The City --- Vangelis --- 1990 (Atlantic)
A very strange album indeed, but one of my favourite Vangelis recordings. Apparently recorded entirely in a hotel room, “The City” puts to music and effects one day in the life of a city, lthough this city is never referred to by name, and could be any city in any country. The genericity (no half-pun intended) that runs through the normal events that take place during this album is certainly intentional: there are traffic sounds, people working in offices, people vending on the streets. It's a typical day in the life, but the life is not really the life of the people who bustle through the busy city streets, intent on their daily tasks and concentrating on their own worries and concerns, but more the living, breathing heartbeat and pulse of the city through which they wend their way.
It opens, of course, on atmospheric keyboard and synth as “Dawn” is fittingly the first track, though some well-orchestrated trumpet adds a real feeling of loneliness to the piece, and there's a sense of something slowly approaching, the sun peeping over the flat line of the horizon and thrusting its first questing fingers across the sky, touching the tops of office buildings and striking little sharp reflections off windows, breathing on the rainsoaked streets and drawing thin clouds of steam into the air, where it pirouettes and gavottes gracefully before dissipating in the first blush of dawn.
As the track fades out, we hear footsteps, then voices. One of them, apparently, is that of director Roman Polanski, who it seems was a friend of the composer's. As tannoy annoucements drone on in the background, he asks if the morning papers have arrived yet, a shake of the head and he instead asks for a sandwich. Fishing change out of his pocket, and taking the packet he walks away as breathy synth and bright piano carries “Morning papers” on a breezy little melody, a slow but steady beat mimicking the steps of a man as he unhurriedly walks along the street, perhaps glancing at streetlights or morning clouds, or squinting at the new morning sun. Nice sprinkling keyboards, possibly vibraphone or something similar (yeah, I know it's all on synth, but what am I going to say: nice synth backing to the synth that runs the main synth melody?) and some slow choral vocals with what sounds like birdsong, possibly evoking early morning memories, like walking through a park?
One thing Vangelis is good at --- one of the many things --- is painting an impression of a subject, theme or scene with music. Here you can quite easily follow the progress of the city as it moves from dawn to early morning and on into, eventually, evening as it technically stops being a day. “Nerve centre” introduces hard rock guitar, grinding chords and more solid keyboards with a heavier beat as the day gets going properly, and people head to, or begin, their workday. There's a certain industrial sound about this, with hammer-on-steel type things, almost mechanical, definitely giving the impression of work being carried out. The tempo has been upped, but only very slightly, as the lazy morning gives way to the working day, and people set about their daily tasks. As the piece nears its climax high-voiced choral synths take over from the guitar, pushing their way to the fore as the music gets louder, more insistent and more powerful.
The sound of a motorcycle engine revving and driving away (a courier?) opens “Side streets” and a mournful cello sound slows everything down after the fever pitch the preceding track reached. Stabbing, short synth chords, of the type Vangelis is well known for, punctuate the melody, with light, bongo-style percussion, then more choral synths which sound a little desperate, perhaps someone in a hurry to meet a deadline? Though nothing along the lines of Pink Floyd's “On the run”; kind of like the sound you make when you run too fast and your lungs can't quite keep up. The piece ends suddenly, and flows into “Good to see you”, which strolls along nicely on a relaxed beat with more cello or violin on the synth, as the working day snakes on, towards its close.
Halfway through we hear one side of a telephone conversation as a girl --- Roman Polanski's wife, as it happens --- talks to (presumably) him, getting ready to wrap up for the day and head home. It's interesting, as the words are not too clearly enunciated, mostly laughter, single words --- “Yeah”, “No”, “Fine”, “Ah” and so forth ---- while the synthesised cello or violin (not sure which) continues its melody in the background. Very atmospheric, and very evocative. Then of course evening falls, as we move into “Twilight”, and there's more talk, though this time not in English and not on the phone, wind sounds and then piano and some nice classical guitar with synthy effects as everything slows down, people relax, pulling on coats and switching off computers and heading home.
A very gentle and reflective piece to take us into “Red lights”, which pumps up the tension with thick synth and vocal effects, like a chant (well, really if I'm honest, like a chant of chipmunks or something) with stabbing chords and what sounds like maybe the trumpet from the opener, a nice bassline running through the piece, but I have to say the voices really put me off, and I think the track would have worked better without them. Some African style drums break in then, giving the thing further party/celebration atmosphere, and a lone horn takes us into the closer.
Now this has always confused me. Nice cello melody, slow and stately, called “Procession”, but it is, and I know it is, almost identical to a track which appears on (indeed, closes) the Alan Parsons Project's album, “I, robot”. I know Vangelis has no need to copy or use anyone else's music, and it could be that the track the APP feature, which they call “Genesis Ch. 1 V.32”, is based on some existing melody, perhaps classical? However, I know of no such piece of music, and as their album came out in 1977 I have to assume theirs was the original. It's shown as being written by Eric Woolfson and Alan Parsons, like most of the APP's material, so no other credit can be inferred or ascribed. So did Vangelis use their track as a basis for this?
I quite honestly don't know, and it has bothered me for a long long time. I'll probably never know. In truth, it's not
all the same as the Alan Parsons Project tune, but the central theme of it is, and when it dovetails with “Genesis Ch. 1 V. 32” it's just
too similar to assume it's a coincidence. For all that, it's a great piece, and a good closer, though what exactly it says about the city in the title of the album I'm not quite sure. Perhaps it's meant to symbolise the ceremonial setting of the sun on the day, as night covers the world. I really don't know, and without knowing I can't say how it fits into the overall theme, which is a pity, as it really leaves a lot of questions --- for me, at any rate --- unanswered, and kind of spoils the ending of the album. The first time I heard it I could not believe it, and almost expected to see a credit for Woolfson/Parsons, but no, all music on this album is said to be composed by Vangelis, as is usually, perhaps always the case.
As a mini-concept, “The City” works really well, despite the above. You can really trace the day from its merest beginnings right through and out the other side, to the falling of evening and finally night. And as “Procession” fades away in the distance, the natural conclusion that this is cyclical, of course, and tomorrow the whole thing will begin again, is confirmed as we again hear Polanski's footsteps approach out of the new morning, in quest of again the morning newspapers. Life, in all its little innumerable and often banal facets, goes on, and on, and on.
TRACKLISTING
1. Dawn
2. Morning papers
3. Nerve centre
4. Side streets
5. Good to see you
6. Twilight
7. Red lights
8. Procession