A Tour Of The City or the Future...

While there have been many comparisons and similarities to Vangelis' Blade Runner soundtrack, one essential ingredient to The City is it's dream-like musical realm. The first track Dawn can be an alternate take of the opening city sequence of the film BladeRunner. However, on careful listening it takes on a soothing dreamscape ambiance. The track Morning Papers is a repetitive yet smooth background jazz laden number that echoes both a casual stroll throughout the city and yet propels the listener into a futuristic night club or jazz lounge. This work by Vangelis is both moody and tame with underlying tones of melancholy machinations. With a song like Twilight you can almost feel the chill in the air and the different odors or scents associated with a city that is winding down for the night. The best track is Good To See You with its hypnotic sound and female dialogue...This is one mellow Vangelis title of the touring mind not to be missed !

Masterpiece

Vangelis is special, not for all those pioneering elentronic works he created over the years but because he expressed his character by rejecting the modern computerized way of composing, declining the soft-synths and putting his faith on his old Yamaha synth. He even, gave up electronic music and turned into classical - a pathetic way of expressing his emotions againist Cut&Paste%Timestrecthing on CD samples.
He likes to touch the keys, enjoys the moment of true hardware creation experiment..and 'The City', underrated by the time it was released, is I think the major album by which you can understand Vangelis' mood of patience and elite choice of ambient soundscapes.
I listened all of his work (except a few collector albums that's hard to find like 'Sex Power') through my childhood to help me in tutoring how to compose digitally, and I can easily say 'The City' is one of the best amongst them.
So how does 'The City' sound like? As a concept, 'The City' is like a short story narrating several instances of an ordinary city from morning to night time including simple conversations of a man (Roman Polanski) buying a sandwitch from a buffet, or a woman (about 30 years old) talking with his boyfriend on telephone..step voices, small motorcycle samples, coins etc.
Those samples provide a very imaginative atmosphere of an (alien) city, I use the word alien because the album was recorded in an hotel room in Rome, and I think Vangelis felt the charm of being in an unfamiliar surrounding, and even I dare to think that this album was recorded mainly in nighttime.
On the other hand, the music without samples is extraordinary too, we are here presented the sounds of digital synthesizers with some detailed midi aoutomation. For instance there are distortion guitar sounds coming from a digital synth but used like percussion for backing the melody. Also the song named 'Nerve Center' includes again the distortion guitar sound but more interestingly it uses a digital choir sound for leading and again digital emulation of an OBX like solo synth -- This kind of sound combination is very hard to find. Also in the begining tracks we are faced with solo cello and pipe sounds (I think a Shakuachi sample) which I've never seen used in such a way before.
Overall, the album is patient, and to fully understand the idea behind this record, you must also listen it, in a patient mood. Very extraordinary use of drums and electric basses (of course coming from digital synths) also gives the flavor of 'maturity' atmosphere flowing above.
I think Vangelis should go in this 'The City' direction of composing but he made the mistake of 'Conquest of Paradise' a commercial and the most invaluable record he has ever made..and lose his way..
I hope, he will one day, return making electronic music and should I wait for this day to come..

what a weird coincidence!

The City is an interesting and ambient album from one of my favorite "weird" artists- Vangelis. I guarantee you, after three minutes, it will become the weirdest fun you'll have listening to new age since enya's cd Watermark! It is also,at times, an extremely emotional and mystical piece of artwork. More than once I wondered how Vangelis read all our minds with tracks like Morning Papers or Good To See You. VANGELIS one of a treasured few artists who creates music that seems to create not only a state of mind, but a striking mental image! Many people misinterpret this album as tour of a city of the future. I can see where they are coming from, but I will always The City as a mystical journey through a city of the present. But alas, this cd does have some lemon juice in it. The cool-as-ice song called Nerve Centre is over and done with too fast, and right when it's becoming more wildly exciting and dazzling than before! Also, Good To See You and Dawn are a little lengthy; they spend too much time gathering up speed and don't shimmer enough to deliver Vangelis' best work. Also, even though Roman Polanski has a great voice, sometimes I feel Vangelis romantisized the tracks too much by adding sound effects along with his music. The effects are not really necessary in many of the songs. Overall, I highly reccommend this album, even though I'll always treasure Antarctica as Vangelis' best comfort food, Direct as his best far fetched rock opera, and Opera Sauvage and China as his best tone poems. Yee-ha!