PageOfLifeFrontIntroduction

“Page Of Life” is the fourth and final album by Jon and Vangelis, after their earlier albums “Short Stories”(1980), “The Friends Of Mr. Cairo” (1981) and “Private Collection” (1983). Recording sessions for the album started in the summer of 1988, when Jon Anderson spent his holiday on the Greek island of Hydra and his friend Vangelis sailed by on a yacht... Sound engineer Sutcliffe recalled: ‘I recorded half of the basic tracks for “Page Of Life” on an Akai MG1214 12trk analog ½" recorder/mixer, on the top deck of a luxury power yacht, while cruising the Aegean Sea’. Sessions continued later that year in Athens, where Vangelis had settled in Sound Studio, as well in Rome in 1989, where Vangelis was staying for an extended period of time to record his next album “The City” (1990). Final editing and mixing was done Paris, and the album was released on the Arista label on the 9th of September 1991, not long after the Eureka concert in Rotterdam where Jon performed on stage with Vangelis.

On initial release the "Page Of Life"-album featured 12 songs, all composed by Vangelis and with vocals and lyrics by Jon Anderson. The sound on Page Of Life is consistent with Vangelis’ transfer to digital instruments and his newly acquired Zyklus-MPS and Direct-devices, and as such this album has a different feel than the earlier Jon and Vangelis-albums. The music varies in style, from pop/rock to jazz, instrumental themes and ballads. The song ‘Shine For Me’ is a vocal adaptation of a theme that Vangelis wrote for the end titles for Liliana Cavani’s film ‘Francesco’ (1989).

To promote the album the single ‘Wisdom Chain’ b/w ‘Page Of Life’ was released on the 30th of September 1991 on both vinyl and CD single, the latter having the advantage of including the non-album track ‘Sing With Your Eyes’. This beautiful song seems to be a leftover from earlier recording sessions.

In 1998 a second version of the album was released in the US by Higher Octave on the Omtown-label, with a different mix and selection of songs. This version added the previously unreleased ‘Change We Must’, but at the same time removed ‘Jazzy Box’, ‘Is It Love’, ‘Be A Good Friend Of Mine’ and ‘Journey To Ixtlan’ from the tracklist. The new edition however includes the full version of ‘Wisdom Chain’, which has an impressive instrumental intro by Vangelis! Rumour has it that Vangelis was not amused by Jon’s initiative to re-work the album for the US release, and this possibly caused a break-up as the duo never recorded anything together again.

In 2013 Page Of Life received a re-release which was personally remastered by Vangelis. This edition is based on the original 1991 issue, includes ‘Sing With Your Eyes’ as a bonus track and is highly recommended for its excellent audio quality.

 

PageOfLifeUSAFrontTracklist and credits

First release Second release
  1. Wisdom Chain (5:22)
  2. Page Of Life (3:16)
  3. Money (6:07)
  4. Jazzy Box (3:14)
  5. Garden Of Senses (6:24)
  6. Is It Love* (4:27)
  7. Anyone Can Light A Candle (3:44)
  8. Be A Good Friend Of Mine (4:13)
  9. Shine For Me (4:10)
  10. Genevieve (3:48)
  11. Journey To Ixtlan (5:50)
  12. Little Guitar (1:43)
  1. Change We Must (6:28)
  2. Anyone Can Light A Candle (3:43)
  3. Page Of Life (3:17)
  4. Money (5:45)
  5. Little Guitar (1:42)
  6. Garden Of Senses (6:42)
  7. Genevieve (3:45)
  8. Shine For Me (4:01)
  9. Wisdom Chain (10:44)

 

 

 

  • Composed, arranged, produced and performed by Vangelis
  • Vocals and lyrics by Jon Anderson.
  • Vocal on ‘Change We Must’ by Mary Hopkin (uncredited)
  • Additional percussion on ‘Wisdom Chain’ and ’Money’ by Derek Wilson.
  • Engineer Sound Studio (Athens): Nico Despotidis.
  • Engineers Forum Studios (Rome): Fabio Patrignani, Franco Finetti and Jess Sutcliffe.
  • Production coordinator and personal assistant: John Martin.
  • Special thanks to Frederick Rousseau and Thierry Rogen, Mega Studios and Paul Foster.

* ‘Is It Love’

  • Produced by Jon Anderson.
  • Co-produced by David Tickle.
  • Engineers: Matt Gruber and Rick Norman.
  • Keyboards: Rory Kaplan, Sean Murray and Brad Ellis.
  • Guitars: Jimmy Hahn.
  • Bass: Eduardo Singore.
  • Thanks to Rose Cherney (Record Plant), everyone at Studio Works, Chris Gill and Roland Corporation and David Tickle for his help on the finishing touches!!!

 

PageOfLifeCDDiscography

CD

  • 1991 Arista 261 373 Europe
  • 1991 Arista BVCA-103 Japan
  • 1991 Arista 06192-10613-2 Canada
  • 1991 Popron 50 141-2 Czechoslovakia
  • 1998 OmTown OMCD 45337 US
  • 1998 Green Energy GECC 3703 Japan
  • 2006 BMG BVCM-37695 Japan (K2 24bit mastering)
  • 2013 Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 2426 UK and Europe (Remastered by Vangelis)
  • 2022 Belle Antique MAR-223733 Japan

LP

  • 1991 Arista 211 373 Europe
  • 1991 Popron 50141-1 Czechoslovakia
  • 1991 Arista BAPL 1013 South Korea
  • 1991 Arista TLP 90277 Argentina
  • 1991 Arista 150 7040 Brazil

WisdomChainFront7” single

CD single

  • 1991 Wisdom Chain (single edit) / Wisdom Chain (full version) / Page Of Life / Sing With Your Eyes Arista 664 063 Europe (includes the non-album track ‘Sing With Your Eyes’). Note that both versions of ‘Wisdom Chain’ on this single differ from the album version.

 

Recording studio

Recording the music for the "Page Of Life"-album initially started on a yacht while cruising the Aegean Sea in the summer of 1988. Sessions continued later that year in Athens, where Vangelis had settled in Sound Studio, as well in Forum Studios in Rome in 1989, while Vangelis was staying there for an extended period of time. Final editing and mixing of the album was done in Paris.

 

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