Vangelis Earth LP 1982 RARE Canadian cover Mercury/Polygram NEAR MINT disc

$

27

Vangelis

EARTH


Mercury Records VAN_01 LP 1982  (Canada)

Released in 1973, Earth is Vangelis' first real solo album. It was made in Paris after the release of 666 and the eventual dissolution of Aphrodite's Child, but before the epic decadence (nearly to Ken Russell levels) of Vangelis' 1975 effort Heaven and Hell. There's plenty at work on Earth, from the straightforward Euro-rock of the era, to progressive flourishes, to flashes of mysticism, and those ever-prominent synthesizers. So the record represents a moment in time, for sure -- Vangelis seems stuck between rock, pop, and an epic scope -- but for the same reason it's an intriguing, engaging listen, particularly for completists. Opener "Come On" is a lank-haired stomper -- it doesn't really go anywhere beyond Argiris Koulouris' blistering lead guitar work, but it's a fun two minutes. "We Were All Uprooted" switches gears radically. An eerie flute drifts through thunderclaps and sifting rainfall, and the percussion plods forebodingly; it has a primordial feel, like a soundtrack to man's discovery of bipedal movement. "We became a diaspora," a narrator says. "An unnamed nation of bastards." The shorter "City" is a street scene with a faraway chiming bell, while the equally brief "Ritual" offers ambitious, wordless vocal harmonies over a spare arrangement for electric piano and fantastically reverberating percussion. They're bridges on Earth for the weightier pieces, adding crucial continuity between the traditional feel of the harmonies and tables in "Sunny Earth" and the airy hopefulness and prettily shimmering synthesizers of "My Face in the Rain" ("I'm happy/And that's all I know"). Other Earth highlights include "Let It Happen," which fuses the psychedelic rock of the 1970's Aphrodite's Child LP It's Five O'Clock with Vangelis' expressive synth work, and the closing suite, "Watch Out" and "Song," where progressive tendencies meet amidst classical piano, stargazing keyboards, and the return of the "Uprooted" narrator's flowery poetics. Earth's stylistic melting pot means it's not always effective. But its creative drive can't be faulted, and Vangelis consistently favors melody over melodrama.

Tracklist
A1 Come On  Lead Vocals – Robert Fitoussi  Written-By – V.O. Papathanassiou  2:09
A2 We Are All Uprooted  Narrator – Warren ShapovitchWritten-By – V.O. Papathanassiou, R. Dassin  6:48
A3 Sunny Earth  Written-By – V.O. Papathanassiou  6:38
A4 He-O  Lead Vocals – Robert Fitoussi Written-By – A. Koulouris, R. Dassin 4:09
B1 Ritual  Written-By – V.O. Papathanassiou  2:45
B2 Let It Happen  Lead Vocals – Robert Fitoussi  Written-By – V.O. Papathanassiou, R. Dassin  4:20
B3 The City  Written-By – V.O. Papathanassiou  1:17
B4 My Face In The Rain  Lead Vocals – Robert Fitoussi Written-By – V.O. Papathanassiou, R. Dassin 4:19
B5 Watch Out Written-By – V.O. Papathanassiou 2:50
B6 A Song Narrator – Warren Shapovitch Written-By – V.O. Papathanassiou, R. Dassin 3:32

Manufactured By – PolyGram Inc.
Distributed By – PolyGram Distribution Inc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Phonogram S.A.
Copyright (c) – PolyGram Inc.
Printed By – Shorewood Packaging Corp. Of Canada Ltd.
Pressed By – Quality Records Limited
Recorded At – Studio Europa Sonor
Mastered At – Disques SNB Ltée.

Artwork – Stephen Dennis
Artwork [Graphic And Artistic Co-ordination] – Richard Desmarais (2)
Bass, Backing Vocals – Robert Fitoussi
Engineer – Didier Pitois, Didier Périer, Roger Roche
Guitar, Lute, Backing Vocals – Anargyros Koulouris
Keyboards, Percussion, Tabla, Flute, Backing Vocals – Vangelis
Mastered By – Al
Producer, Arranged By – Vangelis

Recorded at Europa-Sonor, studios "poste parisien"

Vinyl is NEAR MINT in a plastic inner sleeve in a picture sleeve in VERY GOOD condition (very light ring wear)

Note About Shipping To The U.S.
We are located in Canada, but have registered ourselves on eBay.com instead of eBay.ca because it gives us significantly better global exposure.  The problem with this is that eBay wants us to charge shipping appropriate to US, where media mail and other options make for fairly reasonable delivery costs. We tried it for a while but ended up losing money on shipping or having to cancel the orders because we couldn't afford to ship for those rates. To manage this we have set the US shipping to run a calculator based on an American location (we chose Plattsburgh as fairly close) and charging according to UPS pricing.  This avoids the cancellation issue, but appears to the buyer to be a prohibitive shipping cost and misrepresents the shipping as being only expedited. If you give us your postal code we will see if we can offer a more reasonable option, but generally we can get a single LP by air to most places in the continental US for $11, a few bucks less for ground.
Thanks for shopping Sir Helmitt,
Jeff Green, e-sales