Music is Vast: A Tribute to the Music and Legacy of Vangelis

Various Artists

Various Artists - Vangelis
Bandcamp

When Vangelis died on 17 May 2022 (aged 79), it hit harder than I could have imagined. Coming only weeks after the death of Klaus Schulze, I found myself in a fug of unproductive thoughts about mortality and what we really leave behind when we depart. It’s probably my age.

I was thrown a lifeline by @KidNarco over on Twitter who DMd me to say, “Vangelis tribute compilation? I appear to be ready.” I slept on it and in the cold light of day I realised that it had to be done. For Vangelis, for me, for Kid Narco. For all of us. I went back to him. “I’ve been thinking that this is a pretty fucking great idea.” I told him. It was on.

So the call went out and as happened with my previous compilation adventure, “The Isolation Tapes” I was inundated with music of astounding range and quality. And quantity. It took me too long to realise that the magic in this one would be greatly diminished by taking a tiny selection of the tracks, constrained as we would be by the length of the sides of a vinyl album. As the project is essentially to raise money for The Trussell Trust, I also ruled out double albums, triple albums and box sets as being too expensive. Eventually.

The whole process has been pretty slow, but the time taken is rewarded in this brilliant collection. Not everything made it through, but this final selection of music inspired by the great man is a wonderful thing. It’s great that we got representations of music from across his vast range of styles, but when compiling, I tried to select things which caught his essence. That indefinable thing that always made a Vangelis track a Vangelis track – that’s what I went went looking for. I think I found it.
And now you have too.

Colin, Castles in Space, March 2023

tracklisting

1. The Electric Pentacle – Soundhenge Solstice 04:05
2. Sound Effects Of Death and Horror – The Earth Among The Stars 05:08
3. Shuttered Lines – Derek’s Electric Sheep 03:36
4. N Λ Ṇ D – (What We Need is) Peace 05:03
5. Shardlowe – VanAngel 05:08
6. P. G. Warren – Los Angeles 04:27
7. Concretism – La Gallega (Into The Horizon) 05:30
8. Adrian Carter – MidEngine 02:35
9. The British Stereo Collective – Odysséas Ascending 06:03
10. James Adrian Brown – Blade Running 2 03:18
11. Wealdham – Alpha Beta 05:43
12. Hawksmoor – Ataraxia 03:17
13. Andrew Hartshorn – A Voyage To Beta Cancri 03:36
14. Audio Obscura – Magnesia 03:05
15. tommymono – Autumn Descends on the Forest 08:25
16. Parker and Bradburn – Ice Sheet 02:44
17. Bit Cloudy – Mount Evangelos Theme 04:31
18. Grotesqo – Bladerunner 2149 01:37
19. SOTOYOTO – I Have To Go 05:27
20. Cautionary Guides – The Challenge of Space 04:00
21. clocolan – Αντίο 01:38
22. Patrick R Pärk – Conquest of the Soul (For Vangelis) 03:17
23. Ruptured World – The Provenance (La Renaissance des Animaux) 07:33
24. HyMettus Woods – Crystal Greece 07:18
25. Dave Clarkson – Jewel of the Aegean Sea 03:53
26. Early Remains – Clear At Last 06:32
27. Echaskech – Gulfoss 03:01
28. Bernard Grancher – Ordre Evasif et Decision Inquieta 06:10
29. The Eightsome Reel – Church of Ernest 07:22
30. Alan Sinclair – Within Reach 02:38
31. João Paulo Daniel – Folclore Impressionista 03:51
32. Forest Robots – Where the Garden and the Forest Meet 04:28
33. Future Children – Cotard’s Delusion 01:43
34. Keith Seatman – By Moving Light 03:43
35. Horror Dwarf – Moment 04:03
36. Anton Witter – Humdrum 04:28
37. PolarVoidX – Futures 07:30
38. Jonathan Goode – For The Known Man 04:39
39. Kl(aüs) – Ocean of New Worlds 04:39
40. Polypores – All That Is, Or Ever Was 05:27
41. Grotesqo – L’Ambience 03:46
42. Wealdham – Solstice Bowls 08:01
43. Liam White – Thallium 05:56
44. Sick Robot – Star Crash 04:23
45. Occurence – Louise Penny 06:09
46. Shadow Lab – Freedom to Eternity 04:34
47. Martin Watson – Victor Alpha (November) 07:10
48. Preston Outatime – Cut the Knot 04:24
49. Moray Macdonald – The Great Gate Of Tannhauser 04:38
50. Subphotic – Muse 05:46
51. Monochrome Echo – Evángelos 03:37
52. Benjamin Finger – Out There 03:11
53. Paul Smith – Mercury Delay Line 04:55
54. Runners – Astral Requiems 03:52
55. Secret Nuclear – Five Fifty One and Fifty Seconds 04:23
56. Shedir – Wherever You Are 02:44
57. The Home Current – We Are All Rituals 03:10
58. The British Stereo Collective – Something Wicked This Way Comes 03:19
59. George Sarah – St. Catherine (Et Dórmiunt in Somno Pacis) 02:31
60. Mike Dickinson – Storm Chorus 05:40
61. The Metamorph – Christmas on Ganymede 01:25
62. The Night Monitor – On the Track of Discovery 04:34
63. SOTOYOTO – Ambition 05:35
64. Torpa – Agria to Paris 04:05
65. Grotesqo – Untitled Amb 01:40
66. Smoke Test – Weird Flex 07:33
67. Perrache – A and Ω 05:57
68. Aaron Ellis – Introduction 18:52
69. Anonymous – Untitled 03:05

credits

A huge thanks to all the artists who have given their time and work freely in support of this project. Planetary sized gratitude to Antony Ryan at RedRedPaw who mastered this collection. Thanks Antony. ❤️

Thanks to Phil Heeks for support, enthusiasm and the cover artwork. Thanks to Nathan Brenville for the Vangelis Portrait included in the download. and big thanks to Emlyn for suggesting the Vangelis quote which became the title of the album.