Albedo 0.3

Albedo 0.39 was the third LP I bought of Vangelis's. It never struck me as his best but certainly one the most interesting. The double-gated LP had an intriguing NASA launch-watching spectator rear cover photo(which appears on the CD insert).This to me, whether then or on the replacement CD was more of an intergalactic journey. Some planets interesting, some boring, some ugly, others very beautiful. Certainly, back in the early '80's when I bought LPs like the end of the world was nigh, apart from Star Trek and the occasional TV series, this sort of thing was the only scifi escapism a lad like me had. Not that I'm a fan of scifi, generally, though!'Alpha' always was my favourite, the theme to Carl Sagan's 'Cosmos' series. The 7" single had on its thin paper sleeve all those red blotchy faraway spots of cosmic light that fed my imagination and the music recreated that; the stereo separation of my "hi-fi" back then becoming even more impressive when this was played!Today, technically at least, there are slicker and shinier examples of synth rock, or whatever you want to call it. Some tracks do crash about a bit and get a bit too involved but all in all, this is an album of variety and substance over continual perfection and has indeed, stood the test of time. And what schoolboy, however 'young' can fail to be coolly impressed by that final soothing mathematical countdown - to Albedo 0.39?

Duplicating the Vinyl records.The music is always goodWe will miss Vangelis

Produced in the 70's before he really hit the big time, this is a slice of what made Vangelis the master of synth rock. This is up there against Tomita and J.M. Jarre, and comes out very well. We all gasped that only one man was making such wonderful music, remember this was before PCs and samples took over the world. There are complex and melodic pieces alongside percussion. There is an other worldly feel to the pieces which explains why this music was used in Carl Sagans "Cosmos". The spoken title track is quite haunting and ethereal, the sound effects of the speaking clock and telephone dialling a little twee. A great introduction to synthesizers and the template for many a late night session staring at the clear night sky as a callow youth, dreaming about the Chariot of the Gods.

Looks like Vangelis is the last of the major artists to be bitten by the remastering bug - or as we music collectors call it, the "let's make them buy our CDs all over again" bug.Some artists have even done that several times, shame on them.The music here is known and loved throughout the world, being the first album Vangelis puit out that didn't have a pile of duff tracks on it. His previous work had revolved very much around the "one good track for every two dubious tracks" ethos, and many of his albums preceeding this one were something of a task to listen to. He got everything right with this one, and even included cover art that made you want to buy it.So, the big question is: is the remastering any good? can you actually tell any difference? I listened to this and the previous version by swapping constantly between two different sets of headphones and there was certainly a noticeable difference, this one has more presence and an enhanced sense of reverb, though fortunately not the insane level of reverb Genesis recently attributed to their re-remasters. Vangelis has kept his foot off the pedal of enhancement temptation! It's the same music only much refreshed and the tinkly bell strings actually send shivers up your spine as they used to do in 1976.

I had this album when I was a teenager. It was great to hear it again. As good as ever.

This has to be one of Vangelis best ever albums, it never let's up and builds up nicely to Main Sequence, slows down a little then hits you again with the two part Nucleogenesis, finishing off with the eponymous track which has a wonderful haunting quality. Everyone who likes electronica should have this album in their collection.

The media could not be loaded.

Dull. Though of its time