 Introduction
At the end of 1969 Vangelis composed and released his first music for a movie
outside of Greece.
"Sex Power" (sub-titled "L'Homme Coeur") is a 81 minute long movie and also a first for director Henry Chapier,
who won the Silver Shell Award with his film at the
San Sebastian Film Festival.
The musical score that Vangelis wrote for this film has become
the 'holy-grail' of collector's items, as the LP released by Philips in France
and Greece can be viewed as Vangelis very first solo album. Not many copies must
have been sold at the time, and with the current high demand its value ranges
into the hundreds of dollars.
Tracklist
There's no such thing as a tracklist for Sex Power. The album consists of eleven
parts (six on the first side, five on the second), but the record sleeve does not list any
of the track titles.
The record labels indicate:
 |
1ère partie 17'00 |
|
2ème partie 17'27 |
However the single-release that was discovered some years ago
made it possible to name two tracks on the album. "Djemilla" and "Third love"
correspond with the 2nd and 5th track on the album. 
Credits
Credits as shown on the back of the LP.
Discography
The music is only available on vinyl, no CD was ever released (not
officially at least). The gatefold LP is
ultra-rare and highly sought after. Rumour has it that it was only shortly
available and withdrawn some time after release. Remarkably also a 7" single has
been made.
LP
1970 Philips 6397 013 France/Greece
(gatefold)
Single
1970 Philips 6009 072 Djemilla/Third love (without
picture sleeve)
Recording studio
It is unknown where the music for Sex Power is recorded. As Vangelis
was still part of Aphrodite's Child when the music was recorded, it is likely
the music on this album was recorded in the same Mercury studio where
Aphrodite's Child recorded their songs.
Miscellania
| In 1973 Vangelis also composed the score for Henry Chapier's second film
"Amore". Unfortunately as of yet this film
never surfaced anywhere... |
| There are
also references that indicate that Vangelis scored yet another film from director
Henry Chapier, titled "Salut Jerusalem"... |
| For some more information about the movie itself, read
here |
| Take a look at some photographs from the movie's press-sheet
here |
Review
 
On this soundtrack-album, his first full-length solo-effort, all the future
Vangelis trademarks are already there in rudimentary form. Not really so surprising, given
the fact that around this time Aphrodite's Child were also moving from melancholic pop
towards "666", a move largely due to Vangelis, musically speaking. Already his
gift for rounded melodies, the full arrangements, strange sound effects, elaborate
percussion, use of choirs and that Mediterranean touch are amply demonstrated here. The
fact that it's also the soundtrack to an erotic movie can't really be anything but
unfortunate (and a source of embarrassment to Vangelis nowadays), it was probably the only
opportunity that happened to come along for this still virtually unknown Greek
instrumentalist in France at that particular time. Certainly, the music isn't especially
erotic (if there is such a thing at all), the only faint connection with the movie could
be some African desert theme, but by this reckoning, it might have as well have
accompanied a Frederic Rossif nature-film about rattlesnakes or something. Anyway, the
movie must have been serious enough to warrant a special soundtrack, released by Philips
in a gatefold sleeve, with even a single taken from it (although this might possibly have
been a promo-single). All in all, more than enough to make this album plus single the
hottest collectors-item in the whole Vangelis oeuvre, with some nice music to boot.
Unfortunately, another Vangelis tradition, that of incomplete or non-existent credits,
is
also immediately started, because clearly at the very least a mixed choir, a female
vocalist and an acoustic guitarist, all un-credited, can be heard alongside Vangelis on
piano, organ, percussion and sound-effects.
The two parts, both lasting around 17 minutes, are structured as follows:
| Side 1 - part 1 (0.00 - 0.29): A strange intro featuring a high screeching bird-sound against a
background of bass-drums and a two-chord keyboard figure. This is definitely not going to
be another Aphrodite's Child album. |
| Side 1 - part 2 (0.29 - 3.41): Next the first occurrence of what could be called the
"jungle-theme" is introduced: an African drum-pattern, Vangelis playing the
theme on piano with a choir joining the chorus to the piece. Sometime later an organ and
primitive synthesized sounds are added to this very tribal piece. This piece is identical
to the A-side of the single and is called "Djemilla". |
| Side 1 - part 3 (3.41 - 6.32): The sounds of racing cars introduce the unknown acoustic guitarist
in the first occurrence of another recurring theme, a nice sunny melody, the
"love-theme" perhaps. Suddenly it stops, leaving the cars to race on for a
little bit plus some voices speaking in the background. |
| Side 1 - part 4 (6.32 - 9.40): The jungle-music returns, this time only consisting of
increasingly elaborate rhythm-patterns. |
| Side 1 - part 5 (9.40 - 12.54): The love-theme returns, here with Vangelis playing the main
melody to the guitarist's harmony on what sounds like a sort of harpsichord. Some
flourishes on piano and organ are added plus, intriguingly, what almost surely sounds like
multiple word-less vocals by Demis Roussos!
This piece is identical to the B-side of the single and is called "Third Love". |
| Side 1 - part 6 (12.55 - 16.29): piano-only in a different version of the love-theme. Vangelis
actually plays four parts here, matching the melody to the harmony by doubling the
left-hand/right-hand roles in reverse order: left hand melody and right hand harmony in
the lower registers, the other way around in the higher registers. It ends with more sound
effects of people walking the streets and some hand-clapping. |
| Side 2 - part 1 (0.00 - 1.55): The jungle-theme starts the altogether more experimental second
part. Again the African percussion, this time with a little keyboard and a flute (possibly
by Vangelis) added. |
| Side 2 - part 2 (1.55 - 10.03): Lots of imaginative, ancient Mediterranean sounding percussion
and a male-choir make up most of this highly evocative and slightly unsettling long piece.
Twice an eerie fairy-tale melody can be heard in-between the sharp, piercing percussion
sounds, towards the end a female vocalist appears shortly. |
| Side 2 - part 3 (10.03 - 13.22): More percussion and the familiar piano introduce another version
of the love-theme. Here, the melody is played on a very primitive instrument, a customised
Hammond-organ perhaps ? It ends with a series of sharp bashes on the gong. |
| Side 2 - part 4 (13.22 - 15:48): Some very strange noise-effects, bees buzzing or something like
that, accompany the female vocalist (could this be Vana Veroutis ? It sure sounds like
her) who sings a sad wailing melody, later joined by the organ. |
| Side 2 - part 5 (15:48 - 17:23): Like the first, the second piece also ends with the piano
playing the love-theme, but this time simply two-handed. |
It is possible to see this album as a precursor to "Heaven and Hell", because
it uses similar ideas and has the same sort of variety - there's less electronics involved
of course, but Vangelis evidently had enough imagination to sufficiently realise the
sounds in his head by using his acoustic apparatus. This would support the theory that
every composer, certainly when starting out, has one well-formed idea which needs to get
expressed before moving on. This project provided the first but technologically limited
opportunity, when Vangelis finally had his own studio in London, he was able to express it
much fuller and better.
The piano-end to Part I and the long experimental Mediterranean section in Part II really
stand out as being mature Vangelis pieces. Being the first solo-outing, there's a trace of
him trying to prove his point as a real composer/arranger, to the detriment of emotional
depth perhaps, but Vangelis would put that right in his next projects, the music for the
six "Apocalypse des Animaux" episodes and the very emotional "Poème
Symphonique".
Review by Ivar de Vries
Movements |
