1492: Conquest of Paradise - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

 (79 customer reviews)

"Chariots of Fire", "Antarctica" and "Blade Runner" were three of the most memorable soundtracks of the 80's. How Vangelis manages to be so consistently good is something of a mystery, but with "1492" he does it again: this is one of the most memorable soundtracks of the 90's. The title track is sheer brilliance, with its eminently hummable central melody and rousing, dramatic vocals. The melody is revisited towards the end of the album ("Twenty Eighth Parallel"), while the vocally rich intervening tracks range from darkly atmospheric ("Monastery of La Rabida", "Light and Shadow") to soft and ethereal ("Deliverance, "West Across the Ocean Sea").The album's transition from the dark ambience of low-pitched vocals ("Conquest of Paradise") to the higher pitch of piano melodies ("Pinta, Nina, Santa Maria") produces in the listener a sense of having been taken on a...Read more

Vangelis is the master, the grandmaster. No one else can blend, layer and weave melodies and textures like Vangelis. This is a very non-soundtrack-sounding album - if that makes sense. It sounds complete and not like a collection of various tunes and atmospheres from a movie, which usually don't work together as a whole. Anyway it's incredibly beautiful and moving. It's his best work so far.I must say a little about the last track (Into Eternity) which just blows me away. I can't remember hearing this in the movie but praise the lords it's a spiritual experience. 12 minutes of music that'll elevate you into the stratosphere and leave you feeling bloody great. Perfect.

This CD is simply magnificent. A friend of mine turned me on to Vangelis, and I started collecting his music religiously. I have always had a thing for soundtracks as well. However, I always want to see the movie first before I buy the soundtrack, so that I can have something to imagine while I'm listening to the music.My friend kept urging me to get this CD, but I hadn't seen the movie, and I was having trouble mustering the desire to, from what I've heard about it. Finally, he just bought it for me. I listened, and I've been hooked ever since.What a combination of mood and majesty. The music just washes over you, giving you a sense of the explorer that Columbus was, voyaging out into the unknown. I could listen to this CD over and over again. Vangelis has the ability to draw out many emotions in the listener, to make the listener see images in the mind.I could see the adventure, I could see the fear and the excitement of the strange new world that they had...Read more