it could be left/right(although bands like Pink Floyd did try experimenting with this too).

Tangerine Dream have done some pretty good stuff, IMHO. What comes to mind is the score for The Keep, Thief and of course the live album Poland. Amazing stuff. Chris Franke as a solo artist has been a bit hit and miss. On one side there's Babylon 5, as you mentioned, which is pretty good. On the other side there is Walker Texas Ranger. 'Nuff said.

They also did the Streethawk theme!!