24db wrote:
Going by the list:
Sean Connery etc (actors...deep insight into music? Hmm
)
Oliver Stone, Roman Polanski, Ridley Scott, David Puttnam (all directors...only Polanski and Scott IMHO are even interesting when they talk about film!!!!
)
Jon Anderson (could be good, I'll give you that, at least he's actually worked with the geezer on a musical level, rather than just being a celebrity fan or somebody who hired him).
Sean Connery I don't know ... but I understand that he has a massive library of music and is an aivd listener and collector. I would imagine that his fame kinda prevents him from hitting the streets and all the concerts in town or London!
Oliver Stone ... I like to say that he does not know music from a note on a sheet of paper ... I don't think that he had the guts to make Jim Morrison a poet and instead do a bit of a gutter film. But I have to admit that LA can be such a gutter and in that sense ... Oliver did fine!
Roman Polanski would not surprise me ... he has always had very modern music and you could even go back to his use of the Third Ear Band on his Macbeth ... and usually more modern composers. His film style is very dependant on specific details in music, not the generic style usually found in American/Hollywood films.
Ridley Scott, has a history of using far out music ... even Tangerine Dream although not as much as he probably wished he could have. To say that the man can not talk about music, he probably can and shold be able to discuss it as well as Kubrick or Lean ever did! Some directors PUT music on the map! Why? They know how to film it and know how to blend it ... it's not about background radio here!
David Puttnam I am not sure and would have to research some more ...
Jon Anderson ... enough said.
Hugh Hudson ... it takes a director that also loves music, to the umpteenth degree, to apppreciate and then do what he did on the film Chariots of Fire and get the accolades they both got. And well deserved. In essense it is really rare when a film knows how to use music to its advantage and I think that Hugh and Vangelis probably discussed some of these details ... the seats being closed (and the main theme) is probably one such example that could just as easily come out of Vangelis or Hugh who might have said ... I got this idea ... long shot with thousands of seats and a janitor closing the seats and sweeping the place ... and an artist with the vision of the gods to deliver it!
No one mentioned here one detail that could/would have helped Vangelis retire to become his own man early on ... and that is that he is well know for not enjoying flying between places ... and that could create a logistics nightmare.
Of all the weird details in all these pages, is the one about synths and tuning ... and specially for today's standards when so much of those old machines are now software and you don't have to lug around 200 pounds when you can bring 5 ... and get the same results (ie. Tangerine Dream -- you can't tell me the old synth sounds better or worse than they do now!) ... or better. That would suggest that touring for him would be easier than ever ... but it would mean that he might have to sit and figure out how to break down his own pieces so he can play them on the stage and if you ask me ... that is a nightmare I prefer to let go and leave behind!
Can he play live? Of course he can ... but his own critical standards, which he has show us over the years in his albums ... are so high ... that he might feel disappointed ... on the other hadn I say that he could also surprise himself .. who knows ... but why not bring another person or two with him?
Do I have a preference for any of his albums?
Not really ... the minute I say I like this one I will play something else and it will grab me just as well ... but I have to admit that the images from Blade Runner really put a dent on that music ... it is specially touching and hard to let go some of the most poetic music ever done since Dr. Zhivago. And I do like El Greco a heck of a lot ... it is pure classical music in my ears and truly beautiful ... and deserves much more credit.
But then, to my ears, Vangelis has always been classical ... right from the start!