''Albedo 0.39'' is a studio album by the 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 1976. It was the second album produced by Vangelis in

Nemo Studios Nemo Studios was a recording studio in London, planned, built and used by Greek composer Vangelis between 1975 and 1987.Richard Clews. ''Inside the Synth Lab'', in ''Sound on Sound'', November 1997 issueAvailable online./ref> Numerous highlights ...

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 ...

, which was his creative base until the late 1980s. It contrasts with his previous album, '' Heaven and Hell'', which was classically inspired and choral, while ''Albedo 0.39'' has blues and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

overtones. It was his first Top 20 UK album.

Overview

It is a concept album themed around space physics. Its title is inspired by the idea of a planet's

albedo Albedo (; ) is the measure of the diffuse reflection of solar radiation out of the total solar radiation and measured on a scale from 0, corresponding to a black body that absorbs all incident radiation, to 1, corresponding to a body that refl ...

, the proportion of the light it receives that is reflected back into space. The album title refers to the average albedo value of the planet Earth as it was calculated in 1976 (the current value is 0.30). From the explanation on the back of the LP cover : "The reflecting power of a planet or other non-luminous body. A perfect reflector would have an Albedo of 100%. The Earth's Albedo is 39%, or 0.39". As with '' Heaven and Hell'', it was performed at the Royal Albert Hall in 1977.

Release

The album reached #18 on the

UK Album Charts 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 C ...

. In 2011 the album was included along with '' Heaven and Hell'' and '' Spiral'' in a 3-CD box set series "Original Album Classics" by Sony, RCA and Legacy Recordings. In 2013 the album was released in a remastered and reissued

digipak Optical disc packaging is the packaging that accompanies CDs, DVDs, and other formats of optical discs. Most packaging is rigid or semi-rigid and designed to protect the media from scratches and other types of exposure damage. Jewel case ...

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 ...

Instruments

Vangelis plays all instruments. As well as synthesizers, other instruments include acoustic drums, bass, percussion, a xylophone, a

gamelan Gamelan () ( jv, ꦒꦩꦼꦭꦤ꧀, su, ᮌᮙᮨᮜᮔ᮪, ban, ᬕᬫᭂᬮᬦ᭄) is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. T ...

(track 2), and recordings of the

speaking clock A speaking clock or talking clock is a live or recorded human voice service, usually accessed by telephone, that gives the correct time. The first telephone speaking clock service was introduced in France, in association with the Paris Observ ...

and the Apollo moon landing. The only vocal is the narrative on the closing title track by Vangelis' sound engineer, Keith Spencer-Allen.

Composition

"Pulstar" builds on a synthesizer pulse sequence, a main line and various other synthesizer brass lines. It ends with a recording of the

. "Freefall" builds on a

sequence and a synthesizer line. "

Mare Tranquillitatis Mare Tranquillitatis (Latin ''tranquillitātis'', the Sea of Tranquillity or Sea of Tranquility; see spelling differences) is a lunar mare that sits within the Tranquillitatis basin on the Moon. It is the first location on another world to be ...

" is a quiet synthesizer piece featuring recordings of several

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label= Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label ...

moon landings. " Main Sequence" is propelled by a pulsed synthesizer sequence, along which a drums-based jazz track develops. It calms down and flows into the next song, "Sword of Orion", built on an arpeggio chord, melody, and percussion. On "Alpha", Vangelis employs a composing technique he would use extensively on later albums (e.g. '' Direct''): a simple theme of a few bars is developed through increasingly complex instrumentation. Instruments include a slow synthesizer arpeggio, synthesizer mallet melody line, xylophone, percussion and (later) acoustic drums. The " Nucleogenesis" suite is a collage that conveys a somewhat darker mood, employing a church organ, an organ synthesizer pulse, various lines of Vangelis' patent synthesizer brass, acoustic drums and basses. The title track, "Albedo 0.39" builds on waxing and waning synthesizer chords and arpeggios, while a voice, reputedly the album's engineer Keith Spencer-Allen, narrates various physical properties of the Earth, such as its mass, length of the year in various measurements, and, finally, its albedo.

Reception

Mike DeGagne 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 the tracks as "mesmerizing trips of assorted rhythms that include elements of

and mild rock", that along with "Albedo 0.39", "the two parts of "Nucleogenesis" are among the strongest cuts that keep his cosmic theme from deviating, while the livelier "Pulstar" involves some impressive instrumental range and electronic buoyancy". He concluded that "the stretches of notes and rhythms don't become weary or monotonous at any point of the album", and that "intention of conjuring up the vastness and immensity of space is soundly accomplished". Henri Stirk from Background Magazine rated the 2013 edition by

4/5 stars.

Track listing

All songs written and arranged by

Personnel

*Vangelis — synthesizers, keyboards, drums, bass, and all other sounds ;Production *Vangelis — producer, arranger *Keith Spencer-Allen — engineer, vocals on "Albedo 0.39" *Graves/Aslett Assoc. — sleeve design *Ray Massey — cover photograph *David Ellis — Vangelis photograph

Appearances in other media

*"Pulstar" was used as the theme music for a children's

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

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