Vangelis - Oceanic

Vangelis has made some great epic nautical music over the years, including soundtracks from "The Bounty" and "1492: Conquest of Paradise". But on this seafaring studio album he seems to have let his usual inspiration slip and allowed the auto-composer to take over. This routine new-age music evokes the usual oneness with the planet. It's mostly an over-romanticised wash of sustained sounds, soft pianos, harps and inspirational wide-screen synth orchestras. The tracks are linked cheesily with the noises of lapping waves. The Latin influences from 1492 are given a second airing on "Spanish Harbour". As always, Vangelis's quality is in the strength of his arranging and the prettiness of the sounds, but that's all this album has going for it. One moment of originality comes in the murmuring siren voices on the opening "Bon Voyage". Maybe it's good within its new age genre, but mostly it is a poorer cousin of 1492, epitomising music that "washes over you".

January 2, 2005

5 out of 10

see also...

• The Enid - The Seed And The Sower
• Mike Oldfield - The Songs of Distant Earth

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