Songoftheday 4/5/12 - Race to the End....

Vangelis - "Chariots Of Fire"
from the album Chariots Of Fire Original Soundtrack (1981)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (1 week)

Today's Song of the Day was the last big orchestral-style single to make the pop radio scene. Much like 1968's "Love Is Blue" defied the times of the Beatles, Stones, and Motown, "Chariots Of Fire" was an answer to the arena rock and disco-soul of the era.

Vangelis, born in the central Greek region of Thessaly, and in the late sixties was a member of the progressive rock group Aphrodite's Child. After leaving the group, he was a major force in electronic music in the vein of Wendy Carlos. My first exposure to Vangelis' music was in Carl Sagan's Cosmos TV series, where selections of his played as atmospheric background music. Also in the late seventies, Vangelis scored a French TV show called Opera Sauvage, which was the first record of his I purchased. Later on, tracks from that work were used in movies like The Year Of Living Dangerously as more notably in pasta and wine commercials.

But by far Vangelis' biggest success is scoring the Academy Award winning movie Chariots Of Fire. The film, which documented the English Olympic track team, won four Oscars, including Best Picture, as well as for its score. Originally understatedly called "Titles", the film-opening theme was released as a single, and took five months to eventually become a #1 single on Billboard, the only Greek to have done so. The main melody string has become so well-known as to be as universal as any of John Williams' work on Star Wars, Jaws, or Close Encounters. The soundtrack went on also to become a #1 LP in the US for a month.



Since then, Vangelis went on to score my all-time favorite movie, Blade Runner, which I feel is just as timeless. He also sporadically recorded with Yes frontman Jon Anderson, as well as compose for the Olympics. The "Chariots Of Fire" theme was also given lyrics, and performed by diverse artists as guitar rockers The Shadows and adult contemporary singer Melissa Manchester.




Tomorrow, more camera hijinks from the band that brought us "Centerfold"...