See You Later
| See You Later | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Album by Vangelis | ||
| Released | 1980 | |
| Genre | Electronica | |
| Length | 39 min 32 s | |
| Record label | Polydor | |
| Professional reviews | ||
| Allmusic.com review | 1.5 stars out of 5 | link |
| Vangelis Chronology | ||
| Opera Sauvage (1979) |
See You Later (1980) |
Chariots of Fire (1981) |
See You Later is a 1980 album by the Greek artist Vangelis. It breaks quite violently with the style he had employed in the 1970s, relying much more on vocals and being more experimental and returning (in many respects) to his early 1970s work.
Note: Vangelis originally concieved this album back in 1975, but deemed it too radical to release at the time, and continued on with albedo 0.39 etc, until 1980 and returned to this album.
Tracks
- I Can't Take it Anymore (5:42)
- Multitrack Suggestion (5:36)
- Memories of Green (5:48)
- Not A Bit - All Of It (3:00)
- Suffocation (9:26)
- See You Later (10:22)
Certain tracks recorded during the 'SYL' sessions in 1980 at Nemo Studios did not make it to the final release, these were:
- My Love (4:02)
- Neighbours Above (4:48)
- Gestation (7:28)
Two singles were also released by Polydor in 1980 and both feature Peter Marsh (Vocals) and Vangelis (All Instruments), they were:
- Doesn't Matter (7")
- My Love / Domestic Logic 1 (7")
Instruments and style
Vangelis plays all instruments: synthesizers, electric piano, grand piano and drums. The Roland CR-5000 drum machine is used extensively. Michel Ripoche plays the violin on 4. Vocals featured are by Jon Anderson (tracks 5 and 6), Peter Marsh (track 1), the members of the Italian group Chrisma (on 5) and Cherry Vanilla (track 4 narrative).
Note: Vangelis has never used the TR-808, in studio pictures around the time of 1980, the Roland drum machine shown is a CR-5000.
Individual tracks
"I Can't Take It Anymore" is sung by Peter Marsh through a vocoder over a deep synthesizer glissando bass, a synthesizer choir and CR-5000 hihats.
"Multitrack Suggestion" builds on a polysynth and upbeat CR-5000 pulse; the choir sings some terms associated with analog synthesizer technology (VCO, VCF).
"Memories of Green" is a slow piano piece against a backdrop of synthesizer noise and the bleeps of a computer game. In later interviews, sound engineer Raphael Preston revealed that he had to play the game without losing for the duration of the piece. It would later appear again on the Blade Runner soundtrack.
"Not A Bit - All Of It" shows an unexpected side of Vangelis - it sounds like a radio commercial for cosmetics, with comical narrative and vocals against an upbeat rhumba tune.
"Suffocation" was, according to later interviews, inspired by a chemical incident in Italy (10 July 1976 at Seveso, Lombardy in the La Roche factory). It employs the CR-5000 and a saw wave synthesizer melody, followed by an eerie brass and megaphone emergency announcements in Italian. The second (slower) half of the piece features vocals by Jon Anderson and narrative in Italian.
"See You Later" is a rather jazzy but dark-mooded epic piece, with Vangelis on electric piano and staccato male atonal choir. About halfway it slows down, with a child narrative in French, but picks up briefly before a slow finale in minor with Anderson's vocals.