 | Albedo 0.39: Encyclopedia II - Albedo 0.39 - Overview
Albedo 0.39 - Overview
"Pulstar" (supposedly a contraction of "pulsar" and "star") was to be the most popular track, building on a synthesizer pulse sequence, a trumpet main line and various other synthesizer brass lines. It ends with a recording of the speaking clock.
"Freefall" builds on a gamelan sequence, two flutes and a synthesizer line.
"Mare tranquilitatis" (the biggest "sea" of the moon) is a quiet synthesizer piece featuring recordings of several Apollo moon landings. Samples of this track can be heard on Enigma's album, The Cross of Changes (uncredited).
"Main sequence" is propelled by a pulsed synthesizer sequence, along which a trumpet- and drums-based jazz track develops. It calms down and flows into—
"Sword of Orion", built on an arpeggio chord, trumpet 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. It is a rather upbeat piece.
The "Nucleogenesis" suite conveys a somewhat darker mood, employing a church organ, an organ synthesizer pulse, various lines of Vangelis' patent synthesizer brass, acoustic drums and basses. Although hard to classify, the pieces appear to hold a ground between classical, blues and hard rock.
The title track, "Albedo 0.39" is an atmospheric track building on waxing and waning synthesizer chords and arpeggios, while a voice with a British accent narrates various physical properties of the Earth, such as its mass, length of the year in various measurements, and, finally, its albedo (amount of light reflected back into space). "The Gate", the opening track of another Enigma album, The Screen Behind the Mirror, appears to have been inspired by this Vangelis piece.
Excerpts from "Pulstar" and "Alpha" can be heard on episodes of Carl Sagan's documentary series Cosmos, along with several other Vangelis themes.
Other related archives1976, 1976 albums, 1980s, All Music Guide, Amazon.com, Apollo, Carl Sagan, Cosmos, Direct, Earth, Enigma, Heaven and Hell, Main sequence, Mare tranquilitatis, NASA, Nucleogenesis, Orion, The Cross of Changes, The Screen Behind the Mirror, Vangelis, Vangelis albums, albedo, classically, concept album, documentary, gamelan, pulsar, space physics, speaking clock, star, synthesizer, year
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Overview", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
