PortraitsIntroduction

“Portraits {So Long Ago, So Clear}” is one of the better compilation albums by Vangelis, as it includes several unique tracks that are not available elsewhere. Released on the 11th of March 1996, Portraits compiles many well-known pieces from 1973 (‘La Petite Fille De La Mer’) to 1992 (‘Conquest Of Paradise’) from the RCA, Polydor and EastWest catalogues, including the themes from “Chariots Of Fire” (1981) and “Antarctica” (1983). The main attraction however is two previously unreleased tracks: ‘Hymn’, a completely new choral version of the original theme from “Opera Sauvage” (1979), and ‘Sauvage Et Beau’ (1984), the lush main theme from the wildlife film by Frédéric Rossif. Additionally there are four hit-singles from his 1980s collaboration with Jon Anderson as "Jon and Vangelis" including ‘I Hear You Now’, ‘I’ll Find My Way Home’ and ‘State Of Independence’. In 2001 Portraits was awarded a Platinum certification by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). This certification recognizes over 1 million CD's sold in Europe.

To promote the album a CD single was released of the previously unreleased theme from ‘Sauvage Et Beau’, both as a 4-track CD maxi-version as well as a 2-track single version, as well as a promotional videoclip to support the single release, beautifully shot on location in Venice, Italy.

The music on the album was not only digitally remastered by Vangelis, but several tracks have been updated compared to the original. ‘To The Unknown Man’ for instance opens with a new instrumental and is a shorter edit, while ‘Alpha’ has additional instruments. ‘Conquest Of Paradise’ on the other hand is the long version including the album opening track. The transition of several tracks is cross-faded.

 

PortraitsTracklistTracklist and credits

  1. To The Unknown Man (6:34) from “Spiral” (1977)
  2. Italian Song (2:50) from “Private Collection” (1983)
  3. Pulstar (5:38) from “Albedo 0.39” (1976)
  4. La Petite Fille De La Mer (5:49) from “L’Apocalypse Des Animaux” (1973)
  5. Alpha (5:34) from “Albedo 0.39” (1976)
  6. I Hear You Now (5:06) from “Short Stories” (1980)
  7. I'll Find My Way Home (4:25) from “The Friends Of Mr. Cairo” (1981)
  8. State Of Independence (6:08) from “The Friends Of Mr. Cairo” (1981)
  9. Himalaya (6:53) from “China” (1979)
  10. Conquest Of Paradise (5:31) from “1492 Conquest Of Paradise” (1992)
  11. Hymn (5:06) previously unreleased
  12. Antarctica (3:44) from “Antarctica” (1983)
  13. Sauvage Et Beau (3:18) previously unreleased
  14. Chariots Of Fire (3:21) from “Chariots Of Fire” (1981)
  15. So Long Ago, So Clear (4:58) from “Heaven And Hell” (1975)

 

  • Remastered by Vangelis.
  • Thanks to Frederick Rousseau, Philippe Colonna, John Martin, Ian Lane and Andrew Hoy.

 

SauvageEtBeauSingleDiscography

CD

  • 1996 Polydor, released worldwide.

CD single

 

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