Soil Festivities (album)

Infobox Album |
Name = Soil Festivities
Type = Album
Artist = Vangelis


Released = 1984
Recorded = 1984, Nemo Studios, London
Genre = Electronic
Length = 47:59
Label = Polydor
Producer = Vangelis
Reviews =
*Allmusic (4/5) [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:4017gjvrj6ib Review] |
Last album = "Antarctica"
(1983)
This album = "Soil Festivities"
(1984)
Next album = "Mask"
(1985)

"Soil Festivities" is a 1984 album by the Greek artist Vangelis.

Track listing

All songs written by Vangelis.
# "Movement 1" – 18:20
# "Movement 2" – 6:20
# "Movement 3" – 6:06
# "Movement 4" – 9:54
# "Movement 5" – 7:20

Overview

This 1984 release was the first in what could be very loosely said to belong to a trilogy of his 80's albums, the other two being "Invisible Connections" and "Mask", both from the following year (1985).

The common thread in these albums was the way in which Vangelis was willing to experiment with perceptions about himself – they differ, greatly, from what many would regard as the "classic" sound he exhibited on albums such as "Heaven and Hell", "Albedo 0.39", "Spiral", and "China".

Not that the content of these albums was similar in any way. "Soil Festivities" is very ambient; quite possibly the most ambient of all his works, with a dash of new age and minimalism.

He derived his inspiration for the collection from the life processes taking place on the earth's surface. "I work like a bridge between nature and what comes out through my fingers" Vangelis told Jereme Jones in "People".

"I write music primarily for myself, though it’s lovely, everybody goes out and buys the records. My new album "Soil Festivities" was made because I wanted to make music, not sell a million records. I don’t think it’s possible to guarantee commercial success for an album anyway, because nobody really knows what is commercial and what isn’t. Even if I went out of my way to make an album that was more accessible to the public, that would not guarantee its commercial success". [http://bluepoint.gen.tr/vangelis/int5.html 1]

Both this album, and "Mask" make much use of polyphonic keyboard sounds. Movement 1 is based on a drone motif, and sounds very much like it could have been an improvisation. Movements 1 & 4 are based on 1. Movements 3 and 5 provide the "meat" of the album, featuring "Invisible Connections"-style sound-effects and percussion.

Credits

*Engineer : Jess Sutcliffe
*Sleeve design : Vangelis, Alwyn Clayden
*Creative assistance : Green Ink Projection
*Studio ambience : John Martin

Trivia

On the Japanese LP, Movement 5 ends a few minutes early. On the CD, there is a break in the middle of that movement. It was originally meant to be the end of Movement 5, after which Movement 6 would play to finish the album. Movement 6 ended up being "deleted" by combining it with Movement 5. This was all later corrected on a subsequent pressing.

Album Versions

LP
Polydor 27209 (Argentina) 1984
Polydor VAN 08 (Canada) 1984
Mercury 823 396-1 (France) 1984
Polydor 823 396-1 (W Germany) 1984
Polydor 823 396-1 (Greece) 1984
Polydor 823 396-1 (Italy) 1984
Polydor 28MM 0395 (Japan) 1984
Polydor 823 396-1 (Spain) 1984
Polydor POLH 11 (UK) 1984
Polydor 823 396-1 (USA) 1984
CD
Polydor 80100982 UK)
Polydor 823 396-2 (Canada)
Polydor 823 396-2 (W Germany)
Polydor POCP 2109 (Japan)
Polydor 823 396-2 (USA)

External links

* [http://www.vangelismovements.com/soilfestivities.htm 'Vangelis Movements' entry]
* [http://vangeliscollector.com/vangelis_soil.htm 'Vangelis Collector' entry]
* [http://vangeliscollector.com/disckiosk.htm 'Vangelis Collector' DiscKiosk version]
* [http://elsew.com/data/albums2.htm 'Elsewhere' entry]
* [http://www.progreviews.com/reviews/display.php?rev=van-sf 'Ground and Sky' review]
* [http://www.progarchives.com/Progressive_rock_discography_CD.asp?cd_id=7524 'ProgArchives' review - Rating|3|5]
* [http://bau2.uibk.ac.at/perki/emm.html 'Keyboard Magazine' interview]
* [http://bluepoint.gen.tr/vangelis/int5.html 'BluePoint' interview]