More sad news with the passing of Vangelis, legendary composer of many unforgetable tracks and soundtracks including of course, Bladerunner, Chariots of Fire and 1492:Conquest of Paradise. His soundscapes have been a constant of my adult life and it's no exggeration to say that I play a couple of his albums, if not daily, certainly weekly and have done so for years!
There's something transformative about his music so that if I need to really concentrate to get some work done, it can almost instantly transport my mind to that place where I can ignore external distractions and just get on with the job in hand. The only other artists that have this effect on me is the solo work of David Sylvian and to a slightly lessor extent, the music of Dead Can Dance, but it is Vangelis that I invariably turn to most.
While I never saw Vangelis live like I did my ultimate musical hero David Bowie, he has been in some ways just as influential in shaping my mind and creative thinking.
I mentioned that I wasn't quite done with 2013 so here's my wee list of favourite CD's from last year, not necessarily released in 2013 but they all helped form my soundtrack to the year, (and checkout 2012's list here!);
1. DAVID SYLVIAN: Gone To Earth (2006)
2. DEAD CAN DANCE: Anastasis (2012) 3. THE BLUE NILE: Walk Across Rooftops (2012)
4. DEAD CAN DANCE: Wake (2003)
5. DAVID BOWIE: The Next Day (2013)
6. DAVID SYLVIAN: Brilliant Trees (2006) 7. PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING: IEE (2013)
8. LONDON GRAMMAR: If You Wait (2013)
9. ENNIO MORRICONE: Good, Bad & Ugly (1967) 10. THOMAS DOLBY: Floating City (2011)
I came comparatively late to David Sylvian's solo career via his first excellent retrospective Everything & Nothing (2000) and resisted his earlier works thinking that all the best tracks were already on this collection and its ambient companion Camphor (2002) but finally succumbed in 2013 and while there is a little overlap with those releases, both the Gone To Earth and Brilliant Trees remasters are unexpectedly wonderful and kept me returning to them many times during the year.
As did the remaster of The Blue Nile's debut which I'd never previously had on CD despite proudly owning on vinyl back in the day! I would still say that Hats is their best but I was surprised how fresh Rooftops sounded, including the various bonus tracks.
After the excellent Albert Hall gig last year I continued my fascination with Dead Can Dance but so far have not dipped into their back catalogue thinking again that Wake will have all the best tracks, but maybe like with David Sylvian, I'll be proved wrong?
My other favourites, with the exception of Ennio Morricone, were all pretty much contemporary releases for me headed of course by Mr Bowie! What a wonderful surprise his return was and while not a true classic, The Next Day is a strong contender and contains many worthy additions to the Bowie songbook. It was also a great reaction by the man himself to move forward while everyone else was looking back at the excellent V&A retrospective, proving that as usual Bowie's at least one step ahead!
My other 2013 favourites were mainly discoveries through the increasingly essential BBC 6 Music shows and the live circuit where I managed to see both Public Service Broadcasting and Thomas Dolby perform, separately I should add! P.S.B kept in character during their performance accompanied by the vintage information films which give them their name and are well worth checking out as is their earlier The War Room E.P which preceded their Inform, Educate and Entertain album.
We caught erstwhile 80's star and pop eccentric/genius Thomas Dolby at a small local intimate venue with maybe 100 or so people on his short Invisible Lighthouse Tour where he provided a live narrative and soundtrack to his recently completed movie about the closure of his local lighthouse and it was really quite something special. He even took a short Q&A session in between encores talking about his inspiration, his music and experiences, a humble and very talented man who, perhaps like Mr Bowie (who Dolby of course accompanied at Live Aid), has not yet turned his back on creating inventive music.
1. ENNIO MORRICONE: The Good The Bad & The Ugly (1967) 2. DEAD CAN DANCE: Anastasis (2012) 3. THE UNTHANKS: Last (2011)
4. CLASSICAL:100 Hits (2008)
5. BEIRUT: Riptide (2011) 6. KATE BUSH: The Dreaming (1982)
7. THE DOORS: The Very Best of (2007)
8. DEAD CAN DANCE: Wake (2003)
9. MARK KNOPFLER: Local Hero (1997)
10. KATE BUSH: 50 Words For Snow (2011)
The above are my favourite CD albums of last year, the ones that I reckon I turned to the most often. Mmm, looking at the list, I'm not the most contemporary of folk am I? However in my defence most of those albums were only bought last year (or within the last couple of years) so although 'old' in terms of their original release, they're pretty contemporary to me!
I did in fact buy several new releases last year including albums from Feist, Smoke Fairies and Amy MacDonald but although they've all got decent tracks on them, they haven't yet made it onto my regular 'play pile'.
Finally getting The Good, The Bad & The Ugly soundtrack was inspired by a rather excellent show by The Spaghetti Western Orchestra in Stoke last year, which itself was inspired by their TV performance at the proms from the Royal Albert Hall.
I mention this as we visited the Albert Hall for the first time in October to see the rather wonderful, enigmatic Dead Can Dance in their reunion concert. Their music is a recent discovery for me and I'm so pleased we managed to share in what was a very special event.
