''Heaven and Hell'' is a studio album by Greek electronic composer

Vangelis Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou ( el, Ευάγγελος Οδυσσέας Παπαθανασίου ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; el, Βαγγέλης, links=no ), was a Greek composer and arranger of ...

, released in November 1975 on

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

. It is the first album recorded at his Nemo Studios in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

that he used until 1987. It is a concept album based on duality. The album marks Vangelis' departure from the

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

sound on his previous album ''

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'' (1973), with adoption of a more classical synthesized sound, as well his UK chart debut.

Overview

In 1975, Vangelis moved to London where he set up his own Nemo Studios. The album was his first record made at the studio. He recalls that "I was trying to put together the studio while recording my first album, ''Heaven and Hell'', at the same time. In fact, the studio was Hell because there was unmixed concrete everywhere, builders all over the place making a lot of noise, and next to all that, there I was, trying to finish my album. There was no limit as to how much time I could spend working on the album, but I felt I just had to do it, and in any case, the only way you can complete the construction of a studio quickly is to start working in it before it's actually finished". Vangelis recalls "I don't like to prepare for a long, long, long time an album. It's more exciting for me to sit down and to play whatever comes. So this is the way that ''Heaven and Hell'' happens. I spent six weeks to make this album but I spent maybe two weeks to put down the first tracks". Vangelis played all the instruments except the choir. The album marked Vangelis' first collaboration with singer Jon Anderson, who sings on "So Long Ago, So Clear", the closing section of Part One. Vangelis recalls how they "sat down one day and I start to play the melody and he felt so comfortable that immediately he started to write the words".

Release

''Heaven and Hell'' entered the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

on January 10, 1976 and reached #31. The album gained further recognition when "Movement 3" became the theme for the American television documentary series, '' Cosmos: A Personal Voyage'' by Carl Sagan. In 1981 it was released as a single titled "Heaven and Hell (Theme from 'The Cosmos')", and reached #48 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

on 18 July 1981. In 2011 the album was included along with '' Albedo 0.39'' and '' Spiral'' in a 3-CD box set series "Original Album Classics" by Sony, RCA and Legacy Recordings. In 2013 the album was released as a remastered and reissued

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edition by

Esoteric Recordings Esoteric Recordings is a UK independent record label specialising in 1970s progressive rock, folk, psychedelic, and jazz-rock reissues as part of Cherry Red Records. Its releases include both catalogue reissues and new works from artists who ...

. The same label in September 2014 released a remastered

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limited edition.

Composition

It is one of the most important works by Vangelis as it demonstrated for the first time his combination of synthesizer,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

and a chorus in a rich

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

l style of

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroa ...

. It is one of many thematic albums by Vangelis, contrasting images of Heaven, expressed with a more tranquil sound, and Hell, which sounds more

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

Reception

Steven McDonald of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

described it as a "dark, thundering album" which "massed

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choirs and a musical depiction of all the tortures of the damned, with an impressive amount of string-driven shrieking", concluding "... it's a brilliant piece of work that should not be absent from any Vangelis collection". Henri Stirk from Background Magazine rated the 2013 edition by

3/5 stars.

Track listing

LP

Note: Early pressings of the LP include a more detailed track listing. "So Long Ago, So Clear" is listed separately on the sleeve in all editions, as opposed to the other listed tracks. ;Side one #"Heaven and Hell Part I" :* "Bacchanale" — 4:40 :* "Symphony to the Powers B" (Movements 1 and 2) — 8:18 :* "Movement 3" (from "Symphony to the Powers B") — 4:03 :* "So Long Ago, So Clear" — 5:00 ;Side two # "Heaven and Hell Part II" :* "Intestinal Bat" — 3:18 :* "Needles & Bones" — 3:22 :* "12 O'Clock" (in two parts) — 8:48 :* "Aries" — 2:05 :* "A Way" — 3:45

CD

# "Heaven and Hell Part I" — 21:58 #* includes "So Long Ago, So Clear" — 4:58 # "Heaven and Hell Part II" — 21:16

Personnel

— synthesizers,

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grand piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

* Jon Anderson — lead vocals and lyrics on "So Long Ago, So Clear" *Vana Verouti — lead vocals on "12 O'Clock" *

English Chamber Choir The English Chamber Choir is a choir based in England. History The English Chamber Choir came into existence in 1972; its earliest engagements included Haydn's ''Nelson Mass'', Fauré's ''Requiem'' and Kodály's ''Laudes Organi'' with H ...

— choir *

Guy Protheroe Guy Protheroe is a British conductor, musical director, composer, arranger, lyricist, singer, writer and musicologist/forensic musicologist. He has been conductor and musical director of the contemporary music ensemble Spectrum and the English Ch ...

— conductor ;Production *Vangelis — producer, arranger *Alan Lucas — sound engineer *Geoff Halpin — logo design *Mike Doud — sleeve concept *Paul Wakefield — photographer

References

External links

Dennis Lodewijks' Elsewhere

Official audio only videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMXLOPsYLKY each by VangelisVEVO on YouTube] {{Authority control 1975 albums Vangelis albums RCA Records albums Windham Hill Records albums