HeavenAndHellFrontIntroduction

‘And it was...’. These prolific words are etched into the vinyl record master of Vangelis' album “Heaven And Hell”, the first studio album recorded in his very own London studio. Possibly it refers to the time when the album was recorded, in September 1975, as Vangelis’ Nemo Studios was still under construction, which made working there difficult. In an interview Vangelis later reflected “I was trying to put together the studio while recording my first album, Heaven And Hell, at the same time. In fact, the studio was Hell because there was unmixed concrete everywhere, builders all over the place making a lot of noise, and next to all that, there I was, trying to finish my album.”

The year before recording Heaven And Hell Vangelis had been searching for a location to build his own studio in London, and found one in Hampden Gurney Street near Marble Arch, in a historical building previously used as an Anglican girls school. In 1975 he moved from Paris to an apartment in Queen’s Gate, where he celebrated signing a new record contract with RCA records. Heaven And Hell marks the start of a newly found freedom for Vangelis, his first for RCA and the first time using just his first name as the performing artist. The album is Vangelis at his very best, a concept album combining both harmonic and progressive tracks using a mix of electronic instruments and percussion, accompanied by the angelic voices of the English Chamber Choir and of Jon Anderson and Vana Veroutis. A true Vangelis classic!

Not surprisingly the album was well received and in November 1975 RCA released Heaven And Hell on all continents. What is surprising is that RCA did not release a commercial single to promote the album, instead they produced a now rare promotional LP including an interview with Vangelis in the USA titled “The Vangelis Radio Special”. Also to promote the album Vangelis organised a concert at the London Royal Albert Hall on the 11th of February 1976, which featured the voices of the English Chamber Choir and Vana Veroutis.

The music of Heaven And Hell received further recognition in 1976, when French Director Robert Enrico used the music as a filmscore for his short film “Plus Vite Que Le Soleil”, a documentary about the Concorde airplane. In 1978 Dutch director Adriaan Ditvoorst did the same in his film “De Mantel Der Liefde”, and the resulting soundtrack LP is simply a re-issue of Vangelis’ album. Two years later American scientist Carl Sagan used ‘3rd Movement’ from Heaven And Hell as the main theme for his popular television series “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage”, which introduced millions of viewers to the music of Vangelis.

A personally remastered by Vangelis version of the album was re-released in 2013, but due to the added reverb and incomplete audio, the recommended version to find is still the 20-bit remastered Japanese CD from 1997.

 

TheVangelisRadioSpecialFrontTracklist

The tracklist of Heaven and Hell can be somewhat confusing. The CD release simply lists the following three tracks:

  1. Heaven And Hell Part I
  2. So Long Ago, So Clear
  3. Heaven And Hell Part II

There are however LP issues that provide a more detailed tracklist:

Side 1:

  1. Heaven And Hell Part 1:
     Bacchanale
     Symphony To The Powers B
     2nd Movement
     3rd Movement
  2. So Long Ago, So Clear

Side 2:

  1. Heaven And Hell Part 2:
     Intestinal Bat
     Needles & Bones
     12 O'Clock
     Aries
     A Way

 TheVangelisRadioSpecialLabelA

Confusingly, the Italian LP has a deviating tracklist:

Side 1:

  1. Heaven And Hell Part 1:
    Riff Thing
    Heaven And Hell
    So Long Ago, So Clear

Side 2:

  1. Heaven And Hell Part 2:
    Falcons
    Needles
    Friday Night
    J.F.
    Heavy - Aries - Heaven

  

DeMantelDerLiefdeFrontCredits

  • All music composed by Vangelis.
  • All kinds of keyboards,percussion and sundry instruments played by Vangelis.
  • Album produced and arranged by Vangelis.
  • Special thanks to Jon Anderson for his lyrics for 'So Long Ago, So Clear' and lead vocals.
  • With the participation of the English Chamber Choir conducted by Guy Protheroe.
  • Lead female vocal: Vana Veroutis.
  • Sound Engineer: Alan Lucas.
  • Piano supplied by Bösendorfer.
  • Many thanks to: Veronique, Tony McGrogan, Keith Goodwin, Roger Paton and Elizabeth.
  • Jon Anderson appears courtesy of Atlantic Records.

 

Discography

HeavenAndHellCDLP

CD

7” single

  • 1975 So Long Ago, So Clear / Heaven And Hell theme RCA USA/Spain (promotional)

 

Recording studio

This album was recorded in September 1975 in Nemo Studios, London.

 

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