Vangelis - Spiral

Japanese only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD - playable on all CD players) pressing. BMG. 2008. Album Description

wow

never listened to any of his music but wow im hooked and looking out for moreeeeeeeeeeeeeee May 29, 2007

"Spiral" is among my favourites albums on CD!

I won this CD as a Birhday gift. This one is really fantastic, because Vangelis can create an atmosphere with a lot of magic, which gives us an impression of infinite somewhere and unknown (vide "To The Unknown Man"). And, look, this title was released in 1977. Another curiosity was the track "3 + 3", which was used to playing on several channels of television, on radio stations in Brazil.
To sum up, I like this album a lot. "Spiral" has to remastered several times. April 12, 2007

Another fine example of progressive electronic from Vangelis

This 1977 release is another great Vangelis album and once again demonstrates his skill as a fantastic composer and familiarity with a wide range of instruments (synthesizers, percussion, and drums). The music of Vangelis is varied enough that it could defy description, yet it seems clear that "progressive electronic" aptly describes Spiral. The four tracks on the album range in length from 5'14' to 9'35" and cover a wide range of dynamics and moods. Synth textures/timbres of all description are used on the album ranging from the cheery and upbeat to the spacey and gloomy, making for a very interesting listening experience. Fortunately, the synth textures he uses are very warm and natural sounding and Vangelis is extremely clever with respect to orchestration.

Although a complete list of synthesizers is not provided in the credits, being a bit of a synthesizer nut I did a little bit of digging on the internet and came up with some detailed notes regarding synth use on Spiral. Apparently, 1977 was the year that the Yamaha CS80 came out and Vangelis used it to take the place of the ARP Pro Soloist that he had played on several earlier recordings - in fact, the natural sounding tones of the CS80 are featured on every track. Other pieces of equipment used by Vangelis include the ARP Odyssey; Korg Minipops 120; Roland System 100; and an ARP sequencer (this instrument is used a lot too). For those of you that are curious, the Korg Minipops is a drum computer - my guess is that the drum computer was used on To the Unknown Man although I am not positive. Vangelis also used three effects units to create the odd sounding voice on Ballad including the Roland Space Echo 201; Boss Chorus Ensemble; and the EMS Vocoder 1000.

All in all, this is yet another great album of progressive electronic music from Vangelis and is recommended along with Heaven and Hell (1975); Albedo 0.39 (1976); and Opera Sauvage (1979). February 14, 2007

Where's the album?

It's a pity the album isn't available! It's one of my favourite albums. March 8, 2005

Perfect Mood Music

This album promises to put you in whatever mood you may.

"Spiral" is a vicious nor'easter the size of The Perfect Storm, "Ballad" is wistful, "Dervish" is frenzied jazz, "Unknown Man" is a prelude to "Chariots of Fire", and "3+3" completes the set.

Companion to Albedo 0.39 for the Vangelis Starter Collection. July 31, 2001

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