Introduction
“Hypothesis” is an album by Vangelis, and at the same time not an album by Vangelis. Confusing? This is what happened...
Early in 1971 Vangelis finished recording sessions of what would later become “666”, the controversial progressive rock album by “Aphrodite’s Child”. During those sessions music producer Giorgio Gomelsky had been visiting the studio and occasionally helped out with the production. The two first met in 1968 while Vangelis was on tour with Aphrodite’s Child and playing at Club de Valbonne in the south of France, where Gomelsky happened to tour as the manager of Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger. As Vangelis was working in the studio to finalise the album, it became clear that Aphrodite’s Child was breaking up, and Demis and Lucas went on to tour without Vangelis.
It was Giorgio Gomelsky that proposed to organise recording sessions in London, an idea that must have appealed to Vangelis as back in 1968 he was destined for London with Demis and Lucas, before they got stuck in Paris. Gomelsky was commissioned by Jean Georgakarakos of BYG Records to produce the project, and BYG records booked the Marquee Studios in Soho during May/June 1971.
After moving several of his instruments to London, Vangelis teamed up with Michel Ripoche (violin), Brian Odger (bass guitar) and Tony Oxley (drums) to play mostly improvisational and experimental jazz music. In this interview Gomelsky recalled: “the idea was to find 'grooves' that could lead into long, (sufi)trance-like but evolving rhythmic patterns with a lot of improvisation on top.“
After returning to Paris, the tapes of the recording sessions remained in the archives of the Marquee Studios. When BYG Records went bankrupt in 1972, former co-founder Jean-Luc Young managed to obtain the studio tapes, and in 1978 he released the sessions on his new label ‘Charly Records’ as what we now know as “Hypothesis” and “The Dragon”, without Vangelis’ approval . Even though Vangelis successfully went to court to dispute the release, both records were already on the market and are still widely available.
Tracklist and credits
- Hypothesis part 1
- Hypothesis part 2
Vangelis: keyboards
Michel Ripoche: violin
Brian Odger: bass guitar
Tony Oxley: drums
Produced by Giorgio Gomelsky.
Cover illustration (Charly Records) by Angus McKie.
Discography
LP
- 1978 Affinity 77-AFF2 Spain
- 1978 Charly Records/Bellaphon CR 3037 West-Germany
- 1980 Oxford OX3162 Italy
- 1981 Affinity AFF11 UK
- 1982 Rossil RISLP 14138 Portugal
- 1985 Platinum PLP 71 Italy (titled "Visions Of The Future")
- Charly Records/Bellaphon CR 3053 West-Germany (2LP titled "Portrait") includes both “Hypothesis” and “The Dragon”
CD
- Platinum Music VPSP-803934 (bootleg) includes both “Hypothesis” and “The Dragon”.
“Hypothesis” was never officially released on CD, but I can confirm that this bootleg has an excellent audio quality.
Recording studio
The music for this album was recorded at Marquee Studios, London in May 1971.
More
- Michel Ripoche is the violinist who also worked with Vangelis on the Aphrodite’s Child “666” and Vangelis' “Fais Que Ton Rêve Soit Plus Long Que La Nuit” (1972) concept albums.
- Giorgio Gomelsky produced the recordings for both “Hypothesis” and “The Dragon” but was not involved in their release. Vangelis and Giorgio worked together on several occasions, first on Aphrodite’s Child “666” (1972) and later also on the songs released as “Alpha Beta” (1971).
- Read more about Giorgio Gomelsky and his experiences while working with Vangelis in this interview at the Elsewhere website.
Links