China promotional LP with booklet
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Review
Judging
from the Chinese quote already appearing on the sleeve of the 1977 Spiral album,
sometime in the seventies Vangelis developed an interest in the ancient culture
and philosophy of China that culminated in this first recording to be released
on the Polydor label. The company took an active interest in the project by
releasing a gatefold first edition of the LP with a booklet containing a lengthy
essay and many unique pictures as well as probably ordering the shooting a
promotional film showing Vangelis doing recording work in his studio. From the
essay we learn that Vangelis considers his musical philosophy to coincide with
that of the ancient Chinese, who state that music can have a positive effect on
the whole body rather than just entertaining the intellect. Another interest of
Vangelis mainly concentrated in the seventies, namely in all kinds of
percussion, also coincided nicely with this project, which provided the
opportunity to bring in some old Chinese instruments. It seems Vangelis didn't
actually visit China at that time, but learned about it through the instruments
and by reading books, with some quotes appearing in the booklet.
During the album's 40 minutes, Vangelis manages to capture many diverse elements
of China and its people, at least the way it was centuries ago: its tortured
history (in The Long March), their
philosophy (in Yin & Yang), their
story-telling (as in The Little Fete),
the tranquility of its country-side (as in The Tao Of Love), its vastness (as in Himalaya). Adding to the atmosphere, the album-cover used for all
subsequent regular releases apparently shows Vangelis himself swimming in sort
of turquoise-colored water. The authentic Chinese sound was designed especially
for this album and is a noticeable improvement over the previous RCA albums. It
manifests itself through the use of gongs, acoustic guitar-like sounds, various
high ethereal sounds, all very pretty in a delicate way. However, some
traditional western instruments are also used – at the end of The
Long March Vangelis shows us how good a piano-player he can be and old
friend Michel Ripoche from the Paris days has a nice violin-part in The
Plum Blossom. The fine Himalaya
track shows Vangelis' ability to maintain the listener's interest for over 10
minutes even though being rather static in its musical argument but still not
purely ambient.
As a nice side-project Vangelis visited a London children's school to record
their vocals on top of the Long March track, released as the B-side to the
single released from the album. Its A-side, a subsequent compilation album and
concert favorite, adds to the confusion of what is actually the Long March
track. On the CD-release it is prefixed with some introductory music and called Chung
Kuo, with only the piano-part following it and musically clearly related to
it called The Long March. However, the CD-release seems to have gotten it
wrong altogether, the introductory music should be called Chung Kuo, all that follows is The
Long March, with only the first chunk appearing on the single.
Review by Ivar de Vries
Movements
