Introduction
This time we present you with a mystery, a riddle yet unsolved... In the second half
of 1977 an Italian punk-rock group with the name Chrisma
(based on the member names, Christina Moser and Maurizio Arcieri)
recorded an album in Vangelis' studios. It is produced by Vangelis' brother Niko
Papathanassiou and it has been claimed that Vangelis played on it himself, but this has
never been confirmed. One year later they returned with "Hibernation",
which is surrounded by the same mysteries...
Tracklist
Discography
LP
1977 Polydor 2448 060 Italy
1977 Polydor 2480 461 Greece
1977 Philips 6323 059 Italy
Single
1977 Lola/Black silk stocking Polydor 2060 156 Italy
1977 Lola/Black silk stocking Polydor 2121 353 West Germany/France
1977 Black silk stockings/Lola/Wanderlust Polydor 2121 360 UK
1977 Lola/Mandoia Philips Holland
1977 C'Rock/Mandoia Polydor 2060 176 Italy
Credits
Recording
studio
The album is recorded at Nemo Studios in London - England, and Phonogram Studios - Milan.
Miscellania
| Whether Vangelis actually plays on this album or not is still unknown.
If he did
cooperate, he is not credited in any way, but that is no proof he didn't.
He could have,
he had the opportunity to do so, but chances are that it is in fact
his brother Niko
fiddling with the keys here. Even sound engineer Keith Spencer-
Allen, who was there during
recording, could not confirm (nor deny) Vangelis'
cooperation....When asked, his brother Niko denied Vangelis plays on this
album...
Will we ever know? |
| What we do know however is that Vangelis cooperated with Chrisma for the first
time in
1976, when he composed the songs which would be Chrisma's first single
Amore / Sweet
Baby Sue. Vangelis is credited under his 'certified' pseudonym
"Richard Broadbaker",
which is also used on the 1978 single Red square /
When the cat's away by Mama O. (a reference to
Vangelis O. Papathanassiou).
The same pseudonym has been used on several occasions,
first of all in 1973 on
obscure releases by "The Yumas" and "Humanity".
Finally the name appears on
Stavros Logaridis' album "SE
ALLI GI" in 1980, next to a cover of "Bird of Love"
titled "Na m'agapas". |
| In 1977 Chrisma released their second single "U", both on 7" and
12". The song
is
a 'remake' of the song "Who" by Odyssey (a reference to
Vangelis' middle-name),
composed by Robert Fitoussi in 1974, which
Vangelis is credited for arranging and
producing. The same song was also recorded by Demis Roussos in 1977 for his
album "Magic", under the name "I dig you". |
| Italian punk-rock group Chrisma (later also known as Krisma)
returned in 1979 to
record another album at Nemo, this one titled "Hibernation", which is
also disputed
as a Vangelis cooperation.... |
Lyrics
For all the lyrics of this album, go to :
Vangelis and Chrisma lyrics : Chinese
Restaurant
Review
Chrisma (and later Krisma) were a kind of early Italian incarnation of
Moloko. Both are boy/girl combinations making slightly wacky albums, where the focus is
more on style and a certain weird cool image rather than being musically very interesting.
The band-name is constructed from the first names of Christina Moser and Maurizio Arcieri,
who also claim a punk-influence when starting out with the band in 1976. Well,
maybe
we'll have to take their word for it, as it certainly doesn't show up in
their music, which is more like synth-pop. Which brings us to the Vangelis connection, the
nature of which has been a hot topic in Vangelis-related discussions for years.
Apparently, Polydor's Italian branch signed the group after which they were contacted by
Niko Papathanassiou (Vangelis' older brother, who was employed by Polydor at the time) who
proceeded to be involved in their first two projects "Chinese Restaurant" and
"Hibernation" as arranger, producer and multi-instrumentalist. Niko persuaded
Vangelis to lend them his Nemo studio during the 1977 summer holiday period to record what
would become the "Chinese Restaurant" album (although the finishing touches were
applied in a Milan studio). Vangelis' regular engineer at the time, Keith Spencer-Allen,
helped out technically and computer-narrated the final "Thank You" track, his
then girl-friend Veronique
Skawinska took the large number of photographs featured on the
gatefold-sleeve and Niko was allowed
to use his brother's
synthesizer set-up. That, in all
likelihood, is the whole story, because if indeed
Vangelis played some of the music
himself, it
is inaudible. The only real candidate for this anyway is the track called
"Lycee" which at least obviously
uses his instruments (slight echoes of
"Beaubourg" here). But the actual, rather hesitant-sounding playing on it
doesn't bear Vangelis' signature unless, extremely unlikely, he really didn't put his mind
to it or something. The other tracks don't sound like they even used the Nemo instruments,
or at best only occasionally.
Vangelis
switched to Polydor himself the next year (continuing the "China" theme for his
first project there) and asked Christina and Maurizio to return the favour on his 1980
"See You Later" album, where apparently they provided the Italian lyrics and
voices at the end of "Suffocation". Interestingly, that album is almost
Chrisma-like in its wackiness, so it could well be a fair guess that, over the course of
all those Chinese dinners, they might have talked Vangelis into doing something different
on the rather odd "See You Later".
At least on that album there's some decent music, which can't really be claimed for
"Chinese Restaurant". The whole affair sounds rather bland, neither Christina
nor Maurizio (who obviously took a leaf out of the book of Fleetwood Mac's Lindsay
Buckingham) are great vocalists, and the song-material is average at best.
"Lola" is a decent song, the mere usage of Vangelis-sounds is enough to inject a
bit of atmosphere in "Lycee" and poor Keith Spencer-Allen must have been bribed
("2 Chinese meals for free !") into parodying his contribution to "Albedo
0.39" on the final "Thank You". But this band was always more to do with
style than content, and probably succeeded there.
Review by Ivar de Vries
Movements |